Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success

Completed projects are the lifeblood and vitality of most organizations. But many projects fail to deliver desired outcomes or do not complete at all. Perhaps management commitment—or lack thereof—is the cause. So, we ask the question, Who needs project sponsorship?

?Many executives are assigned as project sponsors, but their organizations do not spend time training and explaining their expected roles and responsibilities during project life cycles. Thus, many a sponsor, like many a project manager, ends up in the role “by accident.”

Theoretically, the sponsor role can have a tremendous impact on project success. However, the reality is quite different. In our experience, the sponsor role is unclear in many organizations. Sometimes the sponsor is not very involved in the project. Sometimes the project sponsor is too involved and tries to act as a sort of super project manager, generating con?ict and problems.

Management support is always needed throughout project life cycles. In fact, “We need more management support!” seems to be the of?cial slogan of a great many organizations. On every project, the project manager and his or her team needs management support. And each project needs but a single sponsor. Multiple sponsorship usually turns out to equal no sponsorship. Furthermore, to be able to give effective management support, managers need to know what is expected of them. Even worse, many sponsors do not know much about the projects they are sponsoring, and no one has bothered to explain to them the meaning of project sponsorship.

We have seen many organizations focus on the improvement of project management, the implementation of project management methodologies, and the development of a project management career path. But we have seen only a few organizations that are aware of how to develop the skills of their managers and top executives regarding the big in?uence they have on project success.

If project sponsors spend time with their project manager, project team, and customer, they will know more about the projects that are so important for their livelihood. They will be more effective and potentially generate more business. Complex projects need sponsors who are more leaders than managers. This means people who are able to establish directions for the future, communicate through vision, and create aligned high-performance teams, people who are highly focused on planning and shortening horizons. Complex projects need leaders who inspire people and fuse them into a motivated and performing team driven by a common vision.

The main purpose of a good sponsor is to add value to the project. Usually, the sponsor is a person who has higher level of authority than the project manager and his or her team. The sponsor is a senior executive with business experience. Making business decisions will be necessary, and the persons who can do it best are those who know organizational strategy. But the sponsor probably needs to be taught how to be the best possible sponsor.

A good sponsor performs different functions during the project life cycle, serving as mentor, catalyst, motivator, barrier buster, and boundary manager. The sponsor is the link between the project manager and senior managers. The project sponsor is the best “project seller.” The sponsor promotes and defends the project in front of all other project stakeholders.

Being a project sponsor is to be involved from project initiation to project end. Various activities are essential for project success. During project team start-up, the sponsor needs to share a compelling vision and communicate importance of the project mission. When the project is up and running, the sponsor works with the project manager and stays informed regarding project progress and status. Regular interaction between project manager and project sponsor is a must to talk about and decide on project issues and to learn both good news and bad. Sponsors and managers need to say what they believe and do what they say they will do. Through this united front, the sponsor maintains credibility in the minds of the project team and the customer. As the project ends, the sponsor monitors project close-out, ensuring that the desired results have been delivered and tracked, documentation is complete, and actions have been determined for improving project processes as a result of project reviews.

During the useful lifetime of results delivered by projects, the sponsor ensures that desired bene?ts are achieved that justify the investments expended on projects. Positive or negative gaps provide the sponsor with information to guide future investments.

In helping organizations develop PM methodologies, we have observed that many organizations do not consider the critical need for management involvement in leading change toward greater project success. The sponsor role is sometimes de?ned but not in depth. And that de?nition may be shared among project managers but not with executives. Managers are often not involved because nobody has explained to them why their involvement is important or how to improve project success.

Some managers believe that they are good sponsors because of previous business experiences. But that is not necessarily true. Some are not ready to learn from projects. Being ready to learn from every project and take action on ?ndings is crucial for project success. Very little happens without management involvement. But managers need to know what project stakeholders expect in terms of project sponsorship excellence. Furthermore, sponsors need training in their roles and responsibilities.

Knowing that not every manager has the aptitude to be a good sponsor, it is important to choose each person in that important role carefully. It is also important that people in project management roles need to take the initiative to manage up the organization. That means educate, coach, and guide those who make their work possible.

So, who needs project sponsorship? Everyone does—on every project worth pursuing. Upper management support and sustained commitment is a key element for creating the right environment for successful projects.

[Excerpt from Second Edition of Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success, by Randall L. Englund and Alfonso Bucero. The book serves to expand best practices in project sponsorship across all organizations and includes checklists, questionnaires, and templates to assist in applying the concepts. View www.projectsponsorship.com for more information.]

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Randy Englund

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