When you run a marathon, success is finishing, whether first or last place. When you climb Everest, success is making it back home in more or less one piece. When you raise children, success is… well, it depends on the day.

The definition of success varies with our goals. Oftentimes, we think of a project as a success when it comes in on time and on budget (or under in one or both categories). But that is only one indicator of success and, as it turns out, it’s not necessarily the best one either. When do we know if a project is really “successful”? What does that mean?

“A man should never be appointed to a managerial position if his vision focuses on people’s weaknesses rather than on their strengths. The man who always knows what people cannot do, but never sees what they can do, will undermine the spirit of the organization. Of course, a manager should have a clear grasp of the limitations of his people, but he should see these as limitations on what they can do, and as a challenge to them to do better.” – Peter Drucker

The purpose of a Centre of Excellence (COE) approach is a repository of knowledge, templates, and best practices that allow projects, and people to succeed. It is about lessons learned. The goal is to highlight what works and the best way to approach challenges. Employees do not feel chastised, but proud; they contribute rather than detract. This can be a tremendously motivating factor for employees and teams, and a powerful advantage for organizations.

There’s an old joke that goes, “What’s an auditor? Someone who arrives after the battle and bayonets all the wounded.” Whether we are being audited by a tax agent or by an internal or external auditor at work, it can be a thoroughly nerve-wracking experience. We think this bayonet-wielding – or checklist-wielding – auditor has come in for just one reason: to find noncompliance. The only way to survive is to be perfect – so we’re all doomed! “Audit” certainly is a four-letter word in our parlance, but if we can shift that paradigm, we can start to reap some benefits beyond compliance.

After a game, an athlete either celebrates with the team or wallows in the loss. But the next morning, the best players are watching game tapes. What did I do right? Where did I, literally or figuratively, drop the ball? What can I do differently for the next game? In business, just because a project has been completed, doesn’t mean it’s “done.” There is one more crucial step to take: the project review. Like the athlete with his game tape, we need to look more closely at what we did and didn’t do and the lessons learned for next time.

To those who have worked for months on an initiative or set of initiatives, project reviews can seem like detention on the first day of summer vacation. And, oftentimes, they’re about as effective.

Here are my best practices for teams, steering committees, and executives to ensure these reviews have value:

We can easily get lost in procedures and processes. We can become slaves to tick boxes, forms, and the way things are “supposed” to be done. The good news is that we can avoid the abyss of project reviews. They can be done expeditiously and virtually painlessly.

Project teams, executives, and steering committees can do reviews any time. In fact, they can be as quick as a half-day to a day. If there is an effective steering committee and engaged executive sponsors, these meetings can be held rather informally, as a quarterly half-day session as a way of checking back.