Gaining Support for Your BI Program
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I read a twitter feed not that long ago that postulated the only reason that BI programs need executive sponsorship is so consultants can have someone to sell to. Well, I disagree with that theory. What I found through personal experience is that without a strong executive sponsor I wasn’t able to gain traction, and that was when I was a BI Director, not a consultant.
There are certainly a number of approaches you can take regarding sponsorship. The first is the “ask for forgiveness not permission” and try to build something out to win over the executives; the other alternative is gaining executive sponsorship the ‘old-fashioned’ way. If you fall under the column of ask for forgiveness rather than permission then your next step is to try to build something that will demonstrate the value of BI and as a result gain executive sponsorship (for the larger investment). The advantage to this approach is that you don’t have to wait. The disadvantage to this approach is if you do build something that is useful the executives may question the need for investment if you are able to pull it off for next to nothing. The risk you take is really up to you. If you are like me and feel that BI programs are not the time to stick your neck out then gaining a sponsor first is just what is needed. There is some truth to the idea that you need a sponsor for financial backing, but that has more to do with the cost of your program and less to do with your consultant’s direct access to your sponsor (which should be minimal without you).
Your executive sponsor is critical because you can’t be in the board room every time your project comes up, and if it’s expensive it will come up a lot. So make sure that your sponsor is well informed and highly engaged. It could mean the difference between funding & ending.
But, just to be clear, this isn’t a checkbox activity. Just having a sponsor isn’t enough. Look for someone that has a lot to lose without BI. You have to have a sponsor that is highly engaged in the project and is able to be an advocate for your program when the door to the boardroom closes. In order to do this you must keep them in the loop. Spend some time educating them and getting them up to speed. Allowing anyone else to do it provides an opportunity for the program’s success to be defined by someone else’s standards.
Who is a good sponsor?
Ideally, your sponsor is as high up in the organization as possible. The challenge is that sometimes that person is not easy to gain access to. There are really three avenues to gaining sponsorship. The first is the ‘traditional’ route, by meeting with someone in the “C” suite or a (Senior) Vice President. Every organization is a bit different in what they consider their senior staff, so keep that in mind. If you are able to get this meeting make sure that you have your case well documented, rehearsed, and are prepared for the conversation to go in alternate directions (Such as, “what are the next steps”, or “what do you think we should do?” or “What’s the financial investment?)
The Influencer is the person that may not have the ‘right’ title (such as CFO) but is well trusted by those in the organization that do have the right title. It will likely be a little easier to get a meeting with this person, but they will want to know the same things that the traditional role would. Plus, they are going to want to know why they should stick their neck out (and their political clout) to champion this project, so you have to be prepared to answer the questions “What’s in it for me?”
Finally, the longest path to sponsorship is through the grassroots effort. This entails talking with just about everyone you can about the benefit and value-add of BI to the organization. This takes a long time, but once it gets going it’s like a snowball rolling down a hill. There are very few things as powerful as having that kind of support behind an initiative.
Sponsorship is critical to the long-term success of your project. You cannot bypass this as a nice to have.
