Research shows that complex projects fail between 50% and 90% of the time, depending on the study you look at. That’s a staggering range and one that should give every executive pause. While there can be a multitude of reasons for specific project failures, one of the most common and overarching reasons is the lack of project sponsorship capability within organisations. Surprisingly, some organisations, even large ones, don’t have any formal brief for what project sponsorship looks like. There’s no position description, no capability framework and no structured onboarding for executives stepping into the role. As a result, executives and leaders are often left to navigate the murky waters of project sponsorship on their own, sometimes struggling to figure out what good sponsorship entails and where the boundaries of project manager and project sponsor should really be drawn. Many simply default to what they’ve seen before, which may or may not have been effective. Others take a hands-off approach entirely, assuming the project team will figure it out. Neither approach tends to end well.
Project sponsorship should not be taken lightly. It requires a clear understanding of the project’s objectives, a commitment to the team’s success and a willingness to make tough decisions when necessary. It also requires a strategic lens to ensure that what’s being delivered drives the business forward in the right way. Sponsors really do sit at the intersection of strategy and delivery. They are the bridge between the executive team’s intent and the project team’s execution. When that bridge is weak or absent the connection between the project’s outputs and the organisation’s strategic goals start to erode.
A key aspect of project sponsorship is the ability to create a vision for the project. This vision should align with the organisation’s strategic objectives and should be communicated clearly to all stakeholders. The sponsor should be able to articulate why the project is important, what it will achieve and how it fits into the bigger picture. This vision can serve as a guiding light for the project team, helping to keep everyone focused and motivated. Without it, teams can lose sight of the “why” behind the work, and decision-making at every level becomes harder. A well-articulated vision also helps when competing priorities arise. When stakeholders understand the strategic value of the project in plain terms, it becomes far easier to secure ongoing support and protect the project from being deprioritised when budgets tighten or organisational attention shifts elsewhere.
It’s also worth noting that sponsorship is not a static responsibility. The demands on a sponsor shift as the project moves through its lifecycle. Early on, the focus is on setting direction, securing funding and ensuring alignment with the business case. During delivery, the emphasis moves to governance, stakeholder engagement and unblocking issues. As the project nears completion, the sponsor’s attention needs to turn to transition planning, benefits realisation and embedding change into the business. Sponsors who understand these shifting demands and adjust their level of engagement accordingly are the ones who consistently deliver better outcomes.
In this post, we will highlight 5 of the most important focus areas for the engaged project sponsor:
Key Focus Areas for Effective Project Sponsorship
1. Active Project Ownership
The sponsor has ultimate accountability for the outcomes of the project. This means not only the cost and time outcomes, but also the usability of the end result and the contribution of the project to overarching strategic outcomes. The sponsor must be actively involved in the project, providing guidance and support to the project team throughout its lifecycle. The key here is to apply active ownership and not active management! That is the job of the project manager. There is a real difference between the two and it’s one that many sponsors struggle with. Active ownership means staying close enough to the project to understand its health, its risks and its trajectory without stepping into the day-to-day management of tasks and resources. It means asking the right questions at the right time, challenging assumptions when something doesn’t feel right and ensuring the project team has what they need to deliver. Sponsors who blur the line between ownership and management often end up undermining their project managers, creating confusion about decision rights and slowing the project down rather than driving it forward.
2. Be Present
When a project is formally kicked off, engaged sponsors create vision, establish a performance culture and ensure that regular, two-way communication channels are in place. Good sponsors can remove roadblocks from project teams and advocate for them across the organisation and wider stakeholder base. Their presence is not merely symbolic; it is instrumental in driving the project forward and the resulting business change. Being present doesn’t mean attending every meeting or being copied on every email. It means being visible at the moments that matter. It means showing up to steering committees prepared, having read the reports and ready to make decisions. It means being accessible when the project manager needs to escalate something urgent, not three days later when the window for action has closed. It also means walking the floor from time to time, talking to the people doing the work and demonstrating genuine interest in progress and challenges. Teams notice when a sponsor is engaged and they notice when one isn’t. That visibility has a direct impact on team morale, stakeholder confidence and the overall momentum of the project.
