There are tons of material available for project management training ; books,videos,training modules,you name it. Much less for project sponsors. So how does one become a great project sponsor ? What books should they read ? What training should they get ? Saving Changes...
Well as you know one of the role of project sponsor is to provide expertise and guidance to the project manager and if we go back to the basic who is the sponsor so he is often a manager or Executive CEO and it is assumed that he have gone to same training to reach senior level, there is no particular training, it is the same training you are doing for your own SDA ( strategic development activities) to improve leadership skills and to increase your technical knowledge and finance as it is a key to your way to top management it is important to know how money works as most project aligned with company strategic growth and profit, even with NGO or non profit organization a certain level of finance is needed to survive, the other way I see it if you have a big liquid ( big capital ) so that you can finance a project and be a sponsor. Also you need to understand laws as you would be acting as arbitrator if you are a sponsor to take decision beyond the authority of a PM. Saving Changes...
I don't know of any formal courses for sponsors, however, one characteristic of mature organizations (from a PM perspective) is a sponsor onboarding program to help new sponsors understand the basics of project management as well as what are the patterns and anti-patterns for their roles.
For example, at the Canadian bank which I recently worked for, our EPMO developed a sponsor onboarding program which executives sponsoring programs over $10MM were required to go through.
Hi Riyadh,Kiron and Sante. To resume project sponsors need competencies related to finance,law and leadership. Onboardong programs are a characteristic of mature organizations.
Excellent , thank you all so much. Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
A sponsor is the champion of the Project and advertises the project to the stakeholders, helps remove roadblocks in the way of successful project implementation and outcomes and provides funding and resources to the project.
This would mean they need to understanding finance, people management and stakeholder management apart from having a firm grasp of their division/department's Business Process so that they can understand how the project will affect it.
A High level understanding of the organization's project delivery life-cycle would also be helpful. Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
A sponsor is the champion of the Project and advertises the project to the stakeholders, helps remove roadblocks in the way of successful project implementation and outcomes and provides funding and resources to the project.
This would mean they need to understanding finance, people management and stakeholder management apart from having a firm grasp of their division/department's Business Process so that they can understand how the project will affect it.
A High level understanding of the organization's project delivery life-cycle would also be helpful.
...
1 reply by Nenad Pesic
Jan 14, 2018 5:19 PM
Nenad Pesic
...
Thank you Deepesh , a detailed and helpful answer.
A sponsor is the champion of the Project and advertises the project to the stakeholders, helps remove roadblocks in the way of successful project implementation and outcomes and provides funding and resources to the project.
This would mean they need to understanding finance, people management and stakeholder management apart from having a firm grasp of their division/department's Business Process so that they can understand how the project will affect it.
A High level understanding of the organization's project delivery life-cycle would also be helpful.
Thank you Deepesh , a detailed and helpful answer. Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
I did my first sponsor workshop for an insurance company in 1998, as a IBM consultant. This was meant to align the team of executives on project management and as a side effect agree on how they want to define the role of the sponsor. They are not sponsors to fulfill a role but to achieve goals by optimally using resources (including project managers). Saving Changes...
