In my last post, I listed what I consider the Five Pillars of Change. Here, I'll provide a list of activities to keep in mind as you create the Sponsorship portion of your Change Management program.
Note that not every Change program needs to include every item on the list. Based on the size of your organization, the complexity of the change, and your company's culture, you can pick and choose the activities that will provide the greatest value in helping people adopt the change.
Although it is important to have a comprehensive Change program, and skimping on necessary activities can adversely impact the adoption of the change, including too many activities just for the sake of checking them off a list can be harmful, too. Carrying out activities that don't add value:
- Causes people to question the value of all Change Management activities - even those that are essential for success
- Overwhelms your stakeholders and can lead to burn out
- Pulls resources - both time and money - from activities that deserve the most focus
With that said, I hereby present a list of Sponsorship activities for your consideration. This list is not 100% comprehensive, but it will give you a good start in developing a Sponsorship plan.
Sponsorship Activities
- Identify project Sponsors
- Establish project Governance
- Build a Steering Committee
- Develop a Change Agent plan
- Create a Change Agent/Super User Network
- Involve all sponsorship groups in relevant areas of the project early and often...gather and incorporate their feedback, as appropriate
- Develop consistent communications to keep Sponsors and Change Agents informed
- Provide early training for members of all sponsorship groups
- Say, "Thank you" - often and with sincerity
- Be available to help and support all sponsorship groups as they carry out their sponsorship activities
Let Me Know: Do you agree with this list? Is there anything else you would add?
