It's the sponsor, stupid!

Abstract

Much of the practical advice to fledgling project managers is the way they interact and lead a project team; however, if the sponsor is left out of the loop, the success of the project may be at stake! If the sponsor does not know his or her role in the project, it is problematic that the project will be a success! This part of the project management dynamic can be easily ignored even though it should be “front and center” during the start of a project. This paper and presentation will speak to the role, needs, and type of stakeholder the sponsor plays (or fails to play!) in a project. The sponsor may lead, hinder, or simply may not be visible during the project life cycle. This paper and presentation emphasizes the role the project manager must play to engage and involve the sponsor as well as listen to his or her perspectives and needs. It will also define the duties and responsibilities of the sponsor in a project environment.

Introduction

Much of the practical advice given to fledgling project managers is the way they interact with and lead a project team. For example, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) states:

“Leadership. Successful projects require strong leadership skills. Leadership is important through all phases of the project life cycle. It is especially important to communicate the vision and inspire the project team to achieve high performance.” (Project Management Institute, 2008, p. 240)

This of course makes perfect sense, because the project manager is tasked to lead a group of individuals who have a variety of backgrounds, expertise, experiences, and skill sets. In many cases, this is where project issues are encountered, dealt with, and solved in order to move the project forward. This is the main focus of the duties and responsibilities of a project manager on a project.

However, if the sponsor or executive, who is ultimately responsible for the success of the project, is left out of the loop, the success of the project may be at risk! If the sponsor does not know his or her role in the project, his or her role in the organization is low in the management hierarchy, he or she is not engaged with the project manager, or his or her leadership style is contrary to the needs of the project, then it is doubtful the project will be a success!

This part of the project management dynamic can be easily ignored even though it should be “front and center” during the start of a project. This paper will speak to the role, needs, and type of stakeholder the sponsor plays (or fails to play) in a project. The sponsor may lead, hinder, or simply may not be visible during the project lifecycle.

This paper will emphasize the role the project manager must play to engage and involve the sponsor as well as listen to his or her perspectives and needs. It will also define what the duties and responsibilities of the sponsor are in a project environment.

The Sponsor's Role in a Project

Defining the sponsor's role in a project is all important. Again, referring to the PMBOK^® Guide as the project management standard, which states:

“A sponsor is the person or group that provides the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project. When a project is first conceived, the sponsor champions the project. This includes as serving as spokesperson to higher levels of management to gather support throughout the organization and promote the benefits that the project will bring. The sponsor leads the project through the engagement or selection process until formally authorized, and plays a significant role in the development of the initial scope and charter.” (Project Management Institute, 2008, p. 25)

Clearly, the sponsor's role is critical to the success of the project from conception to completion. To summarize, the sponsor's role in a project is to:

• Select it
• Finance it
• Champion it
• Communicate it to the organization and upper management

Exhibit 1 – Sponsor's Role in a Project – Select, Finance, and Champion It, and Communicate it to Upper Management

Although the PMBOK^® Guide emphasizes that the sponsor is most active during the beginning of the project by initially championing it, having it selected, starting it through a project charter, and defining what is and what is not in scope; in essence, it suggests that the sponsor then turn everything over to the project manager to execute, monitor and control, and close.

On the other hand, project involvement of the sponsor may be affected by the organization's culture, his or her job classification, placement in the management hierarchy, and a host of other factors. In addition, this all impacts on the relationship between the project manager and sponsor, again referring to the PMBOK^® Guide, which states:

“For issues beyond the control of the project manager, the sponsor serves as an escalation path. The sponsor may also be involved in other important issues such as authorizing changes in scope, phase-end reviews, and go/no-go decisions when risks are particularly high.” (Project Management Institute, 2008, p. 25)

Exhibit 2 – Sponsor project long commitments.

This implies that the sponsor has a project-long commitment, and that the relationship between the project manager and sponsor is a very important one. Even though managing the project team is important, the project manager must build a professional relationship with the sponsor to complete a project successfully.

