So here we are with all this knowledge (see my three previous posts) about what sponsorship is, its crucial role in realizing change objectives, and how it can be effectively applied and yet we find ourselves sometimes not utilizing what we know.

How is it possible that seasoned practitioners, well versed in the theory of sponsorship and its practical application, are reluctant to leverage this information?

Here are some examples of situations when sponsors (or agents and advocates) need to be confronted by us as change practitioners:

• Sponsors who are not deeply committed to the changes they expect others to implement
• Sponsors who don’t deal with the black holes beneath them
• Sponsors who won’t apply sufficient consequences to match their change-related communications
• Sponsors who promote change with their public pronouncements but then don’t create the cascading network of sustaining sponsors needed below them
• Sponsors who don’t recognize (or don’t care) when they are involved in Triangular or Square relationships and/or don’t know how to respond appropriately in each situation
• Sponsors who demonstrate some but not enough of the characteristics needed to succeed in their role and we fail to bring this to their attention
• Agents who struggle with various implementation challenges without seeing that the real problem is poor sponsorship
• Advocates who don’t realize they lack the sponsorship power to succeed

Can you come up with other examples?

Don’t even think about saying you never find yourself in such situations. I’ve trained thousands of internal and external change agents all over the world, and I’ve worked alongside some of the most experienced professional change facilitators in the field. At one time or another, we have all fallen short when applying what we know.

Something true about all of us—experts and novices alike—is that at various times, we all fall prey to the trap of not doing what we know to be the right thing. There are only two kinds of practitioners in this regard: those who admit it and those who don’t.

And none of us can get off the hook by saying, “Well, I tried to raise the concern but the sponsor wouldn’t listen” or “I couldn’t get on his calendar” or “I had be subtle so as not to ruffle any feathers and I guess she didn’t get my point.” None of this works to reduce our responsibility to be explicit, direct, and even forceful if necessary to guarantee people understand what sponsors must do to ensure realization of their desired change outcomes.

By no means is this vulnerability (knowing what to do but not acting on what we know) limited to the sponsorship issue (I only used sponsorship as a case in point). There are numerous patterns (behaviors and mindsets) associated with successful change facilitation (addressing resistance, fostering commitment, aligning culture, etc.) that serious practitioners are all familiar with but tend to not apply on a consistent basis.

My point is, we are often aware of what a situation calls for (what practitioner pattern to apply) but find ourselves sometimes reluctant to engage the actions we know we should.

What’s that about? I invite your thoughts.

By the way—At Conner Partners, we use an evaluation tool, the Sponsor Evaluation, to help determine sponsor commitment (click here to download). Please understand that the items in the sponsor evaluation are meant to be representative, and not inclusive. There are far too many variables in effective sponsorship than can be accommodated in an easily administered assessment tool. The use of this evaluation tool will, however, provide a good starting point.

Go to the beginning of this series.