Project sponsor: Roles, responsibilities, and tips

The project sponsor, or executive sponsor, is a person or a group of people at the senior management level. They are responsible for the success of a project and provide necessary guidance and resources to the project team and manager. Ideally, project sponsors provide high project sustainability, strategic planning, and successful implementation of the project's objectives.

The project sponsor sits above the project manager. In most cases, the project sponsor is the one who advocated for the project and has been on board since day one.

In this article, we'll cover the key responsibilities and duties of a project sponsor, how they support the project manager throughout the project lifecycle, and clarify the differences among project sponsors, stakeholders, and project managers.

Responsibilities of a project sponsor

A project sponsor is responsible for aligning the project with business goals, ensuring proper governance, and delivering value. They're typically senior executives just below board level who champion one or more projects at a time. These three core areas break down into specific duties:

• Vision and people: Aligning the project with business goals, strategy, and objectives

• Governance: Ensuring the project's proper launch and execution.

• Value and benefits: Managing risks and changes while ensuring the project's quality

When we break down these categories further, you can see the different responsibilities a project sponsor holds:

• Select the right manager for the project and mentor them throughout.

• Negotiate funding and act as a spokesperson to senior management on behalf of the project manager.

• Participate in initial project planning and development of project charters and scope.

• Define the criteria of the project's success and get stakeholder buy-in.

• Promote the project's value and make sure it has the resources to succeed.

• Support the project manager with knowledge and guidance.

• Maintain ongoing communication between the project manager, team, and stakeholders.

• Review changes to the project environment (e.g., schedules, tasks, priorities, etc.) and manage risks as they arise.

Does a project sponsor fund the project?

No, project sponsors don't personally fund projects. Instead, they secure funding through the organization by building a compelling business case and advocating for budget allocation. Their financial responsibilities include:

• Building the business case: Creating a clear justification for the project investment that demonstrates value to the organization.

• Securing budget approval: Working with finance teams and executive leadership to obtain the necessary funding.

• Protecting financial requirements: Ensuring the project maintains its budget against competing priorities.

• Overseeing resource allocation: Making sure the project has the people, tools, and materials it needs to succeed.

While the sponsor champions the project's financial needs, the actual funding comes from organizational budgets rather than the sponsor's personal resources.

Project sponsor duties throughout the project lifecycle

Project sponsors are involved from start to finish, with specific duties at each phase of the project lifecycle. A clear understanding of these responsibilities helps both sponsors and project managers stay aligned.

Initiation

• Appoint a project manager and a steering committee. A steering committee typically consists of high-level managers and stakeholders who can provide advice throughout the project's lifecycle. Since the members of a steering committee aren't actively involved in the project, they can maintain a bird's-eye perspective and provide valuable guidance and oversight of the project's progress.

• Define project success and deliverables. The project sponsor should also ensure that these objectives have been communicated clearly and that everyone on the team understands them.

• Organize and surface tasks in a central source of truth, such as a project management tool, so they're available to everyone on the project.

• Monitor initiation activities and support where necessary. It's critical to ensure that everyone on the project team is doing what they're supposed to be doing so the project can run smoothly later on.

• Provide feedback for the project initiation documents, which may include a project charter, business case, or feasibility study, to ensure the project is approved by executive stakeholders.

• Verify project scopeto ensure that the project goals and objectives are realistic and prevent scope creep.

• Champion the project during the kick-off meeting and be prepared to support the project manager if any questions arise from the team.

Planning

• Observe and adjust project plans to ensure realistic delivery dates.

• Act as the point of contact for the project manager for challenges and escalation issues.

• Monitor the project team's effectiveness and group dynamics and communicate wins or opportunities to the project manager.

• Review the RAID log (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies). A raid log is an important project planning document that lists potential risks that may affect your project, assumptions about the project's progress or outcome, issues that may arise during the project lifecycle, and dependencies your project relies on (e.g., input from an expert).

• Verify that the project plan contains quality requirements, clear deliverables, and well-planned project milestones. Ultimately, the sponsor will sign off on all project requirements.

