What Your Project Sponsor Really Wants to Know: Effective Project Sponsor Communication
When I was a project manager, I often wondered if my project sponsor was actually interested in anything I had to say. It seemed like everything I gave him was met with a lacklustre “meh”.
Then I ended up on the other side of the fence and became a project sponsor myself. It was a revelation that completely changed my perception of the sponsor-project manager relationship. This role reversal made me appreciate all the different demands on a sponsor’s time and why, when I was the project manager, my reports barely registered on their priority list.
As the sponsor, I realised the information I needed to see was very different to what I was getting. This disconnect was frustrating to say the least and highlighted a critical gap that affects most projects.
The Communication Gap
This gap isn’t just about the quality of the reports, it’s a fundamental misalignment in project sponsor communication – a disconnect between what project managers tend to share and what sponsors actually need to make decisions.
Knowing exactly what information your sponsor wants and needs to know, can really help you ensure your sponsor’s attention remains focused on your project, which is essential for its ongoing success.
According to a PMI Study, projects with actively engaged sponsors are more likely to succeed than those that don’t. Yet many project managers struggle to provide the right information in an easily digestible format to keep their sponsors engaged.
What Your Sponsor Really Wants to Know
To facilitate effective communication with project sponsors, it’s crucial to understand their specific needs. Based on my experience on both sides of the fence, here’s my list of things I really want to know as a sponsor:
Problems Affecting the Progress of the Project
I’m not interested in finding out that the project is tracking well; that’s what I expect and trust the project manager to do. Good news requires no action from me.
What I want to know is anything that might affect the successful delivery of the project. The chances are that if something is derailing things, I will be able to:
- Leverage my authority to remove the roadblocks
- Access resources that project team can’t
- Make executive decisions that the project manager isn’t authorised to make
- Connect the team with other stakeholders who can help solve the problem
Giving me an early warning of an issues buys me time to sort things out before they become major crises. Frame them in terms of the business impact not just project deliverables.
How the Money’s Tracking
Although managing the money is an integral part of the project manager’s job, I want to know how the budget is tracking. It’s not an idle request or micromanagement.
If things aren’t going to plan, I can intervene early and either:
- Secure additional funding before it becomes critical
- Reprioritise project work packages to focus on those that deliver the most value
- Stop activities that are haemorrhaging money
- Justify extra expenditure to the finance team
- Prepare other executives for the potential budget impacts
What helps me the most is seeing the budget in context. Not just the raw numbers but patterns, projections and critical decision points. I need to understand what’s been spent to date and what’s forecast to be spent in the next reporting period.
Benefits
How the achievement of the project’s projected benefits is tracking is probably the most critical metric for me. It’s what I use to:
- Make decisions on continuing the project
- Approve or reject change requests
- Communicate value to senior leadership
- Show ROI to stakeholders
- Justify continued investment in the project
I need to see not just the completed activities but how they contribute towards the strategic goals that we used to justify the project in the first place. If benefits are at risk, I need to know as soon as possible so that I can do something about it. Benefits tracking should include leading indicators that show whether benefits are likely to be realised and lagging indicators that show evidence that benefits have been achieved.
Change Requests
It’s my job to approve or decline project change requests. I expect to see them in advance and have a detailed breakdown of their impact on:
- The project timeline
- Budget requirements
- Resource allocation
- Scope modifications
- Risk profile
- Benefits realisation
This isn’t to be a pain, even though it can look that way. I need detailed information to make an informed decision that aligns with broader organisational priorities that may not be visible to the project. I also use those details to craft my messages to the different stakeholder groups who may be affected by or need to support those changes.
Stakeholder Management
One of my biggest jobs as a project sponsor is to manage the project’s stakeholders. Not on a day-to-day basis. That’s the project manager’s job. It’s at strategic moments:
- When ruffled feathers need smoothing
- To keep stakeholders focused on what really matters
- When political issues arise that need to be managed
- When competing priorities create resource conflicts
- To reinforce the project’s strategic importance
To be able to do this effectively I need to have insights into:
- Current stakeholder sentiment and concerns
- Upcoming decisions that will need stakeholder buy in
- Potential areas of resistance or competing priorities
- Success stories that I can share to build ongoing support
The more specific you can be about the stakeholders that need attention and why, the more effective my intervention will be.
Conflicts Within the Team
Any conflicts within the team have the potential to derail the entire project. If the project manager is struggling to sort things out, I am in a better position to:
- Make tough decisions to resolve the conflict
- Address performance issues with line managers
- Reallocate resources or reorganise the team structure
- Mediate conflicts between departments
- Provide additional support
I don’t need to know about every minor disagreement but persistent conflicts, particularly those that impact on deliverables or team morale should be escalated.
Upcoming Communications
As the project sponsor, I play a key role in communicating the progress of the project to my peers and executives. It’s really important that I have advance notice of any project communications so I can:
- Craft my own messages to make sure they are all aligned
- Prepare for any questions that I’m likely to be asked
- Reinforce key points with specific stakeholders
- Address potential concerns before they become issues
The most helpful approach is to provide me with key talking points that connect project achievements to strategic objectives and highlight any sensitive issues that may require careful handling.
Making Your Sponsor More Effective
This might seem like a long list but this is the information that empowers me as sponsor and makes me a better advocate for your project. How you present your information is as important as the information itself.
Effective Sponsor Communication
- Use an executive summary. Lead with the headlines and the decisions that need to be made
- Focus on exceptions. Highlight variances that need attention rather than focus on BAU
- Connect to business outcomes. Always tie your updates to the strategic goals the project supports
- Be consistent. Establish a regular rhythm and format for your updates
- Be concise. Keep the updates focused
- Provide options. When presenting problems try and include potential solutions and your recommendations
- Use diagrams and dashboards. Visualisations are easier and clearer than walls of text
Sponsors tend to manage multiple initiatives and projects and have limited time for each one. Information that helps make decisions quickly and effectively is always appreciated.
Building a Strong Sponsor Relationship
Having a strong relationship with your sponsor will stand you in very good stead both now and in the future. A great way to do this is:
- Schedule regular but brief catch ups focussing on their priorities
- Understand their communication preferences, whether it’s email, in person, detailed reports etc.
- Learn what metrics matter most to them personally
- Anticipate questions they’re likely to be asked by other executives
- Provide them with early warnings before issues become visible to other people
- Celebrate wins and acknowledge their contributions to project success
Conclusion
Effective sponsor communication and a strong sponsor-project manager relationship are some of the most critical factors in project success. By understanding what information your sponsor really needs instead of what traditional project management suggests you provide you will build an excellent working relationship. It doesn’t just make their job easier, it dramatically increases your project’s chances of success and your visibility as an effective project manager.
About Psoda
If you’re looking for a tool to help you get the right information, in the correct format to your sponsor then look no further than Psoda. Our platform specifically addresses the sponsor-project manager communication gap with customisable dashboards, automated reporting and stakeholder management tools designed to deliver executive-level insights.
Sign up for a free demo to see how Psoda can transform your sponsor relationships and project outcomes.