It might not be immediately clear who the Primary Sponsor is, as was the case with a project team we recently worked with. 

Over the past two years, I’ve worked as a CMC Global Production Assistant introducing hundreds of change management practitioners, project managers, people managers and sponsors, from a variety of industries across the globe, to the value of effective change management. 

A common challenge that we see is around how to Identify a Primary Sponsor.  

I recently worked with a project team from an organisation for whom the term ‘Sponsor’ was often banded around but with no clear definition of what that actually meant.           

By introducing a common 'change' language within organisations, we are able to identify and allocate clear, defined roles during change. This is vitally important, because Sponsorship is a role, not a job title. 

Download: Executive Sponsor's Importance and Role

Sponsors are critically important in driving success. In fact, according to the Prosci ® Best Practices in Change Management report, Active and Visible Sponsorship has been number one on the list of top contributors to project success in all of Prosci’s benchmarking reports since inauguration in 1998. To put it simply, there is a direct correlation between active and visible sponsorship and whether projects succeed in meeting their objectives.  

There are 3 key roles that participants of Prosci’s Best Practices Research have identified as responsibilities of a sponsor when implementing change: 

1. Active and visible participation throughout the project
   
   
2. Direct communication with employees
   
   
3. Building a coalition of sponsorship with peers and managers.

Watch: What's so unique about Prosci®?

This caused a lightbulb moment for the project team. Despite the importance of active and visible sponsorship to change success, it was not immediately clear to them who in their organisation was the Primary Sponsor of their change.  

So, how do you identify who your Primary Sponsor is?  

First, you will need to evaluate your Governance Model, which is the structure that will connect the Leadership/Sponsorship, Project Management and the Change Management functions during the change. 

From there, you can develop a Sponsor Coalition Map, which allows you to identify and differentiate your Sponsors from your Primary Sponsor: 

A Sponsor is any business leader whose involvement is necessary to ensure the desired outcomes of the change are realised for the organisation. Sponsors are generally executives, senior leaders and (occasionally) mid-level managers responsible for people impacted by the change. 

The Primary Sponsor is a unique role and is usually given to the individual in the organisation who has license to authorise the change, define success and is ultimately accountable for ensuring the desired outcomes of the change are realised. 

Typically, the Primary Sponsor role is given to the senior manager or executive who initiated the project although that might not necessarily always be the case.  

The level of sponsorship required is usually determined by the risk level of the change. Not everybody can or should perform the role of a Primary Sponsor in a project.

In this instance, the collaborative effort in working on the Governance Model evaluation and Sponsor Coalition Map led the project team to yet another lightbulb moment.

The project that they were heading was a high risk change and they therefore identified that their Primary Sponsor should be a senior executive of the organisation; complete with the authority and influence to undertake key change management activities.

Watch: How to Engage Sponsors On-demand Webinar

The project team left the session energised, knowing that by identifying the Primary Sponsor of their change they had achieved a practical, yet crucial, step in ensuring project success. 

Moreover, they knew that their work was only just beginning. Once the Primary Sponsor and the further Coalition had been identified, it was then time to equip, support and enable them throughout the project life-cycle, achieving the desired outcomes of the change.  

Take the next step and be ready to guide your sponsors through successful change by becoming a certified Prosci Change Practitioner with us. 

Find out more.