3. Leverage the Governance Framework
The governance framework provides the mechanics for sponsors to govern the project, ensuring that the work is going to plan and that any risks or issues are being mitigated or managed. Sponsors must play an active role in project governance, using the various meetings, reports and forums to steer the ship in the right direction. Sponsors need to make sure the right data is being provided from the delivery teams to inform good decision making. This is an area where many sponsors fall short. They attend governance meetings but don’t always interrogate the information being presented. A green status on a dashboard doesn’t always mean everything is fine, and a good sponsor knows how to look beyond the surface. They ask probing questions. They challenge timelines that seem overly optimistic. They push for transparency on risks rather than accepting reassurance at face value. A well-used governance framework gives the sponsor a structured mechanism to maintain oversight without micromanaging. But the framework is only as effective as the sponsor’s willingness to engage with it meaningfully and consistently.
4. Escalation and Dispute Resolution
When projects hit choppy waters (as almost all will at some point), the role of the sponsor is to be the point of escalation when project managers need support or a final decision. The sponsor can also be called upon to help resolve internal or external disputes with other parts of the business or suppliers and contractors. Their role is pivotal in navigating through conflicts and ensuring smooth project execution. What often separates effective sponsors from ineffective ones is the speed and decisiveness with which they handle escalations. Projects can stall for weeks waiting for a decision that only the sponsor can make. When sponsors are slow to respond or reluctant to step into difficult conversations, the impact ripples through the entire project timeline. Effective sponsors also recognise that not every escalation requires a heavy hand. Sometimes the right response is to coach the project manager through the situation. Other times it requires direct intervention at a senior level. Knowing which approach to take and when is a skill that comes with experience and a genuine understanding of the project’s dynamics and stakeholder landscape.
5. Own the Project Benefits
When the project is complete and the team roll off, the project sponsor is the continuity point, as benefits will need to be measured well into the active life of the project. The sponsor may place long-term ownership elsewhere in the business, but they need to have a clear picture of the benefits at the point they were handed over. This is arguably the area where most organisations drop the ball. There’s often a significant amount of energy invested in delivering the project’s outputs, but far less attention given to whether those outputs actually produced the intended outcomes. Benefits realisation doesn’t happen on its own. It requires deliberate tracking, clear accountability and a willingness to course-correct if the expected value isn’t materialising. Sponsors who take benefits ownership seriously will ensure that measurable benefit targets are defined early, that baseline data is captured before the project begins and that there is a realistic plan for tracking and reporting on benefits well after the project team has moved on. This is where the sponsor’s role extends beyond the project and into the ongoing operations of the business.
To Conclude
Project sponsors will usually depend on a clearly defined governance framework to properly track delivery milestones and project time and cost status. Without a robust governance framework in place, sponsorship becomes a whole lot more challenging, and the project’s success can be jeopardised. Good sponsorship should not only depend on the capability of the individual sponsor but also on the structure of control that businesses place on their organisational investments. Even the most capable and well-intentioned sponsor will struggle if the organisation hasn’t invested in the foundations that support effective project oversight. Clear stage gates, well-defined reporting cadences, consistent risk and issue management processes and transparent escalation pathways all contribute to an environment where sponsors can do their job properly.
The Project Management Office (PMO) is often the right hand of the sponsor when it comes to ensuring that reporting and data collection is accurate and effective. High-performing PMOs (or EPMOs) can support the data collection and ask some of the pressing questions about that data before it gets to the sponsor, meaning that the sponsor’s time is left for the bigger issues that can’t so easily be delegated or taken care of. A strong PMO acts as a filter and a sounding board, presenting information in a way that enables faster and better-informed decision making. When the relationship between the sponsor and the PMO is working well, it creates a powerful dynamic. The PMO handles the rigour and discipline of project tracking while the sponsor focuses on strategic direction, stakeholder management and removing barriers at the organisational level. It’s a partnership that, when it works, significantly increases the likelihood of project success.
In our Project Sponsor Training workshop, we educate both current and potential sponsors about their roles, emphasising the need for strategic and operational perspectives on projects. We provide tips on the key questions to ask project managers and some practical advice on when and how to engage more deeply as a sponsor. We discuss the sponsor’s role in risk management and project planning and consider the sponsor’s function throughout the project lifecycle. We offer practical guidance for directing project managers and delivery teams and explore the intricacies of effective project sponsorship. The workshop is designed to be hands-on and grounded in real-world scenarios rather than abstract theory. Participants work through case studies, discuss common challenges they’ve encountered in their own sponsorship experiences and leave with a practical toolkit they can apply immediately. By the end of the workshop, attendees will clearly understand their roles as sponsors and will be well equipped with the tools and knowledge to lead their projects to success time and time again.
Contact us today for more information on our Sponsor Training workshop.
(Updated June 2026)
