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If you had to pick one reason why most projects succeed or fail, what would you pick?

Adequate funding. Competent resources. Sufficient understanding of the problem. Many factors come to mind.

Yet one of the most consistently reported factors that determine project success or failure comes down to the sponsor. Do you have executive support? You're much more likely to deliver. Are you missing it? Lots of luck.

Technically the sponsor is the person or group that provides the financial resources for the project. Often it's more than that.

They may have the best understanding of the business issues related to the project. They may have to live with the results of what gets delivered.

Organizations may vary on how they define the role of the sponsor, but this much is for sure: if you want to deliver successfully, you must have executive support.

Does That Mean I'm Doomed?

A common refrain from project managers when we discuss this point is, "Great. I'm doomed! I don't have executive support!"

An executive from a major electronics firm reinforced this to me a couple years back. He told me about a significant project for their organization, in the range of $50 million USD, that started struggling. He told me to my face, "Andy, I did everything I could to erase my name off of forms. I wanted nothing to do with that project!"

For the record, that's not executive support!

How could that executive have helped the ailing project? He could have:

• Worked to reallocate budgets and people if necessary.

• Coached the project manager on ways to handle obstacles.

• Brought stakeholders together to finesse quicker decision making and resolve conflicts.

• Been the voice for the project to make sure it gets the necessary attention across the executive suite and the rest of the organization.

But he didn't. He ran. The project failed.

A Key Question

Before you write your project off as hopeless, I'd like to reframe the issue with an important question: If you're not currently getting support from your sponsor, what are you doing to get it?

The reason I ask is this: I get to spend extended time with executive sponsors. Guess what some of their biggest complaints are about their project managers?

• "I haven't heard from her for 6 weeks. Now she's waving paper in my face saying she needs more time and money."

• "When he starts droning on about the project, he buries me with details. Just give me the headlines--I can drill in from there."

• "It's almost like they walk in and say, 'Hey, we are going to be about 4 weeks late. Sorry!' I feel like I'm the only one with the weight of responsibility on my shoulders."

A key lesson for any aspiring leader is that managing is increasingly an issue of managing up and out, not just managing down. You must learn to manage your boss.

We'll talk more about managing up in our next newsletter. For now, I invite you to listen to our recent podcast episode with Alfonso Bucero, PMP. Alfonso is a co-author of Project Sponsorship: Achieving Management Commitment for Project Success. You'll gain insights from this global leader in project management.

Click here to register for this webcast. I look forward to meeting you!

Andy Kaufman

One of the best resources for developing your skills is by listening to podcasts. Are you taking advantage of this excellent and usually free resource?

Welcome to the People and Projects Podcast where we provide interviews and insights to help you lead people and deliver projects. This podcast focuses on the intersection of People and Projects--where work gets done in the real world.

Visit the podcast home page to start learning!

As a thank you for subscribing to our newsletter, here's this month's special offer.

Join me on Thursday, February 26, at 11:00am Central. I will be hosting a free webcast to help you learn more about getting your sponsors on board with your project. Click here to register. I look forward to meeting you! Thank you for subscribing to Horizon Time!

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