Everything you need to know about the Kick-off Meeting

So, here you need to initiate communication with the client first and then with your team members and the client's team. For this purpose, you are in need to fix the very first meeting with people involved in the project that will be called the kick-off meeting of your project.

The kick-off Meeting is set up before executing the project officially practically. In this meeting, the team members set their project mission statement, owe their roles, and schedule their weeks to share the progress with you. 

Kick-off meeting with the client and his team

Having a kick-off meeting with your team members about the project is important, but first, meet your client and do confirm what he actually wants and expects from this project and also fix the strategic plan you have planned before. So, you need to meet the client first, then his teammates.

Meeting with the client only.

First of all, schedule a pre-work meeting with your client to know his expectations from this project and how he wants to make this project aligned. It will help you to keep balance and good business relations during the working time of the project. But keep in mind, the first meeting should include only you and your client to keep the thing crystal clear and simpler to declare as the final decision.

Meeting with client and his team.

After that, you should schedule a second meeting with your client and his teammate to share raw details just to inform them. Do this after finalizing the project plan with your client to avoid rejections, suggestions, and demands to follow the instructions of the client's team members. 

How will you make up the kick-off meeting?

Then the most important thing is to think upon the question clicking everyone's mind that how to set a kick-off meeting with your client and team members. Here, you need to focus deeply to carve the right path to your project destination for making it successful. So, there are some steps to set a kick-off meeting. 

Inviting your team members for kick-off meeting 

For organizing a kick-off meeting with your project team members, you should invite them properly either by calls, official E-mails, or text messages. It depends upon you what communication mode you would like to invite your team. Add some attractive lines to boost up the energy of your team members to look forward eagerly to kick off meeting and communicate best ideas to share with you for developing a project plan.

After having a kick off meeting with your tea, you can now share the plan with the client's team to make them aware of it.

Set the agenda of the meeting

The agenda of the meeting should be very clear as if it is written on the paper step-wise to avoid the wastage of time and sources. If you have pre-set agenda, you will have more time to discuss the topic instead if you even do not have set the agenda and conducting a kick-off meeting. You should have full command over the agenda of the meeting you are going to share with your client or team. 

For making the agenda of the meeting clear and less time-consuming, you can make Word documents or visuals to clear the points you want to share and discuss. 

Set mission statement or vision of the project

Can you get your goals without planning them, having courage, keeping yourself motivated all the time without distraction? No, it not possible, dear. 

Everyone needs a clear motive to work on and needs to set a mission statement that is simple, short, and inspiring that you can read many times a day helps you to remember your goals for the project. There should be a project mission statement for the whole team working on the project and stakeholders as well. You can also ask the Stakeholder for the mission statement for his project if he has. 

Clear all the confusion of your team members

A kick off meeting should also include an open discussion with the team or Stakeholder to avoid any misunderstanding in the future and to enjoy a long-term business relationship. There you need to promote valuing the others' suggestions to develop a strong bonding and best plan for the project.

Make a detailed plan with your team members. 

A kick off meeting should also include the development of the plan that will play a vital role in the completion of the project as it can provide you and your team a roadmap leading you to the destination of your project. It is impossible to achieve the goals without being organized and planned. So, make a plan of the steps that you and your teammate will be performing while proceeding with the project. 

There should be an overall to-do list of all team members, and an individual list will also be a plus point. You can ask help your teammates to develop Gantt charts both for team and individual to assure the completion of respective tasks on time and track the flaws and gaps you and your team are facing. 

Allocate the roles to all team members

You have different team members with different skills and knowledge, so; allocate every member his/her work as per their skill set by specifying the details individually. 

You can make groups of workers and call them in different slots to discuss their role in project completion. To work in full collaboration, you should float an effective role plan among your team members to have good collaboration and consistency in the completion of each task. 

Establish a system to keep track of progress

You have planned, guided your team, and looking for desired results, but it seems difficult to get a hundred percent of desired results. There may appear problems during the project proceeding time that cannot be neglected.

 You should develop a progress tracking system for the project. Gantt chart will not only help to complete the tasks but also indicate the frequency of the specific task completion per week. Decide the frequency of each task per week and keep a follow-up of it to identify the lacking or problems in the project. 

Develop a plan for risk management 

Do not forget to assess the risks of the project and develop plans to cope up with the disasters before time. If you are working on an industrial project, you should keep this step on the priority of your list of kick-off meetings. Make an experienced and qualified risk management team to work on the risk assessment and management before facing huge trouble.

Keep the record of Kick off meeting in soft and hard documents 

When you are arranging a kick off meeting for a project and follow a series of steps to make it successful, maintain the record of each step you perform during the kick-off meeting to have a flashback look at it when needed. 

Importance of Kick-off meeting for a project

The kick-off meeting is not just a formality but a customized system consisting of or many pre-work steps to clarify your doubts about your tasks and many other things like 

• Introduces the teammates to each other

A project manager or a company hires employees equipped with different skill sets specialized for the specified task. The team members do not know each other before the kickoff meeting. So, you can say that it introduces the teammates to each other.

• Creates collaboration 

When the teammates know each other along with the specialties of skill set and professional education, they know better with whom they will be working closely and need to coordinate more to create collaboration and perfection in their tasks leading to big achievements from the project.  

• A better understanding of the vision of the company or project

During the kick-off meeting, the project manager shares the vision of the company or the project after confirmation from the Stakeholder with his team and lets them know how to work gradually and consistently to attain this vision. 

• Develops leadership skill of a project manager 

While arranging a kick-off meeting, the project manager is working with multiple people, synergizing them, showing value to their work and identity, and leading them to the right roadmap of the success of the project. He is developing his leadership skills by considering everyone respectable and skillful. His team will love to follow him to work smoothly and honestly. 

Conclusion

Kick-off meeting plays multiple important roles in the successful completion of projects and by developing a strong bond, better understanding, bringing all efforts in one place, and develop such strategies that ensure the success of the project.