Sometimes ideas and directives are handed down from executives like proverbial hot potatoes.
As soon as the hot potato is offloaded the sponsor will disappear and can be hard to pin down.
However, effective change is only possible when the sponsors of the change are actively
involved in the change and their commitment is clear to others.

It’s an important part of your job to help sponsors be as successful as possible. Even sponsors
with the best of intentions can be ineffective. If they are unclear about their role during
implementation they may not be able to provide the support that people need. For the last 15
years we have been collecting data and information on what makes sponsors successful, and the
result is a tool that tracks 12 dimensions of effective sponsorship. I want to highlight three of the
dimensions that we think are particularly important for sponsors.

You can read more here