“. . .‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where –’ said Alice. Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”
—Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland1
We believe effective sponsors are made, not born—so the question arises, “How can an organization select and groom competent, but possibly inexperienced executives to prepare them for the sponsor role?” Thus far, we have suggested a high standard for project sponsor performance, but not addressed how sponsors might acquire the skills and tools needed to be effective. Learning on the job can be a costly and painful and it is unrealistic to assume that sponsors will naturally gain the requisite skills on their path to the executive suite. Though a few executives may rise from the ranks of project performance and project management, many may have excelled instead at leadership, finance, sales, marketing, or operations and have little practical project management experience. In Chapter 2, we discussed why executive sponsorship matters and highlighted examples of how sponsorship provides an opportunity for both personal growth and professional development. This chapter emphasizes the importance of assessing executive readiness for the sponsor role and suggests ways for senior management to evaluate and cultivate effective sponsors by providing training and mentoring to address gaps.
Not everyone is well suited for sponsorship. If an individual is not interested in the job or does not fit the criteria and temperament necessary for effective sponsorship, it might serve both the individual and the organization to find alternative ways for that executive to support the sponsorship program other than serving directly as a sponsor. For executives and senior managers with a desire to serve and an appropriate temperament and basic skill set, a development program to hone their skills and provide support to their sponsorship efforts will serve both the sponsors and the organization and improve the chances of executive and project success. Figure 6.1 represents four focus areas that together provide a foundation for assessing sponsor readiness. First, we look at which sponsors are making a positive contribution to project success, and then we propose evaluating whether the right people are in the sponsor role and if a support mechanism is in place in terms of training and sustainably supporting project management standards. Collectively these elements provide the backdrop for determining sponsor readiness.
Assessment Focus Areas
Project Outcomes and Sponsor Contribution
The goal of sponsorship is to produce successful business outcomes. “Success” might mean bringing a project across the finish line to realize business value or justly terminating a project to minimize losses. Before embarking on a sponsorship improvement initiative, assessing the outcomes of recent projects and the effectiveness of their sponsorship can help determine which aspects of sponsorship are working, which are not, and where an improvement program should start. Understanding recent project challenges and failure modes and the underlying causes can inform adjustments to roles, responsibilities, and behavioral criteria.
Figure 6.1 Focus areas for sponsorship readiness
The first step toward assessing the effectiveness of existing organizational sponsors is building an inventory of recent strategic projects and their outcomes. The criteria suggested in Chapter 2 for determining which projects are candidates for executive sponsorship can be used as a filter to identify a subset of significant projects the organization has completed or cancelled during the previous 2 years. These projects can then be analyzed to establish measures of success. Although purely objective criteria may be inadequate to capture all of the complexities and nuance of real-world project performance, some helpful measures might include:
1. What were the initially established cost, schedule, and scope parameters of the project? If there is no record of the initial project goals, this is a project management and sponsorship issue.
2. What was the initial business case?—If there is no record of the initial business case, this is a project management and sponsorship issue.
3. How did the cost and schedule projections change over time? A simple graph can be created for both cost and schedule that show the history of actual and projected costs and schedule (see Figure 6.2). Significant jumps in cost or schedule should have corresponding change orders or records of issues being identified or addressed that explain what happened and indicate a conscious decision to continue the project.
4. What risks were identified? When were they identified? Which risks occurred? What responses were implemented? How effective were the risk responses?
5. What significant changes were authorized? What were the underlying causes of the changes (e.g., new functionality, changed assumptions, incorrect estimates, changes in resources, externally imposed changes, and so on)?
6. What was the final outcome of the project with respect to its initial business case? In retrospect, was the project a good investment of organizational resources? If not, when was this determined and was it a conscious business decision to continue?
