CHAPTER

2

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.

—Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson

Establishing Sponsorship

Upper managers are the arches of a project cathedral. Sweeping, powerful arches support vast cathedral construction and are required to be present for the full length of the structure—from the beginning to the end. The same is true for project sponsors and how they contribute to project success. Complex projects need sponsors who are more leaders than managers. Leaders establish directions for the future, communicate through vision, and forge aligned high-performance teams. In contrast, managers focus on planning and short-term horizons, devise processes and structures, and solve problems.

Much as cathedrals create inspiration, projects need leaders who inspire people and fuse them into a motivated and performing team driven by a common vision. When senior managers act as sponsors, they provide support and passion to managers and the rest of the project team.

This chapter addresses questions about why people choose to sponsor projects, what is in it for them, what characteristics they possess that make for excellence in sponsorship, and how to get these people to sponsor projects. Cathedrals are built because someone has a grand vision that he or she wants to turn into reality; it then requires mustering the means to make it happen. Sponsorship is that force.

Why Choose to Sponsor a Project?

We asked this question of project professionals worldwide. Here are some answers:

Marcus Funke, PMP, says, “Whoever takes on sponsorship of a project will be affected by the outcomes.” He notes that on the plus side, visible success results in recognition and visibility for the sponsor. On the other hand, failure of the project or even “horror stories” about the project, leave a “bad taste” and have various negative side effects on sponsors. Some of these effects may never be officially articulated, but delayed promotion or “career freeze” may be a consequence. A sponsor typically evaluates these potential side effects when selecting a project. For example, sponsors may use the project like a chess piece to play strategic business games and improve their recognition and visibility. They may use the project to bolster their business success in an important area. They may use the project as a weapon directed against other projects, in internal power plays to get rid of competitors. If they are appointed to the position, they may try to avoid being known as the sponsor if they do not believe in the outcome.

Alessandro Difazio, a project professional from Italy, handles software engineering and offshore activities for an Italian consulting organization. He has been involved as a project sponsor or “appointed manager,” as they call this role in his project environment. His answer to the question why sponsor a project? is: “To be sure the project will be instrumental to the overall strategy the sponsor is responsible for.” Success then serves as a testimonial for the rest of the organization about the sponsorship role.

The reasons project professionals give can be classified into four distinct categories:

• Business reasons. The project can be completed successfully within the proposed schedule, scope, and resource bounds.
• Political reasons. The value of a successful project is worth the investment and the risk of failure.
• Personal reasons. The project is a professional challenge, which will provide an opportunity to improve skills in dealing with people and organizations and learning to make the right decisions.
• Stakeholder reasons. “Other project stakeholders want me as the sponsor. They believe that I have sufficient power and influence, knowledge of the business, and leadership skills to do a good job.”

Achieving excellence in sponsorship means that senior managers get to maintain a hands-off approach but are available when problems arise. Senior managers expect to be supplied with accurate project status reports; their position as sponsors gives them a firsthand view of project status. They can be close enough to understand the issues and get direct feedback on how systems are working. They extend their influence in the organization when they empower people and decentralize project authority. They do not have to solve all problems themselves because they expect project managers and their teams to suggest alternatives and solutions.

The right project sponsor is able to empower the project manager and the team and give them the benefit of the doubt. This means being tolerant of mistakes. People learn from mistakes. People sometimes need to be wrong in order to change their ways. This learning process also applies to sponsorship. Selecting the right project sponsor is not an easy task, and many organizations do not have a process established to help them do it well.

Criteria

The project sponsor needs to be a change leader: “In essence, leaders are people who ‘walk ahead,’ people genuinely committed to deep changes, in them and in their organization. They naturally influence others through their credibility, capability, and commitment. And they come in many shapes, sizes, and positions” (Senge & Roth, 1999, p. 19).

Having enough trust and belief to pursue a vision is what signals to others that the vision is worth investing in. However, usually actions, not words, send the message. The best sponsor is somebody who understands his or her role, believes in the team, and wants to execute the role.

