Authority for change – the role of
leadership during change
Do you have a project sponsor named, but lack the
true sponsorship you need to succeed?
When project leaders and change managers are asked to
name the number one success factor for project success,
they respond with a resounding:
active and visible
executive sponsorship. In six separate studies conducted
over a 12 year period with more than 2000 participants,
active and visible sponsorship was cited as the
number
one success factor for change management in every study.
In the 2007 and
2009
editions of the study, sponsorship was cited four times
more often than any other factor. Sponsorship is central
to success.
However, a large percentage of projects have a senior leader
named as
the project sponsor, but they lack the true sponsorship
required for success.
To see if this is true on your project, first consider why executive
sponsorship is important and what “sponsorship” means.
Project leaders are looking for executive sponsorship to ensure that:
- Sufficient resources and funding
are available for the project
- Priorities are established between competing initiatives
- Other senior leaders are sponsoring the change in their area
- Employees understand why the change is being made and how the
change aligns with the vision for the organization
- Managers who resist the change have a productive channel to
resolve their objections
When project leaders lack executive sponsorship, they often
experience:
- Increased resistance from employees, including key managers in
the organization
- Unavailability of resources to support the project
- Slow adoption of the change or
complete rejection of the change
by some parts of the organization
In name vs. In practice
Now consider a project that you are supporting today. If you concur
with the statements above (you might even think we are simply stating
the obvious), and if you have a senior leader sponsoring your change,
you might assume that you are “good to go.” Unfortunately, the research
data does not support that assumption. In the
2009 edition of Prosci’s
Change Management study, 575 organizations cited
ineffective change
sponsorship as the number one obstacle to change. When you investigate
why, the project leaders and change managers did not say that they
lacked a sponsor in name. Instead they said:
- Our sponsor was at the wrong level
or in the wrong
part of the organization to support this change (they did not have control over
the people and systems impacted by the change)
- Our sponsor was invisible (they were not involved with the project
team nor did they communicate to employees)
- Our sponsor did not build a coalition
of sponsorship with other
business leaders (we encountered resistance from managers throughout
the organization)
- Our sponsor wavered in their support mid-way through the project
(they found a different project that took priority)
- Our sponsor did not manage resistance
that surfaced during the
change
So when we conclude that executive sponsorship is the number one
success factor for change, the mere assignment of a senior leader as a
sponsor does not constitute having effective sponsorship for your
change.
A simple sponsorship checklist
Below is a checklist that you can complete to determine of you
are well-positioned to have the required authority for change
for your
project. Score each question on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents
“no” or complete disagreement with the statement, 5 represents “yes” or
complete agreement with the statement, and 2-4 represents varying
degrees to which the statement is true for your sponsor. If you score
between 40 and 50, AND you scored the first three questions a 4 or 5,
then your project has the ingredients for effective sponsorship. If you
scored below 30, your project lacks the required executive sponsorship
for success.
| My sponsor has the ability to provide the needed resources and
funding for the project. |
|
| My sponsor has direct control over the people and processes being
impacted by this change. |
|
| My sponsor has direct control over the systems and tools being impacted
by this change. |
|
| My sponsor is willing and able to be active and visible throughout the
entire project. |
|
| My sponsor will build a coalition of sponsorship with key leaders and
stakeholders in the organization. |
|
| My sponsor will manage resistance from other managers and remove
barriers to the success of the project. |
|
| My sponsor will communicate directly to employees about why this change
is being made and the risk of not changing. |
|
| My sponsor will implement the necessary reinforcements to sustain the
change including modifications to performance objectives and performance
evaluations, and rewards and recognition for employees that adopt the
change. |
|
My sponsor is credible and respected by employees and managers within
the organization
(employees embrace the leadership of this individual). |
|
| My sponsor will remain in the organization throughout the implementation
of this change. |
|
| Total: |
|
* Checklist comes from Prosci's Sponsor Competency
Assessment and the
2009 edition of the Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking
report
If you scored low
If you scored low, several steps need to be taken to address the root
cause.
If you scored low on any of the first three questions, then your
sponsor is likely not at the right level
given the scope of your
project. If this is the case, a careful assessment of the sponsorship
coalition would be necessary to determine if this project is in
jeopardy. If it turns out that your sponsorship coalition is also weak,
then you have two options:
- Identify the right person to sponsor this initiative and begin to
build the necessary sponsor coalition.
- Redefine the scope of your project to fit or align with the
sponsorship you do have.
Simply continuing with the project is typically not a viable option as
the consequences overall will be negative to the organization and to
employees, and the probability of project failure is high.
If you score low on questions 4 – 8, then your sponsor will need
coaching on the role of sponsorship during change. You could either have
a sponsor that is willing but does not know what effective sponsorship
means, or you could have a
sponsor who would prefer not to be directly involved. This latter issue
will be harder to overcome, but with the right information and approach,
most sponsors quickly see the importance of their role and are willing
to get on board. If, on the other hand, your sponsor is willing but
uneducated as to the role of effective sponsorship, the project leader
or change manager can directly coach and assist the sponsor in carrying
out this role.
If you scored low on questions 9 or 10, these situations often require
special tactics for approaching the project, including careful use of a
strong sponsor coalition who can carry a strong message to employees and
who will be there throughout the entire project. If your sponsor is on a
fixed term such as with military organizations or government agencies,
you may want to consider breaking the project into phases, and focus on
the phase that falls within the term limit of that sponsor.
Key lessons for change managers:
-
Active and visible sponsorship for change is the number one
contributor to success
-
Having a project sponsor named for your change and having the
required “sponsorship” for a successful change are not the same thing.
-
A majority of executive and senior leaders lack the understanding and
knowledge around the roles of effective sponsorship to provide the
actions required for successful change.
-
Effective change management requires a deliberate and proactive
effort to create a healthy sponsor coalition.
***
Coming up next: Principle 4 - Value systems
Read
Module 1 -
The psychology of change overview
Read
Module 2 -
Senders and receivers
Read Module 3 -
Resistance and comfort
|
