In every major infrastructure project or programme, the Project Board sets the tone for what success looks like not just in outcomes, but in how those outcomes are achieved. On mega projects, where billions of dollars, multiple partners, and thousands of people converge, the culture shaped by the Board is arguably its most powerful performance driver and enabler of outstanding outcomes.

Culture as a Governance Imperative
Too often, culture is spoken about as something ‘soft’; the intangible side of delivery. In reality, culture is a governance issue. It defines how risk and opportunity is managed, how decisions are made, how relationships are built, and how value for money is achieved. As this Human Synergistics research paper highlights, the Board sits ‘at the apex of the project organisational hierarchy, with ultimate authority and accountability for the project, and therefore must have a role in forming and monitoring the culture.’  For major projects, this means boards must move beyond compliance and actively measure and monitor the behavioural norms across the project and not just safety, cost, and schedule.

Boards Shape Culture by What They Reward
Culture is created through what gets rewarded, what gets punished, and what gets avoided or ignored. When Boards prioritise short-term cost savings or production milestones without equally recognising collaboration, safety, stakeholder relationships and wellbeing, they send a powerful message about what truly matters.  As the saying goes, ‘what gets rewarded gets managed or done.’ For major projects, Board-level alignment around desired cultural behaviours such as collaboration, transparency, and learning is essential. Rewarding constructive behaviours at the top filters quickly down through delivery partners, site teams, and supply chain partners and service providers.

Measuring Culture: Making the Intangible Tangible
Boards on major projects need data; not just dashboards. Tools such as culture diagnostics and pulse and engagement surveys allow project leadership to measure how behaviours align (or don’t align) with the project charter, principles and project values. Tracking shifts over time helps the Board identify gaps between the ‘ideal’ and ‘actual’ culture just as they would for schedule or financial performance.

Culture in the Project Boardroom
The culture of the project itself mirrors the culture of its governance forum(s). How the Board behaves, how members challenge ideas, manage dissent, and support the Project Director shapes the tone for the entire project or programme of work. Constructive board cultures drive trust, curiosity, and balanced accountability. Defensive board cultures drive fear, politics, and blame. In a major project environment, the Board’s behaviour is magnified; its tone becomes the team’s tone.

What does good look like?
In terms of what good looks like in practice looks like for culture at a Board level, it is as follows:

• Quarterly team engagement surveys split for Board, Leadership team and wider team level;
• Key Result Area and Key Performance Indicator frameworks for the project actively including collaboration and culture weighted appropriately;
• The people and culture nominated representative from the leadership team presenting regularly to the Project board high performance 90 day plans, engagement surveys, leadership development and other key initiatives;
• Relationship heat maps for key internal and external stakeholders presented to Project Board regularly focused on relationship health related to the success of the project;
• A number of members of the Project Board having qualifications or an interest around leadership, team and culture;
• Project Director objectives and associated weightings have clear and measurable objectives around building a high performance team culture, collaboration and team health;
• Connection to home organisations from the project are actively managed and monitored;
• Leadership development programs are in place for the senior leaders and upcoming leaders who manage people;
• Succession planning is a regular agenda item for the project board;
• Partner health checks are regularly consulted and key findings and recommendations for improvement are presented back to the Project board.

Key Metrics and Measures of Success
In terms of the key metrics or measures of success from a culture, leadership and team development perspective that the Project Board should be asking for or receiving reporting on, they include the following:

• Quarterly team engagement survey rolling scores from a project board, leadership team and staff level;
• Key interfaces internally and externally and red, amber or green ratings on how they are tracking with key recommendations for improvement;
• Succession planning strategies, training and development initiatives linked to key personnel risk from a technical and leadership perspective;
• Leadership development initiatives starting from the Project Director including development plan initiatives;
• High performance plans presented with quarterly presentations on what is working well and key areas of focus for the next quarter;
• Key partner and stakeholder health assessments;
• Critical resourcing initiatives and updates from a leadership and technical risk perspective;
• Project staff turnover statistics and retention initiatives that are being actively put in place to address regretted turnover;
• Project Board forward plans and 180 day plans so the Project board members actively role model constructive leadership and visible safety leadership.

I am an advocate of less is more when it comes to measures.  Focus on a few and get them right and reassess annually on the project as to whether there are other focus areas required based on what the data and evidence is presenting.

Culture is not an HR or People and Culture issue;  it’s a Board responsibility. When major project boards deliberately set, measure, and model a constructive culture, they reduce risk, improve collaboration, and unlock performance.   The focus is no longer on safety, quality, time and cost but broader when culture is considered a critical asset for your project to attract and retain the best people to deliver outstanding outcomes.

The best projects and major programmes don’t just deliver infrastructure; they leave behind cultural legacies that lift the entire industry, its communities and partners.