Project Sponsorship Remains Top Challenge for Execution Success of Organizational Changes

It's been interesting to see the incredible reaction to our recent eBook on project Sponsorship. "Is There a Sponsor in the House?- how to get the project sponsorship you need... so you get the business results your sponsors want" has had thousands of hits after just one day of release.

That's probably because it's the most difficult but most important aspect of getting execution success for organizational changes. Leaders are identifying execution success as a significant need in the organization, but usually don't recognize that successful execution of organizational change begins with their own behaviors. Even less recognized is the fact that as sponsors of organizational changes they control the speed of execution for projects.

At a time when resources are being cut while transformational change is on the increase, the role of project sponsors is more important than ever. Execution success for any organizational change, including transformational change, really depends on sponsors providing the right kind of leadership with their own direct reports.

For internal consultants, this creates a huge opportunity to educate the identified project sponsorship on their roles and responsibilities for execution success. It's not something that is covered in most leadership development programs, but it should be! At the end of the day, the ability of project sponsors to express, model, and reinforce their personal commitment to the organizational change converts to about 60% of the likelihood of execution success.

The question is, why don't we do more to educate our project sponsors when execution success for organizational changes is such a fundamental need?