Perspectives · Sponsorship
How to Become a Sustainable Sponsor
“No such thing as failed projects, only failed governance.”
Exhibit 1 provides some of the commonly-referenced lists for causes of project failures, all of which reference sponsorship near the top. One of the key success factors for change initiatives is successful sustainable sponsors. Unfortunately, though, sustainable sponsors have not received the same attention and investment as project, programme and portfolio management standards and training. The recognition of the importance and priority of sponsorship is highlighted in the table above in bold purple. Some innovative leaders have dealt with this opportunity, but they represent the exception rather than the rule. Two initiatives comprise the UK Government’s Major Projects Authority and the GAPPS new Project Sponsor Standard. The GPM Global Sustainable Sponsor Program was designed to facilitate understanding of sponsorship and organizational sustainable change delivery. My bias on this topic is based on either participating in change delivery initiatives as the project / programme manager, reviewing projects or programmes as portfolio manager, or assessing countless change delivery engagements where the sponsor either had no idea what they were expected to do or what they had signed up for.The UK Government's Major Projects Authority (MPA)
The investments, leadership and results emanating from the UK Government’s Major Projects Authority (MPA) have been impressive. The following three initiatives outlined below provide examples of this leadership, which incorporates the integrated investments in portfolio management, and identifies key measurable and reportable decision support metrics and sponsorship training.1. Major Projects Authority Annual Report
The Major Projects Authority Annual Report 2014-15 demonstrates significant transparency and leadership in Federal Government Portfolio management with regard to change delivery.
Exhibit 2 provides a summary of the size, context and nature of the MPA Portfolio:
Exhibit 3 illustrates the development of a culture of openness about the challenges facing major projects. "The MPA uses the data from the GMPP to focus our efforts on the projects that are facing the most significant challenges, supporting projects to address and resolve these challenges" through the delivery confidence assessment (DCA). "The DCA provides a summary of a project’s status, and is reported as a traffic light system ranging from green for the projects judged as being the most likely to succeed, to red for those projects facing the most serious challenges."
Exhibit 3 demonstrates the ongoing improvement in the UK Major Projects Authority delivery confidence assessment ranking over time, reducing the number of high risk red initiatives from 7 to 2, and improving the green initiatives from 7 to 19. The UK MPA recognized the importance of identifying, communicating and dealing with challenged initiatives head on, as opposed to watermelon reporting... green on the outside and red on the inside.
2. Major Projects Portfolio Data
The Government Major Projects Portfolio data from September 2014 provides the following type of project meta data that continues to exemplify federal government portfolio transparency:
3. Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA)
The UK Cabinet Office’s MPA collaborated with Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and Deloitte to establish the Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA). Their remit is to ensure that senior public servants “responsible for major projects are able to cope with the particular stresses and strains of leading a big project in the public sector; and it encourages agility against a backdrop of unfolding change in priorities, circumstances and political direction” (University of Oxford Saïd Business School, 2015). Specifically, the MPA established the MPLA to accomplish what some may consider the following audacious goals within government to (University of Oxford Saïd Business School, 2013)…
Transforming the implementation of Government policy through world-class delivery of major projects by:
- Returning major project leadership capability to Whitehall
- Developing project leaders to become world-class experts at successfully delivering major projects
- Creating a cadre of world-class project leaders, formed into an expert support network
- Elevating the status of project leadership professionalism in Central Government
- Developing the abilities of Permanent Secretaries to a) develop a corporate environment that supports successful major project delivery, and b) improve the way in which their organizations optimize use of their valuable project leader resource.
Exhibit 6 highlights the four key competency domains that the Major Projects Leadership Academy (MPLA) focuses on:
Successful Outcomes
The MPA assessed 41 projects as either amber/red or red in 2013, a number of which had also been assessed as red or amber/red in 2012. A positive picture of progress evident this year across these 41 projects. Whilst eight left the GMPP, over half (21) improved their ratings; again, being open about the challenges along with the determined effort of the project teams to address those challenges has put these projects back on a firmer footing. The MPLA outcomes include the fact that “just two years ago only a third of major projects were found to deliver on time and on budget, now this is nearly two thirds. The MPLA contributes to this improving picture by training project leaders to apply the right approaches, experience and review processes to maintain performance over time. It provides the capabilities and confidence for Senior Responsible Owners to intervene decisively at the earliest opportunity if such monitoring highlights shortfalls and the need for intervention.”The Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS) Project Sponsor Standard
As mentioned previously, sponsors often have no idea what their roles and responsibilities are, or even what they signed up for. Surprisingly, those project sponsors received no clear direction on the performance capabilities required. GAPPS prepared A Guiding Framework for Project Sponsors to deal with this omission. As of the GAPPS Manchester Thought Leadership Forum in 2015, this standard is aligned with the MPLA. "The framework contains 34 performance criteria within 10 elements and three major areas of responsibility in which project sponsors should be competent:- taking accountability for the project;
- supporting the project manager; and,
- supporting the project."
