Why Executive Sponsors Are Essential for Successful AEC Knowledge Management Projects

What's an executive sponsor?

Yes, great. So the executive sponsor is part of the core team. They're part of like the structural team that is making this intranet project a success. And then after, when it's into its program phase and we're managing a portfolio of possible improvements and behavior changes, they're part of the core team that's helping prioritize which ones we're going to go after and resource and what's actually going to move the needle for the firm. A really good executive sponsor isn't in every meeting, but they stop in every once in a while because they're interested. I tell them they don't have to be there and they're like, but I just want to know what's going on. You know, that's always nice. So like ask them a couple of things. They can leave their fingerprints on a few ideas. But what they're really there for is winning hearts and minds of the leadership team.

They're the conduit between the intranet team and the leadership team.

Yeah, and speaking of written and unwritten strategy, there's the formal and informal leadership team, right? So the executive sponsor gets that, like they know who needs to be influenced and they know whose networks touch which employees. And you know, the champion might know some of that too, but they probably don't have the influence and access to that full leadership network that the executive sponsor has. So the executive sponsor's job is to like work that network as the champion is, you know, developing content that will be part of rollout. For example, frequently the executive sponsor will share that, share like pieces of that. Again, right information to the right person at the right time. They're not going to overwhelm the whole executive team with like a 15-minute how-to or anything, but they're going to, they're going to know how to have the conversations with those influential leaders to get them ready for what's coming and then also hear objections and think about them and then find ways to go back to individual leaders with ideas or just letting them know that you've heard their concerns. Right. And bring that executive team along.

So part of the implementation PM number one was it was like basically they know how to understand how the firm ticks. And so part of what that would— an implementation PM would know when to pull in their executive sponsor or not. Like, I need the board to— this thing is very important. I don't have the access or the reach or whatever it is, relationships to get that decision done.

Yes, I think you're right that like somebody who knows the firm tech will like be able to see that some of the time. But they also have blind spots because they're not in the room and they don't really understand what it means for the leadership to buy off because they don't know.

They've never been in the meeting.

Right. Exactly, exactly. They don't, they haven't seen the back, the, the way that things have happened in the past. So the executive sponsor does need to play an active role in knowing what's happening enough with the project that they can figure out when they can elevate it and how to navigate the executive team.