Sustain: Intervene, Reward and Embed
Change Management Sponsorship:Without a proactive and effective change sponsor, most change programmes or initiatives will fail to achieve the targeted objectives. There are three critical sponsorship responsibilities to successfully implement change; ‘Say’ - communicating the change, ‘Support’ - providing resources and ‘Sustain’ - embedding the change.
Sustain is the critical change sponsorship responsibility, intervene to ensure adoption, reward positive behaviour and embed the new way
Change Leadership Responsibility Three: Sustain is the critical change sponsorship responsibility, intervene to ensure adoption, reward positive behaviour and embed the new way.
It is always impressive when the sponsor gets to this stage in a change programme. The sponsor will have successfully completed their first two responsibilities, Say - communicate the change, and Support - provide resources, engage, and coach. The final responsibility for the sponsor in fully implementing their organisation’s change is Sustain - reward, intervene and embed. While the change team and leaders may be feeling some change fatigue, this responsibility must be completed fully and with diligence. The leadership team must therefore support the sponsor to effectively and proactively intervene to ensure sustainable change.
Sponsorship is the single most important factor in change success
About the Book: Sponsorship is the single most important factor in change success, but very few leaders understand why it is so important, who should be the sponsor or what the main responsibilities of a change sponsor include. It is important because without a proactive and effective change sponsor, most change programmes or initiatives will fail achieve the targeted objectives. The leaders of organisations typically associate the role and traits of a change sponsor with those of a change leader. However, while these leadership traits are important foundations, the role of the sponsor goes beyond the role of a change leader.
Leadership of Change® Volume 7 is a change management sponsorship book that outlines the three key responsibilities of the change sponsor if they want to achieve the targeted objectives and successfully implement organisational change. This book outlines the three critical change sponsorship responsibilities, structured on the a2B3S© Change Sponsorship Model: ‘Say’, ‘Support’ and ‘Sustain’ to ensure full employee change adoption, and sustainable change that improves overall organisation performance. Change implementation is also supported by the a2B Change Management Framework® (a2BCMF®).
Without effective and proactive sponsorship, the change project will eventually fail, the change will not be adopted by the employees nor be sustained, and it will not deliver the intended benefits
Further Reading: Change Management Sponsorship - Leadership of Change Volume 7
Peter consults, speaks, and writes on the Leadership of Change®.
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Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Guru, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Listed #1 by leadersHum Top 40 Change Management Gurus You Should Follow in 2022 (Mar 2022).
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (2023-2022-2021-2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #1 Business Strategy Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Business Strategy (2022) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Leadership Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Leadership (Aug 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6, listed among the 50 Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2022.
Change Management Adoption - Leadership of Change® Volume 5, listed among year-to-date’s (Jul 2021) most popular books on business and technology from Thinkers360 member thought leaders.
Change Management Handbook - Leadership of Change® Volume 3, listed among the 50 Business and Technology Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2021.
Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.