Figure 6.2 Example: Graphing schedule performance over time
Graphing Schedule Performance Over Time
This analysis graph is used to show significant variation in a target date. The horizontal axis represents the date the predicted finish was published, and the vertical axis represents the then projected completion. The first prediction was published on April 1 and anticipated a July 2 completion. Four weeks later on May 1, the predicted end date had slipped 15 days to July 17. The following status on June 1 suggested the completion date was unchanged at July 17; however, the July 1 status reflects another slip in the predicted end date to July 24, estimating completion 3 weeks from the status date. The August 1 status predicts an August 25 completion, a surprising four-week slip. Finally, the September 1 status (probably a close-out status report) indicates the project was completed on August 25. When the line moves dramatically on the vertical axis, there should be a corresponding explanation elsewhere in project documentation explaining what happened.
7. What lessons did the team and organization learn from the project? Is there evidence that the lessons learned have been integrated into the organizational culture and applied to other projects?
8. What was the retention rate of the team members during and after the project? Did team members leave the project before it was complete? Did team members leave the organization before the project was complete or within 6 months of project completion?
These questions can generate meaningful information about projects of all shapes and sizes, including those that deliver value and those that are cancelled. For comparison purposes, differences can be expressed as ratios, such as “the project finished 10% over budget”. The evidence gathered should provide clues about whether the project was well managed and the effectiveness of the project sponsor.
Taking an inventory of strategic projects and their outcomes provides a basis for assessing not only the executive sponsor but the entire sponsorship program. If an organization has a project closure process that includes criteria for rating project success, that information would also be helpful. If no outcome data are available, then senior management or the Project Management Office (PMO) might be asked to evaluate project successes based on a set of organizationally relevant criteria. Once project success rates are established, each project’s sponsor can be assessed on their contribution to the overall project’s success.
Subjective assessment of a sponsor’s contribution can be accomplished in several ways.
• Ask the sponsor for his or her own perspective on the project. Sponsors will have intimate knowledge of what went well and what did not.
• Solicit input from the project manager. Because they engage in day-to-day interactions with the sponsor, project managers can speak to the fulfillment of roles and responsibility and desirable sponsorship qualities like leadership, support, and responsiveness that influenced project outcomes.
• If the organization has a PMO, ask PMO leadership for their perspective on the project to get an alternative view of the sponsor’s influence on project’s success.
• Interview key project stakeholders who had a vested interest in the project’s outcome; they were likely attuned to sponsorship activities and can share their experiences.
Figure 6.3 depicts the assessment steps outlined above for determining project success rates and sponsor influence on outcomes. Each assessment provides visibility regarding which sponsors are contributing the most to the most successful projects, signaling an action item to determine what these sponsors might be doing that makes them more effective.
Right People for Sponsor Role
If not every executive is suited to serve as a project sponsor, how might an organization determine who is best suited for the role? One approach is to develop a list of sponsorship responsibilities and desired behaviors and then assess your executive team members against that list. As described in Chapter 5, GAPP’s Framework for Performance Based Competency Standards for Project Sponsors2 provides an excellent starting point for developing performance criteria as it relates to roles, responsibilities, and expected sponsor behaviors.
In Chapter 5 the focus was on establishing standards for desirable roles, responsibilities, and behaviors, whereas here we focus on determining if the individual is the right person for the role and if so does he or she have the skill set to meet expectations of the role. To make this evaluation, consider the following steps:
Figure 6.3 Assessing project success outcome and sponsor contribution process
1. Engage senior management in a discussion about the benefits of sponsorship assessment, such as the identification of sponsorship best practices and skill gaps for personal and professional development.
2. Using the GAPP’s standard, review each role, aspects of the responsibilities, and the associated performance goals seen in Table 5.2 in the context of the organization. Seek consensus on tailored criteria for a competency and performance standards model.
3. Once the criteria are finalized, conduct individual senior management interviews with those who have served as sponsors to assess their performance and competency. For those who have not served in the role, the assessment may help to gauge readiness. The scenarios outlined in Chapter 5 provide an opportunity to elicit reactions from the senior management team to hypothetical situations and might generate insightful conversations in places where sponsors disagree or have not thought of some of the broader implications asserted.
The goal of the assessments is not punitive; it is information gathering to establish a foundation for personal improvement. Even so, the proposal to conduct an assessment of individual executives may be met with resistance, so it is important that the organization buy in to the process, understand how it will be used, understand what will be done with the data gathered, and allocate adequate time and resources to conduct the assessments.
