{"id":886,"date":"2008-02-18T18:35:28","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T18:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/2008\/02\/18\/a-word-from-a-sponsor\/"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:35:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T21:35:55","slug":"a-word-from-a-sponsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=886","title":{"rendered":"A Word from a Sponsor…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RandyThree people took a break from the project startup meeting and went for a walk.\u00a0 Stubbing a toe upon something along the trail, one person picked up and discovered a tarnished lamp.\u00a0 As he rubbed the lamp, a puff of smoke emerged and formed into a huge genie.\u00a0 “Well, hello there,” said the genie.\u00a0 “I have three wishes to grant.\u00a0 Since there are three of you, each can have one wish.”<\/p>\n

The first person said, “I’m a hardware developer so I wish for a huge mansion with all automated gadgets overlooking my huge yacht.”\u00a0 “Your wish is granted,” said the genie.\u00a0 The person disappeared into a puff of smoke.<\/p>\n

The second person said, “I’m a software manager so I wish to be at an island resort where all my commands are heard and instantly turn into beautiful objects of art and delicious meals.”\u00a0 \u00a0“Your wish is granted,” said the genie.\u00a0 The person disappeared into a puff of smoke.<\/p>\n

The third person said, “I’m the project sponsor, and I wish to have these two team members back after lunch.”<\/p>\n

This story represents several roles performed by a project sponsor.\u00a0 One role is to be present at a project startup event and to share the vision, objectives, constraints, and priorities of the project.\u00a0 Another role is to staff and sustain adequate resources for the project.\u00a0 Not that sponsors deny themselves opportunities to fulfill personal wishes, but looking after the interests of customers or clients, the organization, and project teams is a prime responsibility.<\/p>\n

I am presenting “Managing Project Sponsorship” to the Project Management Institute San Francisco Bay Area chapter (www.pmi-sfbac.org<\/a>) on Thursday, February 21st<\/sup>.\u00a0 The event takes place at the Embassy Suites in Walnut Creek, CA.\u00a0 Here are several key points I will cover:<\/p>\n

Many executives are assigned as project sponsors, but their organizations do not spend time training and explaining their expected roles and responsibilities during project life cycles.\u00a0\u00a0 The accidental project manager role is well known, and the same applies to sponsors.\u00a0 An effective sponsor can have a tremendous impact on project success.\u00a0 However, reality presents quite a different picture.\u00a0 The sponsor role appears confused in many organizations.\u00a0 Sometimes the sponsor is not very involved in the project.\u00a0 On the other hand, sometimes the project sponsor is too involved and acts or tries to act as a super project manager, generating more conflict and problems.\u00a0 Management support is always needed during the project life cycle.\u00a0 In fact, the sentence: “we need more management support” is very common in most organizations.\u00a0 In every project, the project manager and his\/her team needs management support.<\/p>\n

The topic of effective project sponsorship has emerged as a KEY CHALLENGE in every organization doing projects, especially when you wonder why projects are not producing desired results. As experienced practitioners, co-author Alfonso Bucero and I wrote Project Sponsorship:\u00a0 Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success<\/em> to describe the roles and responsibilities of sponsorship and cover how to obtain, sustain, train, and mentor a sponsor.\u00a0 We draw upon personal as well as experiences from many colleagues in case studies, examples, questionnaires, checklists, and templates.<\/p>\n

A sponsor commits to define, fund, defend, and support major activities from the start of each project to the end.\u00a0 The task continues to ensure the benefits that the project intended to produce are realized.\u00a0 A key concept is proactive sponsorship, meaning sponsors who are committed, accountable, serious about the project, knowledgeable, trained, and able to walk the talk.\u00a0 Their values are transparent and aligned with the organization and its strategy.\u00a0 They protect the team from disruptive outside influences and back the team up when times are tough.\u00a0 An organizational culture committed to this approach is a desired goal.\u00a0 Do sponsorship right the first time and save yourself grief later on.\u00a0 The best way to sustain good sponsorship is to start out with good sponsorship.\u00a0 Anything less is remedial.<\/p>\n

How do you make this happen in your organization?\u00a0 Take the initiative: .<\/p>\n

Randy Englund<\/p>\n

www.englundpmc.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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