Having a Spicy Kickoff is Better than Silence
It can feel uncomfortable in the moment to have pointed questions, criticism, or conflict in a project kickoff meeting. But we strongly believe that a spicy kickoff meeting is better than silence – we actually celebrate kickoffs where new information is uncovered or different perspectives surfaced.
Okay, not so much new information that the project goals, scope, or timeline are dramatically affected. We should have asked better questions and/or listened better as the project was being defined in that case.
But a bit of heat around “why are we even doing this project?” or “what about this data source?” are excellent additions to a project kickoff meeting.
Why a Bit of Heat in a Kickoff is Good
Why are we seeking out real feedback, when we could just run through some slides and be done?
You’ve communicated clearly enough what is to come – and why – that people can respond with questions, redirects, and refinements. Strategic ambiguity has its place, but it isn’t in the meeting to guide how an important project is accomplished. If we’ve prompted some heat, it means we’ve likely shared something specific that people are responding to.
People are engaged in the discussion, and they actually care about the topic at hand. Most of us don’t spend time disrupting the apple cart on things we don’t care about. If someone takes the time, effort, and risk to share a contrary view in a kickoff meeting, they likely care about the project and its outcomes.
Sure, there are vocal detractors who won’t become part of the solution, but in our experience most of the people who speak up in this situation can be forces for good – if you take their input seriously, early enough to harness their efforts for progress.
You get to practice working well together. This won’t be the only time you surface disagreement or pointed questions on the project. By practicing attentive listening and productive engagement during the kickoff meeting, you’re engaging in behaviors that will contribute to overall success. Embrace it, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable!
You’re simply bringing surprises or disagreements forward in time, not creating them. The topics that are contributing a bit of heat would have come up eventually. But if they came up later, they’d likely have disrupted progress even more. By tackling spicy topics in the project kickoff meeting, you’re saving yourself scope adjustments, delays, and/or disappointment later.
How to Leave Space for Some Heat
So, how do you create the conditions for productive heat in your next project kickoff meeting?
Participants
Work with the project sponsor to include those who will have an active hand in shaping the project. Typically, this should be a cross-functional group of individuals, with as little overlap among teams as you can get away with and still get enough information/input/decision-making in real time.
If you have a project that spans many teams, consider having a kickoff with the cross-functional steering committee to elicit their input, and then have a kickoff with the wider audience. We want to give the steering committee the opportunity to bring their heat first, incorporate their redirects/refinements into the plan, and then share with the larger group.
Agenda
We typically include these elements in a kickoff agenda:
Why are we spending valuable resources on this? Background, catalyst, rationale for the project
What are we doing? Project workstreams and activities
Who’s involved in this effort? Participants and roles
When will everyone be called on? Timeline and participation expectations
What does success look like, and what will help us get there? Success criteria
What can keep us from achieving our goals? Potential derailers
You can include some content from the project request, but expect to rework the vast majority of it to fit your audience and purpose.
Preparation
Preview content with critical individuals before the kickoff meeting. This should include giving participants the opportunity to pre-read a summary of what you’ll walk through in the kickoff, so that those who prefer to simmer on information before speaking up can do so.
It can work well for the project sponsor and the project lead to meet with each member of the steering committee before the kickoff to preview topics and give the chance for initial questions and pushback.
Facilitation
In the kickoff meeting, clearly and non-defensively present information about the project and leave plenty of time for discussion throughout the session. If your team typically waits until the end for questions, ask participants to jot their questions on their own or provide a parking lot for topics to come back to.
If pointed questions or feedback come up, practice curiosity rather than explaining yourself. If a member of the steering committee doesn’t understand or agree with how the project is described, participants won’t either! Ask enough questions that you understand both what is being proposed and why.
Be willing to deviate from your agenda – oftentimes this means skipping back to a topic you’ve already covered – to get to the heart of questions or concerns. If people keep asking about a topic that was last on your agenda, either capture comments in a parking lot or skip ahead to where people’s minds are.
Follow-through
Some input can be incorporated into the project goals, plan, or participants in real time. More often, you’ll need to incorporate feedback after the kickoff meeting. Expediently and thoroughly work through input, review it with those who voiced specific input, and then share with the entire group.
Work to build trust with participants through the review process. Be respectful and listen carefully. There may be topics or plans that you need to hold your ground on – in that case, share why you aren’t incorporating their feedback in the precise way they requested, and how you’re applying their input more generally.
Embrace the Heat
A project kickoff meeting can be boring – or it can be helpful. Let’s choose to embrace pointed questions, unexpected feedback, or resistance, knowing that engaging productively with them in the kickoff is an investment in the project’s overall success.
