Early on when deploying ERP systems, I had a conversation with my directors about support for the deployments. They complained that too often they felt like they were “pushing a rope” when it came to project support, and that the ERP deployment was seen as an IT initiative the business needed to endure. In fact, the program’s initial executive sponsor had left the company and had not been effectively replaced.
Since 1998 surveys done by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and PROSCI have consistently ranked having an effective project sponsor as the number one contributor to a project’s success. Despite this according to PMI, 38% of major IT projects lack an executive sponsor while according to KPMG, 68% of such projects lack an effective sponsor. (My math interprets this to mean around 30% of projects have ineffective sponsors.)
To be effective a sponsor needs to play the following roles:
- Alignment: Ensuring that any major IT enabled initiative is aligned with a significant corporate goal. If this alignment is missing then at some point the initiative will be deprioritized, leading to delays and failures in delivery of the expected benefits.
- Communication: Making sure the entire organization understands the importance of the IT enabled initiative in realizing the corporate objective, and what will need to change to be successful.
- Overcoming Barriers: During any IT enabled initiative issues will come up that threaten its success. This starts with properly staffing the project with key resources who are often needed elsewhere. It includes building a healthy coalition of leaders to provide ongoing support for the required changes.
- Accountability: The sponsor must be seen as taking personal responsibility for ensuring the initiative delivers the expected outcomes. In this role the sponsor must challenge the delivery team to ensure the implemented functionality supports the business case, and the broader organization to adopt the new functionality to drive the expected benefits.
In our case we addressed our gap by clearly defining the sponsor role and putting a moratorium on starting any new project where a capable sponsor had not been identified. I would encourage you to do the same in your organization.