Helm and Remington's (2005, p. 57) study described the main attributes a project sponsor should have within the organization and specifically on projects and they are:

• Appropriate seniority and power within the organization
• Political knowledge of the organization and political savvy
• Ability and willingness to make connections between the project and organization
• Courage and willingness to battle with others in the organization on behalf of the project
• Ability to motivate the team to deliver the vision and provide ad hoc support to the project team
• Willingness to partner with the project manager and project team
• Excellent communication skills
• Personal compatibility with other key players
• Ability and willingness to provide objectivity and challenge the project manager

Another paper also shows the importance of an organizational connected project sponsor, and it states:

“Further, the project sponsor must have the management span, appropriate knowledge, and organizational authority to harmonize the discordant voices. This is where the project sponsor in any type of organizational project can really make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful project.” (Sutterfield & Friday-Stroud & Shivers-Blackwell, 2006, pp 30–31)

One paper in particular suggests various ways to remove the sponsor if the relationship between the project and the sponsor is not working out. (Melymuka, 2004, p. 35) The impact of a dysfunctional sponsor will throw a project behind schedule, bury it in cost overruns, and have a negative effective on the team members and the organization as a whole.

Additionally, the sponsor is the cement that holds the project and the organization together. The sponsor is the conduit in receiving resources from the organization to support the project and inform the organization of the status and success of the project.

“The sponsorship role provides the critical link between corporate and project governance and is important in ensuring that governance requirements are met and that support is provided to projects and programs.” (Crawford, Cooke-Davies, Hobbs, Labuschagne, Remington & Ping, 2008, p. S44)

Another impact a sponsor may have is specifically on the project's product. Perhaps the sponsor may not be as involved with the day-to-day running of the project but has overall influence of the deliverable of the project.

“Project sponsorship is found to have a significant positive effect on product performance but not on process performance.” (Liu, 2009, p. 250)

There is also the perception that the more senior or higher up a sponsor is in the organization, the more inaccessible they are to the project because they are very busy with the management of the organization. Whereas a sponsor who is not high up in the management hierarchy is very available to the project, however, his or her effectiveness on the project is diminished. (Ives, 2005, p. 46) This dichotomy of sponsorship will need to be acknowledged and addressed by the project manager.

All of this shows how the sponsor needs to be engaged in the project as well as being a key player within the organization to improve the prospect for project success. It points out the complexity of the sponsorship role on the project and relationship with the project manager.

Sponsor Leadership Style

One of the aspects of the relationship between the project manager and sponsor is the sponsor's leadership style. Leadership styles have been categorized as:

• Authoritarian – focuses on instrumental concerns, takes personal charge of decision-making, and demands strict compliance from subordinates.
• Democratic – is more expressive and makes a point of including everyone in the decision-making process.
• Laissez-faire – allows the group to function largely on its own. (Macionis, 2003, pp 165–166)

These are broad categories and this does not imply there are strict boundaries between these leadership styles but rather there can be a blending of them. For example, the sponsor may act authoritarian with project teams but may engage with the project manager democratically.

Nonetheless, these broad categories do suggest how the sponsor's leadership style will impact the group:

• Authoritarian – May not be popular with the group but can act quickly in a crisis
• Democratic – Draw on ideas of the group but is less successful in a crisis
• Laissez-faire – Least effective in promoting group goals (Macionis, 2003, p. 166)

Like a project manager who is tasked with managing the project team, freeing up resources and removing barriers to project execution, the sponsor may be seen as a reflection of this at a broader level. The sponsor in essence is managing stakeholders at the management, organization, and community levels. They have removed barriers to start the project by moving it through the selection process as well as having the aforementioned responsibilities of path escalation, scope changes, phase reviews, and making decisions on risks. (Geoghegan & Dulewicz, 2008, p. 67) show a strong correlation between project leadership competencies and project success.

Leadership style, therefore, is a very important factor in how the sponsor interacts with the team, upper management, and the project manager. There is a plethora of possibilities when blending leadership styles and the project manager should be cognizant of these nuances in order to more fully understand the sponsor's views, ideas, and vision of the project.