The project sponsor is usually an upper manager who, in addition to his or her usual responsibilities, provides ongoing support to one or more specific projects. Often senior managers tend to be very busy and so they delegate the project sponsor role to middle managers. This practice usually does not work well. Those middle managers very often cannot do a good job because they lack enough power and authority to execute it.

Although project sponsorship is always needed, not all projects need a formal project sponsor assigned to them. Organizations need to make a decision about what projects in their project portfolio should have a project sponsor. One guideline is to set threshold criteria such as a major customer commitment, projects over a certain size in terms of money or resources, or new product or technology versus a patch or minor enhancement. If there is a question as to whether or not to assign a sponsor, it is wise to err on the side of doing so.

Some organizations believe that it is impossible to assign a senior manager to every project, so they create a “sponsorship committee.” That committee may be a business team formed by representatives from different functions of the company. It serves as a “sponsor organism” for many projects. The committee assigns the project manager and team for every project as part of the project charter development process. During the project life cycle, the committee addresses strategic issues and schedules project reviews with the project managers. A problem with this approach is that team members or other project stakeholders do not build rapport or consistent experience with an individual and do not know whom to go to when they have issues to escalate. On the other hand, they may have many resources to go to when a primary contact is not available. This committee approach seems to work well only in mature project-oriented organizations.

The criteria for selecting a project sponsor depend on the project culture of the organization. Look for the following qualities in potential project sponsors:

• They feel the need for change; they are not satisfied with the status quo.
• They believe that the effort to change the situation is more attractive than business as usual.
• They are consistent in their actions, activities, and reactions.
• They are willing to invest time and energy; they care and feel that they have a vested interest in the outcome (skin in the game, dejan la piel).
• They place a high priority on the value of project-based work and the outcomes produced.
• They have a perspective on the future.
• They believe that things can be improved when effort is put into learning from experience.
• They are capable of making a realistic appraisal of resources; they have a complete understanding of the time, money, and people required for the project.
• They have empathy.
• They are able to anticipate customer needs.
• They have power within the organization.
• They understand the business and how things get done in the organization.
• They are publicly and privately supportive.
• They can manage consequences because they know the project environment and the organization very well.
• They follow the progress of the project.

A key criterion is that the person is interested in and wants to be a sponsor. Our recommended approach is to ask the candidate if he or she wants to be the sponsor for a particular project.

Good sponsors are usually unable to sponsor more than one project at a time. On IT projects, the project sponsor can expect to spend 10 to 25% of his or her time supporting the project.

Selling Sponsorship

Although upper management support is repeatedly cited as a critical success factor, this does not necessarily mean that an organization fully understands and supports project sponsorship. Like most other practices, project sponsorship needs to be sold. Individuals fulfilling the sponsor role need to be sold on the features, benefits, and advantages that result from excellence in sponsorship. Then they need training on the roles and responsibilities of a sponsor. They also need continuous feedback on how they are doing.

The sponsor adds value to the organization because the sponsor, as an executive, knows the organization, knows the business environment, and is in the best position to help the project manager manage the project successfully. The sponsor role is decisive and has a major impact through the business decisions that the sponsor makes.

The sponsor adds value to the project manager and project team by supporting them and defending them in front of the customer and the organization. The sponsor knows how to speak the language that other managers and investors understand.

The sponsor adds value to customers—listening to them, making decisions, and helping all stakeholders consider what is best for project success. To sell the project management story to senior executives, the sponsor identifies and emphasizes the few key competencies of project management that can transform organizations. The sponsor translates the message into a story that is easily understood.

Selling the need for project management to executives is one of the most important steps in the implementation of organizational project management practices. Executives who will be project sponsors know the meaning of projects and the implications of supporting them. Talking to project managers around the globe confirms that to gain a “go” decision from executives requires a successful four-step selling model that we call APFI (assess, plan, follow, and implement). This method to gain upper managers’ support is the result of the experiences of project managers in the field who have successfully implemented project management in their organizations with the blessing of their executives. Organizations are more effective when they recognize excellence in project sponsorship as a core competence.