Execution

• Work with the project manager to establish healthy boundaries among the manager, sponsor, and senior management (and avoid micromanagement). It's important that the sponsor trusts the project manager to lead their team through the project and will ask for support when needed.

• Cater to the project needs to support the team and manager. These can be resources like hardware or software, additional funding, or more people to support the project team.

• Ensure senior leaders have access to an executive dashboard or project status reports to stay up to date as needed. These reports also need to be updated regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly, depending on the nature of the project).

• Implement change control processes as needed to reduce scope creep.

Performance

• Evaluate the project progress and provide feedback when appropriate. Depending on the nature of the project, it can be helpful to schedule weekly, monthly, or quarterly review meetings to assess progress and adjust deadlines or goals.

• Encourage the project manager and team to find their own solutions to arising problems. Lead by example and model good problem-solving strategies.

• Identify, address, and solve the root causes of emerging issues.

• Update the RAID log frequently to accommodate changes in the project throughout its life cycle.

• Acknowledge the completion of key project milestones. It's important to celebrate these milestones to recognize the team's effort and impact.

Closing

• Evaluate the project's performance against the previously defined success criteria. This data will be important for the upcoming post-mortem or retrospective to discuss the project's performance.

• Ensure a successful project hand-off to the client. This step marks the end of the project as all deliverables are now in the client's hands.

• Participate in or lead a project post-mortem or lessons learned session to discuss project successes and failures. Encourage the project manager to document these lessons for future projects.

• Ensure completion of project sign-off. This includes dismissing the project team but also completing any legal formalities.

These duties can vary depending on the project's intensity and complexity, but regardless, the involvement and importance of a project sponsor should not be underestimated.

Project sponsor vs. project manager

Both roles are essential to project success, but they operate at different levels. The project sponsor connects the executive team to the project, while the project manager connects the sponsor to the project team.

The project manager monitors resources and workload, oversees task completion, and updates stakeholders. When challenges arise, they escalate to the sponsor for support and guidance.

Project sponsor vs. project stakeholder

While these terms sound similar, sponsors and stakeholders serve different functions on a project.

A project sponsor is always a stakeholder, but not all stakeholders are sponsors. The sponsor typically defines success criteria and may mentor the project manager throughout the project.

Key skills of an effective project sponsor

Effective project sponsors need strategic thinking, leadership, decision-making, communication, accessibility, and organizational credibility. Whether you're stepping into a sponsor role or strengthening your skills, focus on developing these qualities:

• Strategic thinking: The ability to connect the project to broader business goals and make decisions that align with organizational strategy.

• Leadership: Inspiring confidence in the project team and stakeholders while providing clear direction when challenges arise.

• Decision-making: Being available to make timely decisions and remove roadblocks that could slow the project down.

• Communication: Clearly articulating the project's value to executives, stakeholders, and the project team.

• Accessibility: Remaining available to the project manager and team when guidance or escalation is needed.

• Organizational credibility: Having the influence and respect within the organization to secure resources and support.

A project sponsor who develops these skills can better support their project manager and team, ultimately increasing the likelihood of project success.

Collaboration between project sponsor and project manager

The sponsor-manager relationship often determines project outcomes. Successful collaboration requires:

• Clear expectations: Both parties understand their roles and responsibilities from day one.

• Frequent communication: Regular check-ins keep the sponsor informed and the manager supported.

• Mutual trust: The sponsor trusts the manager to lead while remaining available for guidance.

Transparency helps to expedite trust. When you let your team know what is happening and what you are thinking you are simultaneously building credibility in your relationships. When you then ask what they think and incorporate those thoughts into your plans, you are building a shared sense of purpose.”

Depending on the project's complexity and the project manager's experience, the project sponsor can choose a more hands-off approach or be more involved and supportive. Ideally, the project sponsor acts as a mentor to the project manager.

Collaborate in real time for project success

Project managers and sponsors rely on each other to deliver successful projects. Reliable collaboration software helps both parties track responsibilities, tasks, and goals in one place.

Asana is a work management tool that keeps sponsors and managers aligned in real time, so nothing slips through the cracks.

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Frequently asked questions about project sponsors