This is the official discussion thread of the webinar Leadership Webinar Jul 2015 - Todd C Williams - Sponsorship Challenges: What Would You Do?
Here we will post all the questions asked during the webinar as well as presentation slides.. Also there is an offer for people who watch the live webinar or recording to Get the white paper: Challenges In Executive Project Sponsorship - $14.95 value for free! (Offer valid through July 24, 2015). Any questions or issues please contatc me [email protected] - Suja
Saving Changes...
Todd WilliamsPresident| eCameron IncCamas, Wa, United States
All,
Below you will find all the answers to the questions that we pulled from the transcript. If we somehow missed a question, please ask it again.
Alan Deschner Question - How do you escalate above the sponsor? Isn't that where the buck stops?
Answer: No, there is almost always someone above the sponsor. It may be the CEO, the board of directors, or the customer.
Annmarie Dookie Question - what about when your Sponsor does not see the importance to monitoring and control
Answer: You need to educate your sponsor before an executive or customer gets frustrated or mad. You should also do montoring and control behind the scenes and have the numbers ready to save the sponsor when the questions arrise. When the executive or customer needs the data, you come to the rescue and save your sponsor. That is how you earn respect from everyone.
Anthony Selmeczy Question - can you translate 'clinician' into a general term for non-health care project
Answer: I am not sure I can in all honesty. I am sure there are other highly specialize and revered people in organizations that may exhibit the same traits, such as research and development people.
David Grady Question - is there a good template description about what a sponsor should do? Obviously we may want to modify for our own use, but having a starting list would be very helpful.
Answer: I am providing the list of what people gave in the session, I think that is a good start, but you need to remove the items that are the PM's responsibility.
David Vincenti Question -Obviously both participate, but to which is more responsibility assigned in educating executivesPMO or individual PMs?
Answer: If there is a PMO, they should do this, but in organizations without a PMO it will fall on the PM (or group of PMs).
David Vincenti Question - This is great material; can you link it to PMBOK guidance on typical sponsor responsibilities?
Answer: I do not have time right now to do that. Would you like to take a stab at it with the data I have provided and we can all provide input?
David Vincenti Question -How can we hold them [sponsors] to their role if they don't understand it?
Answer: This is the challenge of creating the definition and educating the organization. That is the primary issue, in my opinion, with the sponsorship role.
Fredrick Denham Question -what distinction would you make between your company's sponsor and the client's in terms of holding them accountable?
Answer: If you are providing a project externally then you need one more piece to this puzzle--a steering committee. The two sponsors have competing needs and they need to continually compromise on the solution. Assuming you are in the deliver group, you need to be perfectly aligned with your sponsor at all times and be intimately aware of where he or she disagrees with the client.
John Harbeck Question - Isn't a sponsor's “acceptance” i.e. some sort of signature or something, in reality no acceptance at all if the original requestor(s) do not feel the project has met their needs?
Answer: Of course, if a sponsor thinks that he or she can simply sign off the project then he or she is nuts. There needs to be a lot of work on the sponsor's part to gain acceptance (read adoption) by the end-user. However, if the project is in ternal and the sponsor is an executive, he or she can force the end-user to accept the output.
Lisa Funderburg Question - What if the sponsor is the roadblock?
Answer: This almost always devolves into replacing the sponsor with someone that will back the project or killing the project. You have to ask, if no one supports the project, why are you doing it?
Miguel Eduardo Aguilera Trujillo Question - sponsor is the one who initiate and start , authorize project and has an authority to continue with project and he has power to cancel at any time. Then how we, as a PM, can propose a sponsor change? Can we?
Answer: I think I covered this in the session. If the question is beyond that let me know. If the question is similar to the one above on escalating above the sponsor, then maybe that answer will help.
Mmatsatsi Ramasodi Question - How do you get a new sponsor?
Answer: Again, I think I covered this in the session.
Mmatsatsi Ramasodi Question - What doe the PMI Code of Ethics say about changing sponsor tactics?
Answer: I answered this in another thread. There is no ethics violation as you are always telling the complete and honest truth.
Mmatsatsi Ramasodi Question - What is the Executive or sponsor does not want to advocate for the change the project is creating? What can PM do to ensure change management happens?
Answer: This is similar to a question above.If no one supports the project, why are you doing it? The PM can take on this task (assuming there is time, expertise, and budget) by adding the tasks to the schedule. If you boss/sponsor/customer remove those items, document it, and hold them accountable.
Mmatsatsi Ramasodi Question - Does it make sense to have recurring meeting with your sponsor to keep them interested?
Answer: VERY much so. At a minimum monthly, but for most projects every two weeks. Just remember, never have a meeting if there is nothing to say. Do not waste anyone's time.
Sonia Ling Persson Question - How can a PM change a sponsor?
Answer: I think I answered this in the session. Please let me know otherwise.
Sonia Ling Persson Question - Can speaking with the sponsor help? Like have the sponsor itself suggest another sponsor?
Answer:Absolutely!
Tim Jones Question - More of a comment, sometimes your project or program, becomes lower on the totem pole from what it first started and that can affect your project sponsor.
Answer: Yes. Spot on. That is why you should always validate your project's priority. Saving Changes...
Todd WilliamsPresident| eCameron IncCamas, Wa, United States
I promised to supply the definition of the project sponsor that all of you supplied via the chat window. You will find a graphic attached to this post with the data. One side is a histogram and the other is a alphabetical listing with the counts.
We tried to normalize the results as best we could and group them in a way you could use them. I hope this makes sense and helps.
Cheers! Saving Changes...
Todd WilliamsPresident| eCameron IncCamas, Wa, United States
I promised to supply the definition of the project sponsor that all of you supplied via the chat window. You will find a graphic attached to this post with the data. One side is a histogram and the other is a alphabetical listing with the counts.
We tried to normalize the results as best we could and group them in a way you could use them. I hope this makes sense and helps.
Note: This is my second try as the first failed to have the document attached.
