Coaching Academy
Executive Sponsor’s
Checklist
Executive Sponsor’s Checklist of Activities
Decisions:
1. What will be the aim of this project?
 What is “keeping me awake” that significantly impacts one or more of the
following: clients, staff, overall organization, bottom line?
 What people do I want to consult with to make this decision?
 How quickly can I get this group together and decide on the aim?
2. Who will be the change leader? An ideal change leader will:
 Be influential and well respected by others in their department.
 Be good at facilitating a group.
 Be able to encourage participation from all team members.
 Be able to keep things moving and focused on outcomes.
 Have good rapport with me
 Have time to devote to this project
 Be enthusiastic about the project and not “allergic” to change
3. Who should be on the change team? (Discuss with change leader) Ideal team
members will:
 Be enthusiastic about making improvements in work processes
 Bring diverse perspectives and roles within the work place
 Be willing to learn about collecting simple data
 Be willing to voice their opinions and to listen to other views openly
Actions:
1. Formally establish the change team.
 Meet with the change team leader. Let the leader know how much responsibility
the team will be given for making changes and what their accountability will be.
 Decide with the leader how often you want regular reports on the project.
 Let the leader know you will be dropping in on occasional team meetings.
 Let the leader know that you are willing to help provide needed resources and to
smooth the way for pilot projects the team wants to try.
 Send a written letter or email to each selected change team member inviting
them to be a part of the project. Explain the aim, their role, the length of time the
project is supposed to take, who the change leader is, and why you feel their
input is important to the team (e.g. “your perspective as the front line staff
member who answers the phone when clients first contact us is critical in helping
us determine how to shorten our wait time for clients to receive treatment”)
Coaching Academy
Executive Sponsor’s
Checklist
2. Announce the project to your whole agency staff to gain their enthusiasm and
commitment to it.
 Explain the importance of the aim for the organization, clients, staff, bottom line,
ability to improve conditions for staff and clients, etc.
 Describe the length of time the initial change project will last.
 Announce which department will be the first to try rapid cycle improvement and
who the change leader and team members will be.
 Describe what will be done with the pilot data collected by the staff – how it will
be used to make and sustain permanent improvements.
 Describe how information about what the change team is doing during this
project will be shared with other staff members.
 Describe your hopes for spreading process improvement methods throughout the
agency and how it can be used to improve other future aims around work life and
client care.
 Model the concept that it is processes, not people, that cause most of our
problems by sharing some of what was learned in the initial walk through and
praising those who shared their views of what needed to be improved.
 Point to the walk through and other similar activities as a way to understand and
involve the customer in making improvements in care.
3. Meet with the change team at the first or second team meeting.
 Repeat the importance of the aim for the organization, and your enthusiastic
support for the project.
 Let the team know you are willing to help them obtain the resources they need
for completing the project.
 Tell the team what your expectations for the project, including responsibility,
reporting, deadlines for completion, etc.
 Model the importance of uncovering the “warts” – we can’t improve if we don’t
know what’s wrong.
 Model the importance of learning from mistakes. A failed change cycle can help
us learn a lot about what needs to be fixed with a process.
4. Follow up regularly with the change leader.
5. Attend occasional meetings of the team.
6. Continue to model openness to dealing with warts and problems.
7. Publicize the team’s efforts and successes.