The Project Management Circus: Act 2 - The Lion Tamer (Project Sponsor Management)

The lights go out for a few second and there is a booming voice that announces Act 2.

A spotlight shines on the person coming into the cage and inside the cage were several lions.

The person has a whip on one hand a chair on the other and he has treats in his pocket. He has been here before and he knows the lions well - each one of them. He knows not only their names but their personalities as well. He knows what makes them tick. He knows he needs them to succeed. He knows they need him to control the chaos that can happen without him. He waves his hands to his spectators as if in victory even before the show begins.

The booming voice announces him as....The Project Manager.

Each project manager deals with this situation for every new project - facing the project sponsors and working with or through them to ensure project success. What does he need to succeed in this initiative?

1. Sufficient knowledge of who the sponsors are and where they belong in the hierarchy of the organization - the pack order.

2. True knowledge of what is their stake in the project - not just what they publicly say - but what their internal agenda is.

3. Knowledge of their comfort levels, risk tolerances and when thrown into a corner - which would they primarily protect if they can only choose one - scope, cost, schedule or quality?

4. Knowledge of their pain and pleasure points which may include what information does each one want to hear, when and how and what motivational triggers can be pulled if the project manager wants the sponsors to "jump through hoops'.

5. Understanding the defense mechanism of each one. When provoked - will Lion A run away and will Lion B attack? If the project manager knows who will go into the offensive as a defensive - he needs to make sure he knows how best to defend himself.

Balancing between sponsor motivation (the treats), punishment(the whip) and defense(the chair) is a key skill that each project manager should develop. It is so much better to know how to manage them that to find your head trapped between their jaws.