The model for selling sponsorship (see Figure 2.2) breaks down into the following steps:

Step 1: Assess. Understand the need for a sponsor on a project.

Understand the need. Focus on the organizational need for each project and how an effective project sponsor achieves the need. Each level in the organization will have a list of priority needs. The best way to cover executive needs is to understand key strategic priorities for the organization. This could be accomplished through periodical reports, discussions with senior executives, or meetings. Make strategic priorities, goals, and objectives explicit, and see where the project fits and how important it is for the organization.

Assess the environment. Select a sponsor who will be most affected by the benefits and value produced by the project. For example, an environmental assessment survey instrument (EASI) serves as a systematic questionnaire covering the ten components of an environment for successful projects (see Englund, 2004a).

Find the right sponsor for the project. This is typically someone who is responsible for a critical business unit, someone who can make an impact on the business, has the authority to do so, and the visibility to gain support. If this same individual was also responsible for troubled projects in the past, it will be easier to gain his or her support by relating to those projects and explaining how a strong relationship between sponsor and project manager can produce greater business impact.

Meet a potential sponsor and say, “I need your help.” There is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting between people to share concerns and to ask for assistance.

Share thoughts with other managers in the organization. Always speak about the project and its business impact, not about yourself as a project management believer. Ask the management team for consensus about getting a sponsor assigned to the project. Assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT), especially with regard to relationships between the sponsor and other stakeholders.

Step 2: Plan. Involve an assigned sponsor from the very beginning.

Involve the sponsor. Talk about his or her expectations and your own expectations. Relate that the project sponsor can help the project manager and his or her team achieve a big business impact throughout the project. Brainstorm about what, how, and when the sponsor's involvement will be necessary and his or her interactions with the project manager. One key involvement is achieving consensus on project scope definition—encompassing a full and thorough set of requirements.

Develop and share a communication plan. Communication with business leaders and others in need of project management is often forgotten. Continually remind people of the value and capabilities contributed by project management and the willingness of your group to help the business units meet their goals. Include the target audience, frequency, and type of information presented (i.e., issues to be mitigated, escalation process, progress updates, capabilities, and benefits). Advertise and communicate—that is how to sell sponsorship.

Prepare a business case. Complete a business case with all key business unit personnel. Producing the business case as a team will help get buy-in from all departments involved as well as the upper managers. This business case is a valuable selling tool for gaining funding approval. The business case includes:

• key business challenges, goals, and objectives to address;
• proposed sponsorship strategy—approach, expectations, and project resources;
• benefits and value project sponsorship will bring to the organization;
• proposed cost; and
• roll-out plan.

The secret to selling sponsorship to an executive is to focus on primary business needs and the value sponsorship can bring to the organization. The primary business needs come from the first step (understanding the need). The two key value items that executives want to focus on are how project management can reduce costs and how project management will increase revenues or better fulfill the unit's mission.

Step 3: Follow. Talk to the sponsor frequently.

Keep the sponsor updated. Schedule periodic meetings to talk about the project. Anticipate good and bad news; adopt a practice of keeping management informed so there will be no surprises.

Talk about the advantages of working together. Help the sponsor understand that by working together, he or she will know more about the project and the customer and will consequently be more valuable to the organization. Use management meetings to reinforce and underline the support and help of the sponsor.

Establish a strong relationship. Project success is all about people working together. Strong relationships are as important as tasks and often more so.

Share and communicate advantages. Be the constant evangelist who helps others see the good that can come from excellence in project sponsorship. Explain the value of this approach to all managers.

Step 4: Implement. Share compelling stories about other implementations; paint a picture about how the environment for implementing projects will look. Ensure the purpose is clear and being fulfilled. Ask for the order. Get closure and a commitment to accept and fully implement a sponsorship role.

