Question
I work in the power generation sector. I’ve already got more than enough work on my plate, and now I’ve been asked to take on the role of ‘Accountable Executive’ for a big project in the Operations area of the business! I don’t even know what that job title means, and even more confusingly, my boss now refers to me as the ‘Project Sponsor’!
What does it mean for me? Is this something I can fit into my (non-existent) spare time?
Our response
This is a situation we see all too often. It’s a great opportunity, but surrounded by many pitfalls for the unwary, so proceed carefully.
Firstly, know the full significance of your role.
The term Accountable Executive means ‘exactly what it says on the tin’: you own the project! You are accountable for the business success of the project (including whether the investment in the project results in realisation of planned savings or other benefits). This means the ‘buck stops’ with you if the project fails to achieve its business goal. No point in hiding behind the project manager or anyone else – it’s you they’ll come looking for if things go awry!
The term Project Sponsor is completely interchangeable with Accountable Executive (don’t ask me why, probably it’s to do with our apparent compulsion to invent new words for old concepts – probably to give the impression of original thinking).
So get to know exactly what the project is trying to achieve. Make sure you know (and have challenged) the problem or starting point that makes the organisation want to invest in the project in the first place. Get clarity and agreement on the business outcomes required (leaner process? better process? new line of business?) by the key stakeholders.
Beware of long ‘laundry lists’ of problems to be solved, or outcomes to be achieved. Everyone wants to be a stakeholder in your project, and they all have an angle – something they want out of it. You must be ruthless in cutting out all that are not central to the project mission. In fact, the more concise you can be, the more precise you are likely to be. Nothing speaks more of lazy or loose thinking than a project briefing note that goes on at length, meaning different things to its different readers.
You are now central to the governance of the project: in a nutshell you must make decisions about the strategy and outcomes to be achieved, and ensure that the business and the project team are interacting appropriately (most times this means ensuring that stakeholders are pulling in the same direction!). Someone once described this as ‘Making sure the project is achieving the right things’: on the other hand, the project manager’s job is to ensure that the project is being ‘done right’.
It is important for you to be completely comfortable with your project’s strategy and business rationale because your job is to help the project manager drive the project in the right direction.
Secondly, know the limits of your role.
You are NOT the supervisor of the project manager, nor the ‘project expert’. You do not have to check up on their work, review their detailed schedules, or have them account to you for their timekeeping. As mentioned above: you set the business direction, and help them drive the project to that destination. So don’t be tempted to ‘take over’. It is sheer madness to try to take the steering wheel out of their hands: you will almost certainly not know what you are doing
It’s a partnership of different, but equally vital roles. You and the project manager have something in common: you both want her (or him) to succeed! Therefore your job is to offer help and support as needed. This means ‘political support with awkward stakeholders, gaining agreement in highly charged situations, not offering expert technical advice. So whilst checking up, ask supportive questions, like ‘What’s your biggest obstacle at the moment?’, ‘What do you need from me?’ or ‘How can I help?’
Thirdly, spend your time on the project wisely.
Here are a few tips for spending what little time you have to the best effect:
- Make sure that the project you are sponsoring is desirable: it should have stakeholder buy-in, a including a willingness from them to provide resources; a sound business rationale, with realistic benefit projections; a business priority that means it is less likely to be pushed to one side when the next ‘urgent problem’ comes along. .
- Make sure your project is doable, including appropriate resource allocation, a realistic budget, and timescale and reasonable expectations about scope and quality. Beware of ‘aspirational’ project targets, which are just an excuse for another ‘pie in the sky’ mission impossible.
- Keep networking with the stakeholders: you can reach places the project manager will never be invited into, so speak about your project, encourage support, listen to problems, seek solutions.
- Focus on resolving business level issues, including shifting roadblocks to progress, and let the project manager look after the detail.
- Talk to the project manager frequently. Get him (or her) to help you understand the business implications of the technical issues they discover. Get them to translate the arcane language of project management into plain English, and carry the important messages of the project to the Board and other senior management with whom you come into contact.
SO, it’s a big role…but somebody has got to do it!
It’s also very rewarding, and the big prize for you is (as long as you do it well) you will grow your reputation as a change champion, and it is well-known that success in change projects is a fast-track for sponsors to gaining promotion and even more accountability within their organisations.
There is much more to say on this topic: if you would like to find out more, please post a comment, or contact us at consulting@citi.co.uk.
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