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Defining accountability
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in practice
As the project is planned it is important to
determine the appropriate governance structures. This should include
identifying a sponsor Minister and whether it is appropriate to
establish a Steering Group.
Where possible, it is a great advantage to identify a Minister
who will be the project's sponsor. This will help to gain senior
buy-in to the project from the outset, and also provide someone to
consult about the political feasibility of emerging conclusions and
recommendations.
It can also be very useful to have a project Steering
Group. The traditional role of the Steering Group is to provide a steer
and take decisions at key stages in the project. Members should include
key project stakeholders and may include external stakeholders, if
appropriate. The key to a successful Steering Group is getting the balance
right between breadth and depth of experience.
There are also other roles for a Steering Group:
- Advice on content
- Stakeholder buy-in
- External discipline for the team.
These roles may not be fulfilled by a single group.
Content work in some cases is best done separately, for example through
expert panels, bilateral sessions with stakeholders etc.
It is generally advisable to have 3-4 meetings of the
Steering Group during the life of the project. The objective of each
meeting is to provide an update on project progress and to seek advice and
consensus at key decision points. In practice, this means that there is
likely to be a meeting at the end of each phase of the project, to discuss
project outputs. For example, during the Justification & Set-up phase
of the project, the Steering Group should agree the project plan. Steering
Group Meetings should be factored into the project plan, as key
milestones. It takes a lot of work to prepare for these meetings, so
holding more than 3 or 4 could mean that servicing the Steering Group
could become overly burdensome.
In addition or as an alternative to the Steering Group, it may be
useful to have an Expert Advisory Group. This is a small group of
industry, sector or issue experts who are used to providing technical
input and advice, and can act as a sounding board and reality check on
emerging conclusions. It is advisable to establish the Group early in the
project as it can take stakeholders some time to identify the most
appropriate representatives. The Advisory Group can also feed into the
development of the project approach if they are involved early in the
process.
Defining accountability
In Practice: An SU Project
Our project was accountable to at least three types of
oversight groups.
A ministerial steering group was essential for the
high-profile and sensitive issues such as the one with which we were
engaged. With a senior cabinet minister as sponsor minister, we were able
to open doors, challenge sacred cows and had a natural champion for a bold
new agenda.
We took this steering group through our thinking
step-by-step so that they could reach the same conclusions as the project
team. They provided some valuable political guidance on what would and
what would not fly. Inevitably, pressure on their time meant we could only
meet once every two or three months so we made sure we got the maximum
value and clearest possible steer from those meetings.
In between those meetings, a senior officials group
provided more hands-on guidance in overseeing the direction of work. They
met every 2-6 weeks at different stages in the project. As they had a
wider portfolio of responsibilities, their main function will be to help
the team distinguish between 'wood' and 'trees'. We found it is
very easy for full-time team members to get overly absorbed in detailed
issues and lose sight of wider issues.
Finally, we convened a number of ad hoc expert advisory
groups. They were useful in providing an external reality check on our
emerging conclusions. The non-governmental participants ensured that our
thinking was not too Whitehall-centric and helped us to identify
best-practice elsewhere and leading-edge thinking in the academic research
community. This had the added benefit of ensuring that we had credibility
with a wider group of stakeholders when we were ready to announce new
initiatives.
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