LESSON 3: ENGAGE WITH THE EXECUTIVE, SPONSORS AND HIGHER MANAGEMENT TO GAIN COMMITMENT AND TO MANAGE INTERESTS AND EXPECTATIONS
1hr. 30min.
A12.KCI-3. Ensure that senior management is involved
Within the organizations involved, the senior management form an important group, which you have to take account of. In particular, the influence that these people have means you have to involve them intensively in the decision making.
In the first instance, it is the sponsor who exerts influence on:
The necessary finances.
Setting priorities.
The scope.
The budget.
Etc.
Dependent on its importance, the higher echelons of management will want to be involved. For that matter, you can tell how important it is from the sponsor’s position in the hierarchy; the higher up in the organization, the more important the project/programme is. But the sponsor alone is not sufficient, and by applying good stakeholder management, you can organize the necessary power.
What you should consider is the fact that you have little formal power. Senior management does have that, and if you ensure that they feel involved then you can "borrow" their power. The rule of thumb is that you have to recruit sufficient support from enough senior managers, so that the hierarchical power covers all people and resources involved in the delivery. Should the people carrying out the project/programme then give insufficient priority to the work, you always have an escalation channel for bringing in help.
In addition, as ambassadors for your project/programme, these senior managers will make positive noises about your project/programme across the organization. If enough people realize that senior management supports your project/ programme, then you will obtain cooperation faster than if this is not the case.
Application
You can convert the above into actions on the project/programme/portfolio for which you are currently responsible, by carrying out the following steps:
Involve the sponsor.
Involve senior management.
Manage senior management’s expectations.
Use senior management as ambassadors for your project/programme/
portfolio.