The Sponsor-Project Manager Relationship

The project manager and sponsor need to understand each other in order to move the project forward and successfully complete it. There have been some studies involving this dynamic, which shed light on what needs to be done to complete the project within the project scope and quality. For example, one paper shows that a major success criterion for projects is:

“A collaborative working relationship should be maintained between the project owner (or sponsor) and project manager, with both viewing the project as a partnership.” (Jugdev & Müller, 2005, p. 28)

This is a pervasive view throughout the literature that a partnership relationship needs to be front and center between the sponsor and the project manager. This partnership has many variations but the main feature is more even sharing of responsibilities and the ability to complement each other's skill sets and leadership styles. This leveling effect needs to be considered in the relationship from the start providing all things are equal (experience, interpersonal skills, leadership qualities, etc.) between the sponsor and the project manager.

“Project sponsors saw one of their roles as being to develop partnering type relationships to prevent potentially project damaging antagonisms developing. The research identified a correlation between the strength of these relationships and the success of the project.” (Hall, Holt, & Purchase, 2003, p. 501)

“Since it is obvious from results of the present study that project managers do not share the position that part of the sponsor's role is that of development of the project manager, it is therefore incumbent upon both stakeholders to embrace the concept that their relationship is perhaps a partnership, with each party appropriately and reciprocally contributing to the development of the other for the greater good of project success.” (Kloppenborg, Stubblebine, & Tesch, 2007, p. 812)

One of the first steps to be done in this relationship is to make sure everyone is clear on the role he or she will take in the execution of the project. This is particularly important between the project sponsor and manager so that they are not stepping on each other's authority and creating mixed signals to the project team, upper management, and the stakeholders or clients.

“It is imperative that the role and responsibilities of project sponsor and project manager are clearly delineated. For example, the project manager is responsible for meeting the success criteria the project sponsor has defined and the project sponsor may cancel the project on the recommendation of the project manager. One cause of ineffective sponsorship is situations in which these lines of responsibility are not clear, with the project sponsor carrying out project manager roles, and vice versa.” (Bryde, 2008, p. 801)

However, the perspective roles work both ways—the communications between the two leaders have to be active and constant throughout the project, especially in large, complex projects, because roles will change throughout the project life cycle.

“As a link between the project manager and senior manager, the project sponsors' roles vary during the project life cycle to include: seller, coach, mentor, filter, business judge, motivator, negotiator, and protector.” (Kloppenborg, Tesch, Manolis, & Heitkamp, 2006, p. 141)

The other feature of this relationship may be a progressive handing over of duties and responsibilities to the project manager from the sponsor. Once the project has been vetted and selected to go forward, the sponsor still retains ultimate responsibility but begins to hand over the day-to-day operation of the project plan to the project manager.

“Project are implemented by retaining project power and authority with the sponsor on behalf of the organization; the sponsor shares this power and authority with the project manager over time.” (Ives, 2005, p. 46)

Exhibit 3 – Project Manager – Sponsor – Project Team Relationships

To some degree though, again depending on the level of sponsor project engagement, the project manager is initially put on a reactionary footing because of the sponsor's and management's actions regarding the creation of the project. In many cases, the project has already moved forward from the gestation phase and the project manager is being brought in to move it along. But, at this point, it is critical for the project manager to do a “deep analysis” of the project and the deliverables and align them with the organization's mission and goals.

“By responding to the scope position established at the outset by the sponsor, the project manager will, through the project planning process, inevitably look broadly across the organization—and indeed beyond the organizational boundaries to determine all of the project's impacts and associated work activities.” (Ives, 2005, p. 45)

On a more basic level, though, one of the most important things a project sponsor can do is be available to the project manager and team. Through an interview research project, interviewed project managers talked about their relationships with their sponsor. The key ingredient to the relationship was the sponsor being available to the project.

