I have worked across an array of complex projects during my time as a Change Management Practitioner, and I can honestly state that many of my project successes can be accredited to my having an engaged and visible sponsor. Sponsors are critically important in driving success in organisational change initiatives. This statement is backed up by Prosci® research in that 79% of projects that met or exceeded objectives involved having extremely effective sponsors.

When taking on a new project, my initial focus is on who is the project sponsor and what is their understanding of their role as the sponsor of this change initiative. I find it important always to ask myself the following questions regarding my sponsor:

I have experienced that when sponsors are nominated for the role, it tends to take a little bit longer to gain traction due to the sponsor not initially buying into the change or feeling that this may be “additional” work being delegated on top of their existing deliverables. I always found it crucial to schedule time with my sponsor as early as possible to provide coaching on their role and to understand that my role as the change manager will be to equip them with the information and skills to lead the change initiative.

I remember one occasion when I was working on a project in the government sector, and I raised the question at our EXCO meeting of who would be the sponsor for this specific project. A majority of the executives suddenly became quite agitated, and I could clearly sense that nobody was willing to put their hand up to sponsor the project. The meeting chair (Primary Sponsor) thus nominated the Head of IT since this project was an IT solution. This was my first red flag.

Although the Head of IT was an executive, he had limited experience sponsoring projects and was hardly visible during change initiatives. By nature, he was introverted and often excluded himself from town halls and leadership engagement sessions. To say he was initially resistant to this role is an understatement, but I knew I had my work cut out for me to define and coach him in his role as a project sponsor.

As per Prosci® research findings, project teams ranked 52% of their sponsors as having some to no understanding of their role in managing the people side of change and graded them as “average to poor” regarding sponsorship activities.

My first port of call with my newly identified sponsor was to define his role in the project. Sponsors generally do not fully understand their role, and it was my role as the change practitioner to introduce my sponsors to the ABCs of sponsorship.

Actively and visibly participate throughout the project

I referred to the Prosci® research and confirmed that employees see business leaders as the preferred senders of organisational messages. The Identity and Access Management project affected the entire organisation, and the Head of IT and the Head of Human Resources would be the business leaders with whom all employees would prefer to share the objectives of the organisational solution. During this stage, my sponsor/s realised that this didn’t necessarily mean “more work” on their plate because I would equip them with the communication material and information they require to function as a sponsor.  

Build a coalition of sponsorship with peers and managers

Having touched on my sponsor, fearing “more work” on his plate, I had to propose building a sponsor coalition across the organisation to assist with the change journey. I initially brought in the Head of Human Resources to assist with the organisation-wide kick-off town hall. I then slowly coached both sponsors to identify and build a coalition of sponsors to assist with driving the change management process within their areas of operation.

The establishment of this coalition led to fortnightly leadership engagement sessions whereby all executives began to understand their roles as change ambassadors. This became a forum to discuss the planning around future changes and a coaching initiative for new sponsors.

This component of the ABCs is generally the role that sponsors struggle with the most. Still, if done effectively, a strong coalition of sponsorship can significantly increase your probability of success on change initiatives.

Communicate directly with employees

As the sponsors became comfortable with their role, they started communicating more with employees by default. Not only were the leadership team communicating more frequently via email and town halls, but they were also conducting department walk-throughs. The employees appreciated this gesture, and the feedback I received showed that their leadership team was committed to the changes happening across the organisation.

Being a sponsor is not all about project charters and assigning the project budget. In all 12 of Prosci’s studies, active and visible sponsorship was the #1 contributor to success. As a change practitioner, I understand that it is my role to educate and equip my sponsors to fulfil their role. I see my sponsor as the foundation of change success, and I always ensure I have the right access at the right time to engage with my sponsor to provide feedback on the people side of the change brought about by changes in the organisation. This is integral to achieving the objectives of the project.

I look back fondly on this project and see it as one of my success stories in not only developing the skills of my leadership team but as a reminder of leadership’s impact on the implementation changes across the organisation.