Sustainable Sponsorship Standards
Equally important as assessing executive performance and competency is the reviewing and confirming of project management standards for clarifying the sponsor role, responsibilities, and behaviors. For standards to produce the desired results they must meet the current and anticipated needs of the organizational environment in which projects are performed. As role and responsibility needs evolve, mechanisms must be in place to confirm the standard’s viability and make any necessary adjustments.
One approach key to keeping standards relevant is to stay abreast of the project management industry’s current thinking on sponsorship standards. In Chapter 1, we reviewed the evolution of sponsorship and the sponsor role. During the last 20 years, expectations for the role and responsibilities have changed substantially as more organizations engaged in formal project sponsorship. As the role continues to evolve and be refined, some practical suggestions for keeping current include:
• Monitoring changes to GAPP’s standard for sponsorship by checking their site periodically.3
• Review Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge to understand any updates to the topic of sponsorship.4
• Track other reputable project management bodies, such as the International Association of Project Management5 or Association for Project Management6, on standards for sponsorship that might provide additional insights for consideration.
These external sources of sponsorship information can be combined with feedback from the executive team to adjust standards for local use. We suggest conducting an annual review of the standards with senior management. This could include a presentation to share emerging industry information regarding sponsorship and a dialogue around recent project experience and perceived changing needs with recommendations regarding how sponsorship standards should adapt. Some questions to stimulate this discussion and identify changing needs include:
• Are the current sponsorship standards providing the desired results? If not, what is not being addressed that would benefit from an adjustment to sponsorship roles and responsibilities?
• What has changed about our project environment that might warrant revising standard sponsor roles, responsibilities, and behaviors? What change would senior management like to see?
• Do the currently defined roles and responsibilities expect too much or too little from sponsors? If so, what might be changed?
• Based on the current rate of project successes, is the sponsorship role as the organization has defined it effective? If not, what would improve it? What standards might be changed?
After collecting input, analyze and recommend changes to the standards. Once senior management has agreed to any refinements, amend the standards, conduct any necessary sponsorship training, and socialize the changes to the organization.
Sponsorship Training
The last step of the sponsorship assessment process is evaluating the scope and effectiveness of existing training support. Figure 6.4 is a graphical representation of a simplified process for determining training gaps and identifying an improvement plan.
Sponsorship is effective when roles, responsibilities, and expected behaviors are understood and sponsors must have an opportunity to discuss these in a setting where learning can occur. Senior managers may reject the assertion that they need training, insisting that they understand what they must do; however, consistent training is necessary for both sponsors and project managers to assure they are hearing the same message and that both have an opportunity to seek clarity on revised standards, expectations, and/or new approaches.
Implementing or refining a sponsorship training program entails determining what training should occur and assessing the effectiveness of existing courses. First, identify training currently provided. This would include both specific project management and sponsorship skills, as well as “soft skills” appropriate to the sponsor role, including negotiation, leadership, and communication.
Figure 6.4 Process for sponsorship training gap identification and remediation
If no current training is in place for project managers or project sponsors, an initial offering would include at a minimum discussing the sponsor role, responsibilities, and behaviors in the context of standard project management practices, with an emphasis on the sponsor engagement points. Scenario analysis and role-playing are excellent approaches for demonstrating desirable behaviors. One-on-one and customized training may also be appropriate for executives in some instances. Important scenarios to explore include:
• Risk management process with an emphasis on project manager and sponsor interactions
• The project kick-off meeting and corresponding desirable sponsor behaviors (see Table 6.1)
• Change management process
• Issue management process
• Project status reporting
If a sponsor training program exists, determine if it is thorough and effective. Similar to assessing the standards, assess the effectiveness of training by asking participants if they are getting what they need. Ask sponsors and project managers following each training session if the training is meeting their needs. If not, ask what they would like to see more or less of. Periodic surveys sent to sponsors and project managers that solicit anonymous feedback can be another vehicle for gathering information. Other valuable input sources include stakeholders such as senior management and PMO leadership. Performance assessments and project success rates are also useful indicators of possible training gaps. Finally, project retrospectives—reviews of what went well and what needs improvement—can be excellent sources of feedback for training programs. After determining gaps, identify and prioritize training improvement areas.