Rewards for Project Sponsorship

What will the sponsor get in return? This question is crucial and should be answered, both by teams requesting a sponsor and by individuals contemplating accepting the role. When we asked a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard how the Project Management Council could be more effective across the company, he advised the corporate Project Management Initiative to get an executive sponsor. Nobody quite knew what this meant. It was easy to begin defining what that person could do for the project management discipline. We took pause when asking the question about what would be in it for an executive to take on this new, voluntary role whose value was uncertain.

An answer usually depends on each project. The benefits of being a project sponsor can be sold to sponsors. Certain benefits have been repeatedly demonstrated:

• An improved standing and profile within the organization. Important projects may empower project sponsors to success (but also may destroy them in case of failure).
• Being linked with an exciting and very successful project. Exciting projects have high visibility in organizations.
• Marketing potential for the project sponsor (image selling). The assignment was a reflection of the sponsor's professional background and prestige.
• Greater popularity. Media opportunities at official launches, presentation evenings, and mentions in local newsletters or news gain wider exposure.
• Easier agenda implementation. Sponsorship represents an opportunity to turn a vision into reality through a set of assigned resources.

Never underestimate the power of simply asking potential sponsors what they want from the experience. They may cite interests that would not have surfaced had you not asked. Dialogue is a powerful investigative tool.

Selling sponsorship is a sales process. To build a sales presentation, follow these steps:

1. Align. Know the executives extremely well. Gather insight into their values and ambitions. Put yourself in the shoes of these people to understand the forces that drive them.
2. Build. Define what sponsorship means in the organization. What do you expect from your executives as sponsors? Build a relationship with them.
3. Demonstrate. Emphasize the value of sponsorship and the advantages that accrue to business when it is done well. Ask sponsors what they know and what they do not know about the projects they are involved in. This is not meant to reveal ignorance but to get their attention.
4. Close. Get executive commitment. Get an agreement about next steps (i.e., the action plan).

Negotiation

When an upper manager is assigned to sponsor a project, the manager expects something in return. To be a good sponsor is not enough for project success; there are too many unpredictable elements in the project environment that can cause project failure. Project sponsors take a risk when they accept the role, but it is also a challenge for them to be recognized as the strategic driver for project success.

Sponsor assignment negotiation needs to be presented as a win-win situation. If the project sponsor does not feel comfortable with the role, the project manager and team will run into difficulties during the project. Allow the person the opportunity to question, explore, research, and bargain before accepting the responsibility.

Sometimes sponsors are not selected according to any rhyme or reason; they are assigned regardless of their capabilities to do the job. This is not a recipe for success. It is as true for project sponsors as it is for selecting project managers: availability is not a skill set.

Consider these four basic principles for negotiation:

1. Separate people from the problem; remove the relationship from the matter of the negotiation. Try to view the situation from the other person's perspective, and provide opportunities for both of you to express your emotions. Pay attention, listen, and do whatever you can to build a working relationship.
2. Focus on interests, not positions. You know your interests, the ones that have caused you to take your position. Now try to figure out the other parties’ interests. Acknowledge their interests; give the people on the other side positive support equal in strength to the vigor with which you emphasize the problem.
3. Invent options for mutual gain. Then broaden your options, looking for room to negotiate. Look for mutual gain by identifying shared interests. These opportunities exist in every negotiation. Stress them to make negotiations smoother and friendlier. Make the other person's decision easy. Look for possible agreements early in the process. Float trial balloons that point toward areas of closure.
4. Insist on objective criteria. This requires advanced preparation and evaluation of alternatives. Frame each issue as a joint search for objective criteria, as if you assume that the other party is doing the same thing. Reason soundly, and be open to reason. But yield only to principle, not pressure. When feeling pressure, invite the other person to state his or her reasoning, then suggest objective criteria, and refuse to budge except on this basis. Get closure.

Influence Skills

Influence skills are a key requirement in managing up, across, and down an organization, as well as in sponsoring projects. Influence is invisible because it is based on how people think. We cannot see people's thoughts. Thoughts drive behavior, which drives actions and results. We can look at the results that influential people achieve but still have no idea about what makes them influential. Just as we cannot understand a person by looking at his or her shadow, we cannot understand influence by looking at its effect. We have to look for the causes of influence, not at its symptoms.