“But in practical terms, perhaps the most visible attribute is availability: “[The sponsor] must be accessible. It doesn't help if you have a sponsor who kind of reports to God and you never get to see them because he doesn't provide the support function and the role he's supposed to give you as the project manager. ...We've had some that just couldn't or wouldn't find the time to sponsor a project properly. So their teams couldn't get any of their time to meet with them or make decisions. They wouldn't attend steering meetings, things like that.” (Crawford & et al, 2008, p. S52)

Even so, visibility and engagement may be “good things” on their own, but there may be drawbacks when having a sponsor involved in a project. This can result in more interference than help by putting up new barriers, making changes to the deliverables, or misleading the project team with a faulty vision. The project manager must be aware that he or she may need to provide guidance to a sponsor, especially if this is his or her first time in the role.

“However, you may need to train your team or project sponsor if they have weak project management skills or project management processes.” (Skulmoski & Hartman, 2010, p. 70)

“Sponsors sometimes have unrealistic expectations of what can be done, and technical team members sometimes want to implement perfect or cutting edge solutions (Skulmoski & Hartman, 2010, p. 73).

In order to clarify the project, the project manager must be able to communicate the prime objective(s) to the sponsor. Having the background and tools to communicate these objectives are paramount for the success of the relationship.

“Communication involves educating the project sponsor and other top management about the impact of the project on the organization as well as communicating the progress of the project.” (Sewchurran & Barron, 2008, p. S58)

Is there a best fit? Is the correct person being chosen to lead the project from the executive layer of the organization? Are there clear expectations about what a sponsor's responsibilities are when taking on a leadership role of this type? When accepting an assignment, the project manager needs to analyze the relationship with the sponsor and if the person is up to the challenge.

“So important is this relationship that theorists have emphasised that project managers must ensure that they have mobilised the support from the most appropriate person to act as sponsor for the project and if, necessary, seek to proactively sell the projects to potential sponsors if the most appropriate person is not occupying the sponsor role.” (Bryde, 2008, p. 801)

Of course, the selection process works both ways. The sponsor usually has the authority to choose the project manager to lead the project. The impact of this choice cannot be underestimated because it ultimately impacts on the project outcomes.

“We also see a positive relationship between project manager behavior and both the customer satisfaction and future benefits outcome variables. These findings seem to indicate that as the importance of a sponsor to select and mentor (assist) a project manager increases, so does the importance of both satisfying customers and securing future benefits upon the completion of a project.” (Kloppenborg, Tesch, Manolis, & Heitkamp, 2006, p. 153)

“It appears that time spent by the sponsor in ensuring that a good project manager is hired and mentored has a significant impact on the success of the project customer.” (Kloppenborg, Tesch, Manolis, & Heitkamp, 2006, p. 153)

Add In Governance

The old analogy of a three-legged stool that will collapse if one of the supports is missing also seems to apply to the relationship between the project manager and sponsor. The organization needs to have in place a process framework that speaks to project governance. This can vary from place to place because of the types of organizations adopting a project management regimen. For example, the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) may be a great fit for an organization that pursues information technology projects.

Perhaps adopting a more generalized framework (e.g., Togaf or Zachmann architectural frameworks) would be in order. Even a “home grown” version or hybrid governance model that includes the PMBOK^® Guide's best practices, Six Sigma, or other methodologies may be appropriate to assist in defining the roles and responsibilities of the actors in the organization.

Exhibit 4 – Governance as part of the Sponsor-Project Manager Relationship

Having a governance model can assist in defining the nature of the project engagement among the key players. With this in place, it may smooth the relationships between the major roles.

“Project governance is the responsibility of several key positions: executive sponsor, project champion, project manager, and project steering committee. From a knowledge perspective, effective project governance involves two issues—volatility and role understanding.” (Reich, 2007, p. 11)

“An effective sponsorship and governance model is essential to project success and provides the organizational context for project success. Changes to project sponsorship or governance during the term of the project increase risk of project failure.” (Ives, 2005, p. 49)

Conclusions

Even though the sponsor-project manager relationship is a major factor in project success, there still needs to be a commitment from all stakeholders in the organization.

