I often find myself talking about sponsors, and when I do, people usually assume I mean the sponsors of projects and change initiatives. These are important roles, but there is another critical sponsorship role which is the sponsor of the Change Management Office (CMO) itself. A successful CMO needs a sponsor at the executive level.

In this article, I explore the role of the CMO sponsor by considering why it is needed, what typically is required of the sponsor, and who is best to perform it.  

Why does the CMO need a sponsor?

The fundamental reason that a CMO requires a sponsor is because it needs a voice at the most senior levels. Rarely is the head of the CMO themselves an executive, but they often need the support of people who operate at that level – a sponsor enables this. The need for executive sponsorship is a claim a lot of functions make, and so can often be shrugged off. But I can give some specific reasons why this is particularly important for a CMO. 

1. To gain access to resources

The CMO in many organisations is a relatively immature function which not every executive recognises the role and the value of. As such, the CMO can be vulnerable without a sponsor and often does not get access to the resources it requires to perform its role effectively.

2. To understand the context

The CMO needs insight into the direction of the organisation as it evolves. Of course, there may be a formal strategy process which communicates the strategy on a periodic basis to everyone in the organisation. But in reality, strategy execution and executive politics are interwoven and dynamic. The sponsor can help the CMO understand this context and set the direction of the CMO relative to the ever-changing organisational priorities and strategy

3. To be seen as a trusted advisor

The nature of change management work is that the CMO must often deal with many sensitive and politically complex areas. Change in organisations often effects the ability of individuals, departments and divisions to achieve their goals, and is fraught with all sorts of emotional responses and political manoeuvring. A sponsor can sometimes cut through this, and where it is not possible to cut through it, steer the CMO to take the most appropriate path. Without a senior sponsor it is often hard for the CMO to be seen as a trusted advisor in the organisation – a trusted advisor with access to an appropriate level of information on sensitive forward plans.

What should a CMO sponsor do?

If we accept the need for a CMO sponsor, the next question is usually, what specifically does this sponsor need to do. This is a bit of a “how long is a piece of string” sort of question, as the day-today activities of the CMO sponsor will be context specific, as they are for most sponsorship roles.  

At its heart, the role of the CMO sponsor is to act as the voice of the CMO to senior audiences, evangelising its role – and acting as a feed into the CMO providing direction and advice from the executive perspective. This is a rather general statement, and I can be a little more helpful, for whilst the specific tasks of the CMO sponsor are context specific, there are some typical aspects that are common to all CMO sponsors. I have selected four of the most common aspects of the role. 

1. Ensure the CMO is adequately resourced

A sponsor should ensure the CMO is adequately resourced, and that it has access to an appropriate level of budget and headcount etc. Without a sponsor the CMO can find itself as a poor cousin of other functions, often scrabbling around for resources, and having to “beg, steal or borrow” budget from change initiatives and projects. Whilst some of the CMO’s budget is always likely to come from individual change initiatives, the CMO needs its own core budget. Without some budget the CMO will struggle to recruit good permanent team members and to invest in the competency development of change managers and wider organisational change capability development.

2. Make the successes of the CMO visible

A CMO sponsor should also make sure that the successes of the CMO are visible to other executives, acting as the most senior voice for the CMO. A lot of the work of the CMO can be invisible outside of the scope of individual change initiatives. Without a voice at the executive level the CMO’s value can be constantly being questioned. In extreme situations this can mean that the CMO threatened. I have seen several strong CMOs cut out from the organisation for a lack of understanding at the executive level of the value they bring.

3. Help navigate the politics

This can take different forms but essentially a CMO sponsor should assist the CMO to navigate the politics of the organisation. Sometimes the simple clout of having a powerful senior leader as the sponsor gives the CMO access to meetings, information, forums and relationships that it needs to perform its role effectively. But sometimes the role of the CMO sponsor is more subtle, for instance in coaching the CMO leader to handle situations where executives are not happy with change such as when it comes in direct conflict with their aspirations, or just their egos!

4. Help position the CMO

Finally, a sponsor should facilitate the involvement of the CMO in critical leadership activities, such as coaching executives on change management and their roles in change. Part of the role of the CMO must be to prepare executives for change and ensure they are performing the role of the most senior change leaders. Executives often need a level of advice and coaching to perform this most effectively. This is often difficult as leaders do not always respond well to being coached or advised by what may be perceived as a junior function, and not the trusted advisor that it really needs to be. A strong CMO sponsor can cut through these sorts of issues and help to position the CMO as an essential trusted advisor.

Who should perform the role of CMO sponsor? 

In a modern organisation, with a relatively flat structure and behaviours which are much less hierarchical than in the organisations of decades ago, it is easy to conclude that the CMO sponsor does no need to be at the most senior levels in the organisation. Whilst I can see why people argue this, in reality it is a little naïve. Rightly or wrongly, seniority still counts. I have found that the most successful CMOs are sponsored at the most senior levels.  

Generally, I am not overly bothered by which executive sponsors the CMO, but it needs to be someone who has an active interest in change and change management, and who is close to the reality of change in the organisation. The sponsor needs to be willing to get into a level of detail about change, which may not always directly concern their own parts of the organisation.  

I have seen almost every executive acting as a CMO sponsor. Typical CMO sponsors include the CIO or the CHRO, both of whom tend to have a significant interest in change and whose day-to-day roles naturally cut across organisational boundaries. In my experience, the most successful CMOs are often sponsored by someone like the Chief Transformation Officer or the leader of corporate strategy department.  

However, more important than the specific role held by the CMO sponsor, is their willingness to give time and energy to their role as the CMO sponsor.  This can be a big ask of any executive, who usually has many other time-consuming aspects to their role. But the value gained in better change management in the organisation makes it well worthwhile.  

In summary

Successful CMOs thrive for a number of reasons, but whatever talents and skills of the members of the CMO and the CMO leader, a senior sponsor, preferably operating at an executive level is a proven critical success factor.  

Whilst there are many aspects to this role, the most important is the willingness to actively engage in the work of the CMO and act as the voice of the CMO at the most senior levels.  

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