Thinking like an influencer is the first and most important step to becoming an influential sponsor. We can use and adapt principles to suit our own style and our own project. We do not need to sell our soul or clone our brain to become influential. We do not need to become someone else. We simply need to build on the best of who we already are.

We found four ways of influential thinking as a project sponsor (or influencing a sponsor):

1. Be ambitious.
2. Walk in other people's shoes.
3. Develop commitment.
4. Start at the end.

Be ambitious. Lack of ambition is a recipe for a quiet life in the backwaters of underachievement. For many people, the greatest barrier to success is in their heads. They accept low expectations for themselves. Low expectations are always self-fulfilling. Ambitious project sponsors have high expectations of themselves and others. They reach for the stars. Even if they fail and only reach the moon, they will be far ahead of others whose expectations reach no further than next year's beach vacation. Ambitious project managers take the initiative. The world has never been changed by unambitious project managers. Ambitious people are not satisfied with the status quo. They want to change things and make things happen.

Ambition that is focused on “me…me…me” is not influential. It leads to conflict and fails to build networks of trust and support among your team and other project stakeholders. Ambition that focuses on “we…we…we” is influential. It stretches people and teams, and builds commitment and camaraderie. The mindset of ambition is focused on opportunity and positive attitude.

Ambition can make influential people uncomfortable to work with. They can be driven, focused, and intense in a way that less influential people find intimidating. They often appear to be unreasonable: They will stretch people and ask them to do more than they thought possible. Stretching people can develop, not wreck, relationships. When people are stretched, they grow and develop and are proud of what they have achieved. This builds loyalty to the project manager or sponsor who leads them to exceed their own expectations. Stretch is ineffective when it leads to stress, not pressure. The great dividing line between stress and pressure is control. We observe that people under pressure who still have control over their fate can perform exceptionally well. Team members under pressure who have no control over events quickly discover stress and burnout along the project life cycle.

Walk in other people's shoes. We all like to think we are the center of the universe. Influencers may also think that they are the center of the universe, but they do not always show it. They work hard to see the world through the eyes of each person they want to influence. They are always asking themselves difficult questions:

• Why should this person want to talk to me?
• Why should they want to follow or support me?
• What do they want, what do they not want, and how can I use that to my advantage?
• How can I find out more about this person?
• What other choices do they have; why should they prefer my way?

Walking in other people's shoes is not about being nice to other people, or even agreeing with them. It is about understanding them. Once we understand individuals, we are on a path to building rapport with them.

The core skill for walking in other people's shoes is very simple: listen to them but listen actively. Good influencers have two ears and one mouth, and use them in that proportion. We more easily understand other people if we listen to them. Given that most people enjoy talking about their favorite subject—themselves—the simple act of listening builds rapport at the same time as building our knowledge of the people we want to influence.

Develop commitment. The commitment mindset is central to the world of influence, not control. The control mindset likes hierarchy: Power comes from position. This makes it very limiting. The control mindset does not reach beyond the barriers of the hierarchy to make things happen outside a limited range of control. The controlling mindset is enabled by the organization, but also limited by it. The controlling mindset thinks that commitment is a one-way street: Anyone lower in the organization must show commitment to people higher in the organization. Teamwork for a controlling manager means “My way or no way.” If you do not obey, then you are not a good team player.

The commitment mindset is not constrained by hierarchy or by the formal limitations of power. The commitment mindset builds a network of informal alliances, which enables the influencer to achieve things far beyond the dreams of the controlling mindset. Commitment is a two-way street based on mutual obligations. A commitment request needs one of four possible answers: yes, no, a counterproposal, or I'll get back to you by a certain time. Note the absence of “maybe.” Building commitment takes time and skill. Influencers do not expect to build trusted partnerships overnight. These things take time, but once built, such partnerships can pay dividends for a lifetime.

