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Agency Sponsor Toolkit

Your Role as an Agency Sponsor

A sponsor is an agency leader that advocates for the change and ensures the intended goals of the change are met. Sponsors are typically executives, senior leaders or mid-level managers responsible for people impacted by the change.

Three key responsibilities of sponsors are: 
  • Be active and visible. 
  • Support your agency readiness roles.
  • Communicate, support, and promote the project.

Projects with sponsors who are active, visible, and communicative are significantly more successful than those without strong sponsor involvement. The two people employees want to most hear from about a project are their supervisor and the agency director.

How You Can Prepare Your Agency for the Payroll Transition 

Below are practical, optional activities you can use to prepare your agency. You can adapt these ideas to fit the unique needs and culture of your organization.

Support Readiness Roles

​Readiness roles are essential to preparing your agency for the transition to biweekly pay. These roles bring dedicated expertise from payroll, human resources, communications, training,  DEIB (divisity, equity, inclusion, and belonging​), change management, and process improvement. It is important they have the time, support, and resources needed to support your agency through the payroll transition.  


Demonstrate support of readiness roles: 
  • Align project roles, responsibilities, and expectations within your agency and document with a RACI matrix. 
  • Ensure supervisors of those identified in readiness roles provide time and capacity for project work. 
  • Host a kickoff meeting to promote the project and communicate your support.​

Raci Matrix Template​

Remove Barriers and Be Visible
​​Remove barriers to employee participation. These supports help managers and employees participate fully in readiness activities, get the information they need, and feel more confident navigating the transition.  
  • Ensure employees without daily computer access have time and space to use digital resources. 
  • Support managers in build staffing and coverage plans so front-line employees can attend readiness activities.  
  • Provide clear expectations and advance notice of readiness activities so managers can plan for workload shifts.  

Sponsors play a critical role in successful change. Leading by example and advocating for the change helps remove barriers to employee preparedness. Your visible participation in agency-hosted sessions and readiness role activities:  
  • Signals leadership commitment. 
  • Reinforces key messages. 
  • Builds confidence across the agency. 
  • Models the positive, future-focused mindset employees need.  ​

Communicate What Sucess Looks Like
​​The changes to how state of Oregon employees are paid include: 
  1. All employees – represented, unclassified, and managers – will move to a biweekly pay schedule instead of a monthly pay schedule.  
  2. Employees eligible for overtime under federal law, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Non-Exempt employees, who receive a monthly salary will transition to hourly pay.  
  3. The state will pay employees using a lag period rather than forecasting hours. Employees’ pay will be based on actual hours worked in the previous biweekly period, not projected hours.  
Transparent and informed communication helps build confidence, aligns staff around a shared goal, and supports a smoother transition for your agency. ​Use Payroll Transition Readiness resources to:
  • Set a clear vision for what “being ready” means for your agency.  
  • Define measurable goals.  
  • Communicate expectations so employees know how to prepare.  ​
Consistent, clear communication reduces uncertainty and keeps employees informed.  
  • Use multiple channels across your agency 
  • Offer both digital and non-digital options for equitable access 
  • Tailor Payroll Transition communications to your agency’s culture and operations 
  • Keep messages frequent, clear, and factual  ​

Payroll Transition Resources

Identify a Process to Monitor Progress

​​Consistent monitoring helps you identify what is working, where support is needed, and when adjustments should be made. Readiness roles can support this work. 

Consider simple, regular ways to track readiness progress: 
  • Use an existing reporting structure. 
  • Create a digital proejct dashboard for that shows agency transition progress.  
  • Establish a process to share updates across the agency. ​​

Build Current State Process Maps and Fill the Gaps

​​Map current processes for time entry and manager approval and address gaps. Consider: 

  • Staff who work in the field without reliable computer or internet access. 
  • Public safety or emergency response work that pulls staff away from administrative tasks. 
  • Contingency plans when employees or managers cannot meet time entry and approval cutoffs.  
  • Review relevant content of the Oregon Accounting Manual (OAM). 
Clear roles, responsibilities, and updated procedures help ensure accurate, timely pay.  

Oregon Accounting Manual (OAM)​

Additional Sponsor Toolkit Resources 

More resources for agency sponsors.

Articles

​​How Is Effective Change Sponsorship Different to Leadership?​  

This article provides specific ways to fulfill the ABCs of sponsorship.  ​​
  • Source: Prosci 
  • Estimated read time: 3 minutes 


One of the top reasons change fails is because of lack of sponsorship. ​This article looks at three common failures of sponsorship and steps you can take to be an excellent sponsor.   
  • Source: Prosci 
  • Estimated read time: 2 minutes 

If you’ve delegated the role of sponsorship to another agency leader, or are considering ways to enable the readiness roles, review this checklist to ensure your sponsor and readiness roles have what they need to be successful.  
  • Source: Prosci
  • Estimated read time: 3 minutes

Videos

​The Number One Contributor to Change Success​ 

Research findings indicate sponsorship as the number one contributor to success and the importance of leading by action, not just by title.
  • Source: Prosci  
  • Format: YouTube 
  • Watch time: 3 minutes 


Interview with Tim Creasey, Prosci’s Chief Information Officer
  • Source: Prosci 
  • Format: YouTube 
  • Watch time: 5 minutes 


A proven, 8-step process for leading a successful transformation
  • Source: Kotter International Inc  
  • Format: YouTube 
  • Watch time: 5 minutes ​