Working together for success 14th October 2013

1. WiPM Conference 2013
Getting the best out of your
project sponsor
14 October 2013
Sarah Coleman
Director, Business Evolution Ltd
Non-Executive Director, Association for Project Management
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

2. “….. so your
Project Sponsor is
who?”
Source: “Noah's Ark” Edward Hicks (1846)
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3. a communication collision …..
… enterprise architecture …
relational databases …firewall
divisions… intra regional pops
… real-time … US host systems
… MPLS based network ….
WAN technologies … ADSL ….
SNMP out of band
CHI
ANP
Intra-Region
Aurora Pops
MAD
BT
MCI
FRA
KYB
Inter-Regional
POP
Inter-Regional
POP
A<ccc><##>RTR01
Legency POP
A<ccc><##>RTR01
A<ccc><##>RTR04
A<ccc><##>SWH0
1
A<ccc><##>SWH0
1
Other
ARINC
Application
s
Other
ARINC
Application
s
BT Aurora POP
IPOP
BT Aurora POP
A<ccc><##>SRV0
1
A<ccc><##>RTR03
A<ccc><##>RTR03
A<ccc><##>RTR04
A<ccc><##>SVR01
A<ccc><##>SVR01
A<ccc><##>FWL0
3
A<ccc><##>RTR02
A<ccc><##>RTR02
DSL
IP
A<ccc><##>RTR05
BT
NET
DSL
IP
BT
Interne
t
A<ccc><Customer ID>
A<ccc><Customer ID>
A<ccc><Customer ID>
A<ccc><Customer ID>
That almost meant
something to me
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

4. © 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

5. a view from the project manager …..
“ ….. our sponsor was really involved at the beginning,
but now seems to have a completely different set of priorities.
It is a continuous battle to get time in her diary.”
“ ….. they’ve given me a sponsor who has no
authority and very little interest in responsibility”
“ ….. the sponsor from hell – a micro manager …”
“ ….. exactly how are we supposed to get our sponsor motivated and
maintain their interest? We thought this should be a necessary part of
their role”
“Ours is a long-term project and we’ve had changes of
project sponsors on average every six months. Each time,
we have to start all over again and build the relationship
from scratch. There must be an easier way to deal with
changing sponsors, or even to stop changing sponsors.“
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

6. project sponsorship: a team sport …..
Source: Peter Holmberg. Alinghi Team training in Dubai 2007.
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

7. building the individual & organizational capability
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

8. a balance of factors …..
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9. do you speak project sponsorship?
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10. a tough meeting with the project sponsor …..
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

11. question ……
What are 3 key ways in which a
project manager can contract
successfully
with a project sponsor?
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

12. a view from the project sponsor…..
“….. my project manager likes to think he is running the
show. Major decisions are taken without input or
knowledge and it makes me look ridiculous because I go
to Board meetings without having been briefed.”
“….. different projects require different types and
degrees of sponsorship. This isn’t necessarily
recognised by my organization.”
“….. she has no understanding of my time commitments,
how I view the project and what I need from it.”
“What is ‘success’ for the Project Sponsor role? If it all goes *!*s up
then I know I’ve failed!”
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

13. questions …..
 How does your organization develop
and support its own project
sponsorship capability?
 What kind of projects within your
organization are provided with project
sponsors?
 Does one size of project sponsorship
fit all project types within your
organization?
 How does your organization measure
the success of the role, and of the
individual within the role?
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

14. and finally …..
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance

15. thank you …..
e: sarah.coleman@businessevolution.co
w: www.businessevolution.co
b: www.blog.businessevolution.co
m: +44 (0)7999 879870
t: +44 (0)1636 893716
Link, Join, Share …
….. getting the best out of your project sponsor
© 2013 www.businessevolution.co. All rights reserved. Helping organizations improve performance