There is a hard edge to the commitment mindset. The influencer may be generous, reliable, committed, and adaptable in the quest to build trusted partnerships. But, the influencer always expects something in return, and sets that expectation from the start of the relationship. Partnership means give and take. Bowing to the wishes of other people is the road to popularity and to weakness. Influencers learn that trust and respect are more valuable currencies than popularity.

Start at the end. Influential people work out the desired goal and then work back from there. They map the journey from the destination back to today. If we start from where we are, we may decide that our goal is not achievable. If we start at the end, the only question we should ask is “How do we get there?” not “Can we get there?”

Starting at the end is a mindset that consistently drives different and more effective behavior. It is focused on the future, not the past; on action, not analysis; and on outcomes, not on process. The mindset shows itself in the questions asked in common day-to-day situations:

• Crisis: “How do we move forward?” not “What went wrong and who can I blame?”
• Conflicts: “What are we arguing about and is it worth it?” not “How do I win?”
• Meetings: “What will we achieve in this meeting?” not “What is the formal agenda?”
• Project planning: “What is our goal?” not “What is the process and where is the risk log?”
• Presentations: “What is my key message and for whom?” not “Can we prepare another 50 PowerPoint slides, just in case we get a question?”

Starting at the end requires firmness about goals but flexibility about the means. This flexibility makes it much easier to adapt to other people and to build commitment. People who are stuck in the control way of thinking lack such flexibility; they hope that strict compliance with a process will yield the right outcome. They use the same map, whatever the journey may be. However hard they run, they never make progress; they simply cover the same course faster. Starting at the end ensures the influencer chooses a worthwhile destination. They may not always travel the fastest, but at least they make progress.

In order to assess your influence, see Table 2.1 in the Appendix for a quick assessment tool.

Informing

The formal way to authorize a project is through the project charter. It documents updated project information for use by all project stakeholders, identifies the sponsor and project manager roles, and gets the project acknowledged by the organization.

In a video clip on the CD Understanding Project Management (Strategic Management Group, n.d.), Dr. Robert J. Graham describes how, as a consultant, he came into a financial services firm and within minutes was able to distinguish successful from unsuccessful projects by a quick review of project charters. The successful projects had a sponsor's name clearly identified. Unsuccessful projects had a blank listing or no specific person for the sponsor.

A project initiator or sponsor external to the project organization, at a level that is appropriate to funding the project, issues the project charter. According to the Project Management Institute's PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition (2013), the project charter, either directly or by reference to other documents, addresses requirements that satisfy customer, sponsor, and other stakeholder needs and expectations, business needs at a high level, and project purpose or justification. The project charter documents the project manager and authority level and formalizes existence of the project. It summarizes milestones and schedule, stakeholder influences, participation of other organizations, constraints, business case justification, and the budget.

Skilled project sponsors are able to prepare a draft of a project charter and work with the project manager to complete the document. Preparing a project charter takes time and effort, both well spent. Its power lies in defining what you know and what you do not know about the project.

One-on-One Relationship Discussion

A major problem in some organizations is that functional managers feel threatened by the project manager because the project manager is closer to the power, both in doing the actual work and in relating to higher-ups in the organization. The project manager may be attending upper managers’ meetings or talking to them directly to inform them about project status. This appears to bypass the chain of command.

Such issues can usually be resolved by dialogue. Talking together regularly is a good approach. Schedule regular one-on-one discussions (at least weekly) between the sponsor and the project manager to keep each informed of what is going on and to agree on relative priorities that affect the project. Set an expectation that each will keep the other informed. A unique relationship exists when the project manager has easy access to the sponsor at all times. Good rapport is a valuable commodity that contributes greatly to project success. It also allows the project manager to give feedback to the sponsor, and vice versa, about how well they are being served and where changes may be helpful.

