sponsorship-small

sponsorshipAs discussed in Secrets to Business Transformation Success, successful projects are characterized by six things: a well-defined governance structure, strong sense of urgency, active sponsorship from leaders, engagement across all organizational levels, alignment with the organization’s existing systems and structures, and strategies for sustaining changes over the long term.

Of these six characteristics, sponsorship is one of the most fundamental factors and the one that correlates most directly with a project’s success or failure. Below is a summary of the behaviors that highly effective sponsors exhibit, along with examples of specific actions to look for.

executive-sponsor

Effective sponsors should be actively engaged in the project from start to finish. They should constantly explain and champion the initiative up, down, and across the organization to ensure that all stakeholders understand and commit to the vision for change.

The sponsor should lead the decision process through the inevitable conflicts that arise when preferences among business units conflict with one another and with what is best for the company as a whole.

Effective sponsors should take full advantage of outside experience and points of view. The chances of project success increase dramatically when internal and external experts work together considering different approaches before arriving at a decision.

Sponsors should understand that courage is required for project leaders to drive real change. Without strong leadership, project teams often avoid bold decisions and gravitate toward lower level incremental change. Sponsors need to remind their teams that they are expected to make the hard decisions necessary to achieve strategic value.

If you would like to assess the effectiveness of your project’s sponsorship, check out Change Accelerator’s Executive Sponsorship Assessment tool.

Jesse Jacoby

Jesse Jacoby

The Editor of Emergent Journal and founder of Emergent, Jesse is a recognized expert in business transformation. He and his team partner with Fortune 500 and mid-market companies to deliver successful people and change strategies. Jesse is the creator of the Accelerating Change & Transformation (ACT) model and developer of Change Accelerator and Rocket Manager. Contact Jesse at 303-883-5941 or jesse@emergentconsultants.com.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


About us

Emergent Journal is a collection of business articles containing practical methods, tools, and tips for driving change and implementing business strategies from a people and change perspective. It is published by Emergent, a consulting firm headquartered in Denver and serving Fortune 500 clients across North America.

Learn More About EJ




Most Popular