on the project manager’s collaboration
with the project sponsor
ADVISORY ARTICLE
By Yogi Schulz
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Everyone wants successful project outcomes. Project managers, project sponsors, project teams, stakeholders, related vendors, and the senior management groups all contribute to successful project outcomes. Too often, those anticipated outcomes are in doubt.
The project manager’s relationship with their project sponsor is among the top critical success factors for every project. This 2×2 matrix, a favourite of all consultants, summarizes the project outcome possibilities.
Let’s examine each possibility and consider the recommendations that will move projects toward successful outcomes.
Project struggles
Even with effective project management, projects with poor project sponsorship will struggle. Project managers and stakeholders can recognize poor project sponsorship through one or more of the following behaviours:
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- Distancing themselves from the project.
- Micromanaging the project manager.
- Coaching the project manager about project management.
- Coaching the project team.
- Criticizing the project team publicly.
Unless senior stakeholders intervene, the problem will likely continue and worsen. Project managers, who are typically much junior than their project sponsors, are only rarely able to coach sponsors. The best action in this situation consists of taking as many of these steps as necessary:
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How to cite this article: Schulz, Y. (2025). Project outcomes depend on the project manager’s collaboration with the project sponsor, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue XI, December. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pmwj159-Dec2025-Schulz-Project-outcomes-depend-on-collaboration-with-the-project-sponsor.pdf
About the Author
Yogi Schulz
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Yogi Schulz has over 40 years of Information Technology experience in various industries. Yogi works extensively in the petroleum industry to select and implement financial, production revenue accounting, land & contracts and geotechnical systems. He manages projects that arise from changes in business requirements, from the need to leverage technology opportunities and from mergers. His specialties include IT strategy, web strategy and systems project management.
Mr. Schulz regularly speaks to industry groups and writes a regular column for IT World Canada and Engineering.com. He has written for Microsoft.com and the Calgary Herald. His writing focuses on project management and IT developments of interest to management. Mr. Schulz served as a member of the Board of Directors of the PPDM Association for twenty years until 2015. Learn more at https://www.corvelle.com/. He can be contacted at yogischulz@corvelle.com
His new book, co-authored by Jocelyn Schulz Lapointe, is “A Project Sponsor’s Warp-Speed Guide: Improving Project Performance.”
To view other works by Yogi Schulz, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yogi-schulz/