Criteria List

Not every executive makes a good project sponsor. A project sponsor needs specific characteristics, skills, and attitudes that may not be common among executives in certain organizations:

• They are decision makers.
• They are passionate.
• They know the business.
• They know the customer or industry.
• They have a vision of the future.
• They have worked at mainstream activities in the organization.
• They are influential.
• They are visible.
• They work well with people.
• They complement the project manager or others on the team.
• They are knowledgeable in areas where the project team is not.
• They ask for volunteers, knowing that this approach elicits greater commitment to the project than being assigned.

Are we talking about a visionary or a leader? (Hint: yes!)

Successful sponsors are successful leaders who have a vision and then put forth the effort to attain that vision. It is important to start sponsoring the project with the end in mind. If you can clearly see where you are going, you can get there. You do not need to know every step, but vision makes the decisions along the way a lot easier. Good sponsors identify the project vision for the team and instill confidence that they know how to get there and will find the means to do so.

Sponsors need to be able to take charge of a situation and find a way forward. They need intuition (and an inclination to heed their intuition). That is primarily an inborn trait that is difficult to develop through training.

Top Ten List

We shared a meeting of the minds with Lonnie Pacelli (2005), president of Leading on the Edge International, at PMI® Global Congress 2005—Toronto, where he presented his “Top Ten Attributes of a Great Project Sponsor.” They are as follows:

1. Clearly understand the problem to be solved.
   • The organization is trying to stop the hemorrhaging of an existing problem.
   • The organization is trying to improve on something that may already be working.
   • The organization is trying to prevent a problem from occurring.
2. Ensure that the solution fixes the problem.
   • The solution focuses on root causes, not symptoms.
   • There are no “pork-barrel” solutions included in the core solution.
   • The project sponsor can clearly envision and articulate how the organization would benefit by implementing the solution.
3. Know where “good enough” is.
   • The project team doesn't waste organization resources by overengineering a solution.
   • The project team doesn't oversimplify things, thereby underallocating resources to fix the problem.
4. Build the right team to solve the problem.
   • Appoint a strong project manager capable of driving the solution.
   • Secure the right resources the project manager requires to get the job done.
   • Ensure that resources aren't over-or under-allocated to the project.
   • Remove nonperformers or poor fits as necessary.
5. Hold the team accountable for results.
   • Meet with the team on an appropriate regular basis for status updates.
   • Ask the tough questions, particularly of poor performers.
   • Keep the team focused on dates and deliverables.
6. Know the big issues and what is needed to resolve them.
   • Understand the outstanding big issues facing the team.
   • Know what is needed of the project sponsor to help resolve the issues.
   • Hold the team accountable for timely resolution of issues.
7. Be the advocate, coach, influencer, and battering ram.
   • Be a partner to the project manager by helping think through tough problems.
   • Evangelize the project to peer executives and others in the organization.
8. Make the thoughtful, tough decisions.
   • Don't drag your feet on making decisions.
   • Don't be afraid to make a good business decision that may be unpopular.
   • Be willing to make a good business decision that may mean personal loss in stature in the organization.
9. Ensure that the project finishes strong.
   • Keep the team focused on delivering until the bottom of the ninth inning is over.
   • Resist the urge to take on additional work at the last minute.
   • Keep resources in place to ensure success.
10. Know when to pull the plug.
    • Recognize when a project isn't going to deliver the results as originally expected.
    • Know when higher-priority projects supplant the current project.
    • Don't be afraid to cut losses and stop a failed project.

To sum up, project sponsors are a crucial component of any project and can either ensure its success or seal its doom. Sponsors need to be active, aware, engaged, available, and willing to help the project manager and project team deliver results to the organization. It's a risk that can be easily mitigated on any project and can absolutely make the difference between success and failure.

We could not agree more with Pacelli's tried-and-true techniques to help project sponsors be effective at ensuring project success.

Project Sponsor as Captain

We have long admired consultant Lou Russell's ability to share insights, whether in presentations, seminars, or her writings. As President, “Queen,” and CEO of Russell Martin & Associates, her upbeat and humorous style both enlightens and entertains any group or convention while providing practical insights for improving communication, teamwork, and leadership. Here is her response to our inquiry about her thoughts on project sponsorship:

My project management practice revolves around simplifying project management processes and techniques in all parts of large organizations. There is still an assumption by executives that the role of the project sponsor is to discover the strategic need, then sit up tall and say “Make it so!” like Captain Picard of Star Trek fame. Recently, I have met some project sponsor challenges in our consulting work.

