When Project Sponsors Become a Risk: Identifying and Mitigating Challenges

When Sponsors become a Risk

Several years back, I served as the Program Director for a national initiative aimed at creating a new information system to oversee biosecurity risks, incidents, and the tracking of these risks. This was a significant program with numerous stakeholder groups nationwide, each having a vested interest in the project but often with conflicting motivations.

Before my team began working on the program, the organisation's leading 'technical' person had been overseeing the existing system which was barely functioning on a simple database. This database was highly susceptible to data corruption and, more importantly, at risk of failure. The person managing it was the administrator and only one familiar with the system, which posed a risk in itself. Although this individual was very proactive and knowledgeable in their scientific field, they were not an information technologist. The new replacement system would require more careful consideration in terms of design and robustness. In summary, information technology specialists were needed to design and implement the new system.

This individual assumed the role of Sponsor for the Program, thus becoming a key figure in a major, high-priority national initiative, despite lacking experience in project sponsorship or management at both team and executive levels. Essentially, they should have served as the lead Subject Matter Expert rather than the Sponsor. This person believed they had a deep understanding of information technology, which they did not possess, and continued to interfere with my technical team, making the project challenging for everyone involved.

This individual refused to step back when requested and continued to interfere in areas beyond their responsibility, despite a roles and responsibility matrix being agreed with the Steering Committee and clearly explained to the Sponsor. Their interruptions and interference led to unnecessary delays and reversals, posing a risk to a priority program that had to 'get it right'. Even turning the program status to RED didn't resolve the issue, necessitating an escalation to a senior government executive. Most Program Managers avoid this at all costs, and I certainly didn't want to take this route. The alternative would have been for me to leave and withdraw my team from the program, which at the time, in my opinion would have posed a greater risk, effectively stalling the program.

I had previously identified this individual as a Key Person Risk in my Status Reports to the Steering Committee, with the assumption that their SME status would become a risk if they were unavailable to the program.

My solution was to classify them as a Corporate Risk and escalate the issue to a Senior Steering Committee member. Although this was an uncomfortable situation, it was eventually resolved by closely managing this individual as the lead SME and replacing them as Program Sponsor. As a supplier contractor to the organisation, it can be challenging to raise these types of issues, but applying your project technique and utilising all available tools in a calm and unemotional manner can be effective, as it was in this case. However, you must have a clear mitigation strategy in place beforehand.

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Is this the way you would have resolved the risk?

• Yes, it would be the best way forward
• No, I would not take that approach