FCB Partners Webinar: 8 Questions for Your Project Sponsor

8 Ques'ons for Project Sponsors Walter Popper, Managing Director

Webinar March 9, 2016

For more informa6on, go to fcbpartners.com or call Lindsay Field 617.245.0265

1 ©2016 FCB Partners. All rights reserved.

Why Do You Need a Sponsor?

“Change doesn’t happen unless it’s led. Sponsors have to be integrated into the work of their projects. Only with true ownership will those projects succeed.”

-‐ Chuck Paul, SVP Opera6ons, Allstate

Sponsorship: The process of observa:on, dialog, decision-‐making, and ac:on that guides successful projects from beginning to end.


Sponsorship Must Be Learned

Some execu:ves are naturals passion for re-‐shaping the business in sync with project cadence – make a plan, work the plan but not micro-‐managers Most learn from experience defining goals, scope, accountability, and resources before a project begins engaging throughout the project – diagnosis, design, implementa6on, adop6on guiding, challenging, and evolving with the team How can you accelerate your sponsor’s learning? establish and develop a meaningful rela6onship pose the right ques6ons, in the right way, at the right moment act together, based on the answers


1. Why Is this Work Important?

�  Important to sponsor and team – skin in the game

�  Worthwhile to customers – generates market value

�  High priority for the business – contributor to shareholder value

�  Sponsor reinforces purpose, priority, and urgency

“Dream more than others think prac'cal. Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise.” – Howard Schultz


2. What’s on the Cri:cal Path?

�  Near-‐ and mid-‐term events, stage gates, and due dates

�  Business and market developments that could accelerate or derail the project

�  Sponsor as chief project strategist

“Tac'cs without strategy is the noise before the defeat.” -‐ Sun-‐Tzu


3. Do We Have the Right Players? �  The right talent at each stage of the project

�  In the right roles and rela6onships

�  Project bench strength, career and succession planning

�  Sponsor as player coach

“The best 'me to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best 'me is now.” -‐ Chinese Proverb


4. How Are We Doing?

�  Accomplishments during the most recent period

�  Misses, near misses and lessons learned at major events and stage gates

�  Sponsor as observer, appraiser and goal se[er for the next round

“If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep geJng what you’ve always got.” -‐ W.L. Bateman


5. What Do We Know?

�  Relentless inquiry required at every step, not just diagnosis

�  Using new-‐found data to challenge legacy assump6ons

�  Sponsor asks tough ques6ons, expects insigh_ul answers

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -‐ Thomas Edison


6. Where Should We Focus? �  Pareto applied to the team’s 6me and a[en6on … and the sponsor’s

�  What to stop, where to re-‐direct

�  Projects require periodic, disciplined pruning –  good results – redouble the effort –  poor results – change or drop

�  Sponsor as source of judgment, ready to make tough choices

"It is not enough to be busy … so are the ants. The ques'on is, what are we busy about?” -‐ Henry David Thoreau


7. Who Are Our Allies?

�  Messages and how to convey them in each cycle

�  Requests, exchanges and how to nego6ate them

�  Skep6cs – engaging them without was6ng 6me

�  Sponsor as communicator and coali6on builder

"If your ac'ons inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader." -‐ John Quincy Adams


8. What Keeps Us Up at Night?

�  Risks and roadblocks in the foreseeable future

�  Alternate courses of ac6on should the worst occur

�  Sponsor as chief risk mi6ga6on officer

“Only the paranoid succeed” – Andy Grove


To Build a Strong Sponsor Rela:onship, Work Together on these 8 Ques:ons:

1.  Why is this work important: To us? To customers? To the business?

2.  What’s on the cri<cal path in the next few months and beyond?

3.  Do we have the right players? In the right roles? Doing the right work?

4.  How are we doing -‐ what have we accomplished, missed, and learned?

5.  What do we know and need to know, to go forward?

6.  How can we focus on what ma[ers most? Stop what’s non-‐essen6al?

7.  Who are our allies and skep6cs? What do we need from them?

8.  What keeps us up at night? And what’s our ‘plan B’?


FCB 2016 Public Courses

Event Dates and Loca:on

Change Leaders and Catalysts Advanced Cer<fica<on Course Arlington, VA, April 4-‐5

Process Redesign Hammer Cer<fica<on Course Arlington, VA, April 5-‐8

Implementa:on and Execu:on Advanced Cer<fica<on Course Arlington, VA, April 6-‐7

Power of Process Hammer Cer<fica<on Course New Orleans, LA, October 24-‐25

Leading Transforma:on Hammer Cer<fica<on Course New Orleans, LA, October 26-‐28


Change Leaders and Catalysts A course on advocacy, sponsorship, and influence for business process change management

When you change what people do – how they work, tools they use, performance measures, and who’s in charge – you need a change strategy: Why, what, where, and how things will change.

What we cover: Early-‐stage change management •  Establishing ‘why’ – the case for ac6on •  Nego6a6ng ‘what’ – project sponsor, process owner, and func6on managers •  Targe6ng ‘where’ – project gates, process steps, and performer roles •  Techniques for ‘how’ – stakeholder mapping, communica6ons, and influence

Who should take this course: Early stage process and project leaders •  Business Process Managers •  Business and IT Project Managers •  Lean, Six Sigma and IT specialists What you will learn •  Create and communicate a compelling narra6ve •  Recruit a network of decision makers, opinion leaders, and doers •  Build momentum through words, ac6ons, and events •  Accelerate buy-‐in and set the stage for improvement


For More Informa:on FCB Partners

Lindsay Field, Program Director

617 245 0265 [email protected]