“The sponsor, steering committee, project leader, and team members must all view the project as an organizational priority.” (Bishop, 1999, p. 7)

Hugos (2005, p. 31) suggests that the project sponsor's “Tactical Principles” should include:

1. Ensure the presence of a full-time leader (the system builder) with overall responsibility and appropriate authority.
2. Define a set of measurable and non-overlapping objectives that are necessary and sufficient to accomplish the project goal.
3. Assign project objectives to teams of two to seven people with hands-on team leaders and an appropriate mix of business and technical skills.
4. Tell the teams what to do but not how to do it.
5. Break project work into tasks that are each a week or less in duration and produce something of value to the business every 30 to 90 days.
6. Ensure that the project office staff works with the system builder and team leaders to update plans and budgets.

Wright (1997, p 185) advises that:

“To facilitate the smooth running of the project it is recommended that:

1. Strong and visible support is given by the sponsor to the project;
2. The project manager is positioned as part of the organization, working from within and not as a provider working from outside the organization.
3. The project manager identifies all the internal stakeholders and gain support of those stakeholders.

To improve communication with the sponsor it is recommended that:

1. The project manager reports weekly to the sponsor.
2. The project manager is up front and keeps the sponsor advised of problems and potential problems;
3. Sponsors show a lively interest in the progress of the project and are visibly supportive of project managers;
4. Project managers do not make assumptions where time or money is involved;
5. Any major variations to the brief are signed off by the sponsor and the project manager. “

From the literature and personal experience, it is clear that during the project management life cycle the roles and responsibilities can change drastically between the sponsor and the project manager. The most ominous issue may be either the leader leaving or abandoning the project while it is underway. This is where governance and project planning help in smoothing these types of transitions; this cannot be over-emphasized enough when approaching a project for the first time.

Another view is from the project process areas. The project manager-sponsor relationship is on going in the project life cycle, and during these phases important tasks must be accomplished by both parties. For example:

1. The Project Manager-Sponsor Relationship and Project Phases
   1. Initiation
      1. Importance of “ice-breaking”
         1. Between the sponsor and project manager
         2. Vision of the project transferred to the project team
      2. Formalize role expectations
         1. Between the sponsor and project manager
         2. Team members are clear on their duties and responsibilities
   2. Planning
      1. Who is responsible for what?
         1. Clear lines of authority between the sponsor and project manager
         2. Stakeholders know what to expect
      2. Verification of requirements
         1. Prevent scope creep.
         2. Prevent “gold plating”
   3. Execution
      1. Engagement
         1. Between the sponsor and the project
         2. Between all stakeholders and the sponsor and project manager
      2. Clearing barriers
         1. Sponsor for the project
         2. Project manager for the team
   4. Closing
      1. The sign off
         1. Project expectations have been met.
         2. Sponsor accepts the deliverables of the project.
      2. Lessons learned
         1. Deep analysis of the sponsor-project manager relationship
         2. What went well in the relationship?
         3. What needed improvement?

Simply put, though, the relationship between the project manager and the sponsor can be condensed into the following seven points:

1. Know and understand each other on a professional and personal level
2. Know your roles relative to the project at hand
3. Communicate with each other throughout the project life cycle
4. Mentor each other from each of your viewpoints
   1. Sponsor – The organizational culture
   2. Project Manager – Project management tools and techniques and best practices
5. Have a shared “vision” of the project and its importance to the organization
6. Make sure that each has access to the resources, tools, and artifacts of the project
7. Incorporate the risk of either party leaving the project for whatever reason

Understanding each other and supporting each other improve the chances of a successful project. Being able to put yourself in the other person's shoes is a key factor in making this type of relationship work for the good of the project, organization, and customers.

As one author said about a sponsor who developed a partnership with him during the running of a project:

“Being an awesome sponsor means being an inspirational leader who get project management and who makes the time to help a project succeed.” (Black, 2005, p. 16)