From Commander to Sponsor: Managing Upwards in the Project Environment
"Problems cannot be solved at the level of awareness that created them"
Albert
Einstein
Keywords: Stakeholder management, relationships, maturity.
From Commander to Sponsor: Managing Upwards in the Project Environment [P077]
Senior managers in an organisation have attained
those positions by working through different levels of management and
usually through learning and displaying aptitude in the laws of the
corporate jungle. This aptitude includes the ability to recognise
potential enemies and through preemptive strikes neutralise
competition, and managing tasks and staff through the precepts of
command and control. However, having reached the highest levels of an
organisation the skills requirements change from command and control to
motivation and sponsorship. Many senior managers cannot
change the habits of a working lifetime, and cannot easy make this
transition.
Building on a previous paper describing this command and control
behaviour and the existence of a ‘zone’ of
uncertainty that does not feature in the senior stakeholder view of the
world
[see: The
Paradox of Project Control in a Matrix Organisation],
further exploration is required to provide some guidance to PMs who
encounter both the ‘zone’ and the
behaviour.
Stakeholder management methodologies identify the need to manage the
expectations of stakeholders, the Stakeholder
Circle® provides a 5 Steps process to identify,
prioritise, visualise, engage and communicate, and finally monitor the
effectiveness of that communication. This methodology also emphasises
that there are different types of stakeholders – upwards
(senior managers), downwards (the team), sidewards (peers of the PM)
and outwards (outside the project); managing the expectations and
gaining the support of each type of stakeholder depends on the
influence that each type exerts on the project.
Expectations are never ‘fixed’; effective
communication can help change perceptions and expectations to make them
realistic and achievable. Conversely, ineffective communications can
create the perception of failure in the mind of a stakeholder even when
the project is ‘on time, on budget and delivering the
specified scope’. Upwards stakeholders may think that project
success equals ‘on time, on budget and delivering the
specified scope’ and that the PM must deliver to these
criteria, but the reality of successful project management is that
senior stakeholders, particularly the sponsor must play as far more
active and overtly supportive role to ensure project success. It is
part of the PM’s role to not only understand this but also to
do whatever is necessary to ensure that senior stakeholders understand
and fulfil the requirements of this role. This is about creativity in
relationship management: there is no template or checklist to follow;
this is not the realm of the faint-hearted.
The experiences of the authors, in large organisations, in managing the
expectations and the support of key senior stakeholders provides a
foundation for exploration of the tasks needed to turn a Commander into
a Sponsor, how to use the resources available in the form of influence
networks, targeted communication and plain persistence. Results are not
miraculous, small improvements must be celebrated, the possibility of
failure contemplated.
Authors: Dr. Lynda Bourne & Ken Farnes
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This paper will be available for downloading after presentation [visit the congress web site] |
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