15 to 20 minutes
Explain the purpose of the activity once again, and write it down on the board or the mind map. Then, ask them to work in teams and suggest one or a few candidates as the sponsor. Give them 5 minutes to finish the exercise.
The scenario doesn’t mention any names or roles to avoid anchoring the participants. Artophile is a company like most other companies: They can imagine different departments and roles, and make up stories that explain how different people behave in the company, and based on that, tell you which one(s) they find suitable for the sponsor role, and defend their choice.
When the time is up, ask each facilitator to explain their team’s answer in a maximum of 40 seconds. Ask others to comment, and add your own input if needed.
These are some of the common answers you may get:
- The CEO: It’s usually not a good idea because they may not have enough time and there’s a tendency for them to become the sponsor for all or many projects, which is really the same as not having a sponsor.
- The CTO: this can be a good or a bad choice, depending on the person, but in general, it’s a little risky because the IT department is more like a supplier in this project.
- The COO: this can be a good choice, as this project has a lot to do with the operation of the company.
- Other directors: The subject of the project may not be relevant enough to them, unless the team comes up with a story that makes the person a good candidate.
- Other managers: Probably not a good choice because they don’t have enough organizational power.
One important note here is that the organizational role is not enough to explain who’s a good candidate for sponsoring the project, because the sponsor must believe in the project and be willing to champion it. That’s where their imaginary stories play an important role.