Making Value Real
Value isn’t measured after delivery — it’s engineered from the start.
Too many programs start with a roadmap and end with a slide deck. Somewhere in between, intent gets lost. The issue isn’t bad strategy — it’s that value was never built into the design. The strongest transformations make proof part of the plan from day one.
In Securing Real Sponsorship, I wrote that belief has to be secured before kickoff. Once it is, design begins — and that’s where proof gets engineered. On day one, I define three proofs: (1) an early proof of value — one short task the people who matter most can complete in five minutes; (2) an adoption curve with visible weekly evidence; and (3) one CFO-recognized indicator that can land in a board pack within two quarters. This defines what we’ll mutually consider good. When people know what good looks like, they move toward it.
At Shell, Deutsche Bank, and later at KPMG, I saw how the first few weeks decide the outcome. On one risk-transparency rollout, we spent extra time defining how the CFO would recognize value. It delayed kickoff by three weeks, but when the first quarterly report landed, the metric was already there. No one had to explain why the project mattered — the data spoke for itself. I’ve never regretted the time spent there.
Real sponsorship makes that possible. The leaders who stay through hard calls — not just kickoffs — create momentum others can trust. When sponsorship is symbolic, everything downstream turns defensive. It’s better to pause than to start without commitment.
I’ve learned to separate value ownership from value oversight. Sponsors create value by enabling decisions; steering committees protect it by managing exposure. When the latter dominates, governance turns into theater — control dressed up as confidence. I’ve seen that dynamic more than once: everyone reports progress, but nobody owns outcomes. Naming the distinction early keeps energy focused on results instead of politics.
The quiet work before kickoff sets the tone. I invest time in unfiltered discussions — surfacing trade-offs, naming risk, testing appetite. It’s the first act of trust, and it saves months later when reality intrudes.
Trust isn’t created in workshops or kickoff speeches. It’s built in repetition: clear updates, calm escalations, and promises kept. When that rhythm holds, governance becomes confidence, not control.
You can’t bolt value on at the end. It has to live in the foundation — sponsorship, trust, and adoption designed together from the start. Proof isn’t a phase; it’s the structure everything else rests on.
Next insight: Adoption on compressed clocks — turning trust, value, and scale into visible horizons.