How To Ensure That The Project Team Has Sufficient Interaction With Sponsors

There are eight signs that are leading indicators for a project that can be expected not to reach its goals and targets in a timely manner. These eight signs are:
1.The project-team appears to be dealing with a very broad range of issues
2.The project team does not seem to be spending much time together
3.The team is spending a lot of time carrying out "interviews"
4.The team does not appear to be doing any meaningful analytics
5.The team has very limited interaction with you(and other sponsors )
6.Key stake-holders, who's by-in will be required for the project to be a success, are not aware of the project
7.The project is not meeting agreed deadlines
8.It is difficult to pin the team down on any meaningful conclusions
This article will highlight how best to deal with the fifth of these signs, a project a team that has very limited interaction with sponsors.

Why is it a problem that a project-team has limited interaction with sponsors? This is a leading indicator for problems because it means that the project team is not using a key resource for advancing the project. The project team should be using the sponsors to a) check that that the project is heading in the right direction and to get guidance on key issues, b) to get information about key environmental changes that can have an impact on the project, c) to use the sponsors to help deal with logistical issues (getting into the agenda of key information sources, getting additional resources and/or data, etc) , and d) to pre-communicate and test key findings and possible conclusions / recommendations.

If the team is choosing not to use this resource, delays are very probable (as limited time is likely to be the reason that the project team is not seeing the sponsors), and, most importantly, quality of the project results will suffer. Lower quality will primarily be a consequence of not having given the sponsors the opportunity to provide corrective input if the team is going in a wrong direction (due either to wrong assumptions or changes in business environment). In addition, timing and deadlines are likely to suffer due to the project team not using the sponsors pro-actively for logistical issues. Finally, getting overall acceptance for key recommendations is likely to be more difficult if the project team has not pre-communicated initial ideas and preliminary conclusions to important sponsors.

What can you do to get the project team to interact more with key sponsors? A key aspect to understand in this situation is that it is very likely that you (as the main sponsor) are part of the problem. Does the team understand that you want to be involved? Have you made time available for the team when they have requested this, or have you cancelled the last three meetings?

If you are the problem, then you will need to make a special effort to help get the team back on track. The best way to do this is call in the team for a meeting, and set a clear agenda for the meeting. The agenda should cover issues such as overall progress, key issues the team is facing, logistical road-blocks, initial ideas and theories, etc. The meeting should end with an agreement to meet again in the near future, and an agreed plan to meet the other project sponsors. Remember that it is very likely that you will need to help the team set up these meetings. You are likely to find that the team will be very happy with this input from your side.