Not so good:

This is what I see 80% of the time in my work with Fortune 1000 companies. The project starts and the project sponsor is completely sure that everyone including the project manager knows all there is to know to get this project done on time, budget, and with excellent quality. After all, he told them in the email he sent two weeks ago. Done. The project manager is ready to throw all kinds of new tools and techniques on this project, which she is convinced, will guarantee that nothing will go wrong on this project. The stakeholders know nothing about this project yet and believe they have no capacity to do even one more task. Train wreck scheduled immediately.

No project sponsor at all:

We started a contract to inventory the project management processes, tools, and techniques that were currently used. We had a statement of work. Only problem—we had no sponsor. We spent almost two months trying to find someone to be the sponsor of this fully funded project. Eventually, we landed on two managers who were the lone occupants of the enterprise project management office (PMO). My team worked the IT, HR, and other organizations to find the artifacts. After waiting for permission, they decided to just get it done.

I worked at the executive level (as the project sponsor on our side), calling and meeting with executives whom I knew could make a difference and getting them to tell me what was really going on. Obviously, the governance was shaky but it went really well. The project was completed successfully, and we are bidding on the next phases and still trying to figure out how to work out the project sponsor role in a very silo'ed business. Don't wait for permission.

Being a project sponsor:

Recently, I was our internal project sponsor on a large, unclear consulting project to create learning experiences helping corporate executives become project sponsors (role clarity, key accountabilities, etc.). The team consisted of three individuals with complementary strengths and motivators. The project manager had a detailed focus while the two other team members were more people-oriented. Unfortunately, the project manager turned out to be so afraid of failing that he created charts and complicated notes instead of managing the project. The project was completely stalled, which burned through the hours of the fixed bid. Each time I asked for an updated project charter and plan, I never got one. Each time I asked for the next deliverables, there were excuses. In their defense, the other two team members were trying to figure out how to work around the project manager. It became clear that none of us were going to get status updates from this project manager.

As sponsor, I had to decide whether to get rid of the project manager or not. The customers had trust in the project manager, but the team members did not. I decided that the turmoil of that would be even more destructive to the project. Instead, I helped the team divide tasks at a quick meeting and gave the team permission to go. They finished the project in spite of the project manager. Conclusion: If you want to be a better project manager, try being a project sponsor somewhere.

Closing story:

One of my customers, an executive in healthcare and gifted project sponsor, shared this story with me. When he initially met with his enterprise project managers, he told them that he would take US$1,000 from each of them (personally) to invest for them. He wasn't going to tell them how he would invest it or when they would get their money back. Clearly, the statement stunned the project managers. He went on to tell them that the company gives them millions of dollars to manage projects, and they are unable to explain how they are managing them, what the outcomes will be, and when the project will be complete.

Or as Captain Picard said, “The line is drawn here! This far, no farther!“

Summary

This chapter covers various ways to go about the process of establishing sponsors. The sponsor role may have different meanings, depending on the project management culture of the organization.

Sometimes project sponsors choose to be sponsors; sometimes they are assigned the role without being asked. The best project sponsors are those who understand their role and want to be in it.

Selling project sponsorship is a difficult task in many organizations. Normally, upper managers are responsible to look for the right project sponsor, and they follow their instincts. The fact is that not everyone can be a good sponsor; the role requires numerous special characteristics.

Establishing effective project sponsors takes time, and the organization needs to set out criteria to help in the selection process. Depending on the project management maturity level of an organization, this process will be effective or just remain another bureaucratic exercise. Use the criteria we suggest in this chapter when selecting sponsors. As a project or program manager, take the initiative to manage up the organization and obtain the support you need. Apply reciprocity thinking to address both how the organization will benefit and what sponsors take away from their participation in the role.