Delivery methods for training should be appropriate for both the material and the learners. Although experiential learning is often most effective, some subjects may lend themselves to independent study and some topics may not require formal curricula. Consider the following vehicles when determining how best to deliver sponsorship skills. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages (Table 6.2), but whatever delivery mechanism is selected engagement must occur for the message to be heard, internalized, and accepted by the intended audience.
Table 6.1 Sponsor roles, responsibilities, and behavior: Project kick-off meeting
Assessing Sponsor Readiness
After examining the individual components of sponsor readiness above, the next step is assessing the last two components of the framework: training and support (Step 4) and right people in the sponsor role (Step 5). Figure 6.5 highlights the fourth and fifth steps in the assessment of the overall health of the sponsorship program.
Table 6.2 Advantages and disadvantages of training delivery methods
Referring to the material in this chapter, assess these two areas to identify gaps. Figure 6.4 describes the process steps necessary to determine whether existing training is effective, where the perceived gaps are, potential solutions to close the gaps, and training solution priorities. Record assessment data in Table 6.3.
Figure 6.5 Framework for assessing a sponsorship program—training and support and right people in sponsor role focus
Table 6.3 Sponsorship training gap identification and remediation worksheet
Table 6.4 Project success outcomes and sponsor contribution worksheet
To determine whether the right people are being assigned the sponsor role, conduct sponsor interviews to assess their performance and competency and combine that with data gathered on project success and sponsor contribution. Although a project’s outcome might not be met because it was canceled, it might still be good sponsorship. Record outcomes and contribution assessment data in Table 6.4.
The results can fuel a discussion with senior management to arrive at consensus scores for step 4 and step 5 of the spider diagram in Figure 7.1. This chapter’s exercises provide the final two assessments of the five areas, and establish a baseline for continuous improvement of the sponsorship program explored in Chapter 8.
Discussion Questions
1. Why is executive sponsorship assessment important?
2. Why might some executives resist the suggestion that they should participate in formal assessments or training?
3. Name four focus areas for assessments that provide insight to whether an existing project sponsorship program is meeting its objectives.
4. Who within the organization participates in sponsor assessment, and why?
5. What tools/approach might be useful to determine whether the right person is performing the sponsorship role?
6. Why is an ongoing assessment of the standards for sponsor roles, responsibilities, and behavior critical to the success of the role?
7. What resources are available to keep abreast of changes in the evolving role of the sponsor?
8. Explain the steps in assessing and improving a sponsorship training program. Discuss different approaches and training delivery vehicles and why they might be used.
Considerations
Project Management Office
The PMO has a leadership opportunity to provide insight to senior management regarding sponsor readiness and the strength of the training and project management standards meant to support the sponsors. The PMO can be particularly helpful in collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and presenting the data for senior management review. In organizations where the PMO is responsible for setting and maintaining standards as well as providing sponsorship training, the PMO can provide an accurate view of current state in terms of training and standards as well as a desired state and rationale from their perspective. In terms of determining if the sponsor is the right for the role, the PMO can provide a valuable perspective that should be considered along with other assessment feedback.
Project Manager
Project managers want to promote sponsorship readiness because they benefit from having a fully engaged sponsor who is trained and willing to be a project advocate and mentor. Project managers should seek opportunities to assist in training planning, provide feedback on sponsor engagement, and promote project management standards that encourage collaboration and relationship building between the two roles.
Notes
1. Lewis Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, (Kindle ed.), (New York: Open Road Integrated, 2014).
2. GAPPS. 2015. A Guiding Framework for Project Sponsors, Sydney, Australia: Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards, accessed October 5, 2015, http://globalpmstandards.org/downloads.
3. GAPPS, 2015.
4. Project Management Institute, accessed October 6, 2015, https://www.pmi.org.
5. International Association of Project Management, accessed October 6, 2015, https://www.iapm.net.
6. Association of Project Management, accessed October 6, 2015, https://apm.org.uk.