executive sponsorship

IMC-2017 Learning Session - 39:06
by Bill Wilder, Life Cycle Engineering

As our senior leaders move into positions of increasing responsibility, they learn to delegate more projects and tasks to others. Out of necessity they move beyond the “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself” mentality and realize that by enabling employees to excel and succeed, leaders will excel and succeed.

When faced with a major change initiative that will result in transformation within the company, leaders establish a project management group to handle the project. Tasks are subsequently divided and delegated. Resources are allocated and a utilization plan created. Knowing that change requires leadership, we assign someone with the title of “Project Sponsor”. Yet our major change initiatives still fail. So what is the problem? What exactly is a sponsor and what is their role?

The title of this presentation is “Executive Sponsorship” and will discuss exactly what an executive sponsor is and what they do. We will also explore the meaning of the word “sponsor”, the various types of sponsorship, and the roles of sponsors using the ABC’s of sponsorship.