Recently, I was asked to provide a concise but informal presentation on desired project leader behaviors. This is somewhat different from our usual requests, not because it isn’t an important consideration, but because project sponsors and leaders are usually named long before the Parker Avery team engages with a client. These are leaders who all have their own distinct leadership styles and we want them to remain authentic. Even more, when we do talk about “how to be a project sponsor” or “how to talk about a project leader” we speak in terms of tactical approaches and what needs to be accomplished, but not necessarily attributes. We are always aware of individual strengths and weaknesses or differing personalities and accommodate these variables with discretion.

However, I believe it is healthy and beneficial to discuss these expectations in an open forum. It not only helps sponsors and leaders understand what they have truly signed up for, but it also provides a way for them to support other stakeholders and impacted people through the overall initiative. For others, it provides a starting point or opening to get targeted executive support. Let’s take a look at some behaviors and attributes of great project sponsors.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Not necessarily. Sometimes the “problem” is an actual challenge such as an outdated legacy system that prevents the company from effectively competing in the global retail market. Other times, the “problem” or objective is to prevent an even greater issue from occurring or to improve upon an existing capability. Regardless of the reason for the initiative, project sponsors and leaders should be able to clearly communicate it to stakeholders and make decisions that drive the future state.

One of the foundational activities The Parker Avery Group performs is to create guiding principles for the project. The purpose of this activity is to establish and socialize the goals, objectives, and boundaries (scope) of the initiative. These principles are established upfront so they can be used to help guide decision-making. Speaking simplistically, these principles are used as guardrails and are referred to often during the process, organizational, and system design decisions. It is important that project leaders are actively involved in the creation of these principles and utilize them throughout the length of the project. Another key factor to consider after this framework is established is to make sure that issues that are uncovered are actual root causes and not symptomatic of larger issues. This helps to ensure that conflicting and unsubstantiated decisions are not made; and that a realistic project is constructed and protected.

Similarly, when faced with a subject matter about which one is well acquainted, it is natural to want to be fully engaged and ensure involvement in every meeting, documentation, and discussion. While I would never turn away an enthusiastic project sponsor, on the flip side, overzealousness runs the risk of alienating full-time project resources whose role is to direct and manage the project on a daily basis. These are the people who should be entrusted to go down the “rabbit hole” and present the outcomes. Granted, there will be times when the project sponsor must dig deeper, but this should not be the default state.