Champions, what are they?

In the world of business change, everyone’s favorite application suddenly becomes the one you’re about to take away. Why is that? Because change can be seen as hard without the right people leading the way and when that doesn’t happen, suddenly end users are praising a tool or process they’ve despised for years.

This is the fundamental conflict many users have when change is introduced in their business lives. However, many of these same reluctant participants, avidly adopt new applications daily in their personal lives.

A new shopping app? Let’s go. A new delivery service? Can’t wait. A new social app? I was born ready.

So why is it when given no adoption support in their personal lives, people are digital explorers – but remain digital skeptics at work? This is because a multi-faceted approach is needed to drive successful change in an organisation and historically change has been communicated singularly from the lens of “what’s in it for the business”.

Today’s best strategies have a tactical approach to assets (that is, people) that focus on what’s in it for them and an organic approach to drive interest from the front lines, cubicles, coffee/break rooms, and lunch discussions.

This is the gap that change champions and influencers can fill.

Some employers avoid bringing new technology to their businesses because it might disrupt the operations if their workers take a long time to adapt to it. This is where Change Champions come in. These individuals play a crucial role in the corporate sector, as they serve as the most effective tool to embed and deliver change within an organisation.

Who are they?

They are part of the everyday teams who excel in being passionate about technology, knowing how a company works, and what benefits a change can bring to their operations. They are the heart of an organisation so to speak.

Change Champions are crucial for the growth of a company as they are part of normal teams across an organisation themselves, they can influence their colleagues in a way no external entity can. They can provide their colleagues with high-quality support and have a long-lasting impact on them. More than that they are who people go to when they are struggling with a new system or change they are unsure of.

So how do you find them?

Well, it’s fairly obvious when you ask people, as they will tell you exactly who they are. It’s the people they go to for help or advice rather than following the formal route to resolving a problem.

Now, who are influencers?

Influencers are key to mobilising change. These are people who the rest of the organisation see as the ‘go-to’ people. They are the employees who have the confidence and trust of their colleagues. They do not necessarily mean that they would always come from the senior leadership team in an organisation, because that means, they have less time on their hands to talk to people from the other levels and give their time in helping with problems because they’re busy with other things. Which means they can come from any level in an organisation.

Influencers who are elected by their peers are more committed, motivated, successful, and effective as catalysts for implementing change. These influencers can become your change agents, enabling the organisation to start transforming smoothly and quickly.

What is important for the influencer is to give them an understanding of how important and integral their role is in effecting change. Win your influencers over and get them on board! In turn, they can spread the message among the total workforce and can even win the trust of the most skeptical employees. Their influence can be significantly greater than the decision-makers since they were selected by their peers as the most influential and trusted employees.

It is necessary to spend the time mapping out your networks to find the Influencers and Change Champions in your organization. At Simplify Change, we follow the BEE Methodology, and as part of the Build phase, we identify Change Champions through a detailed assessment using social network analysis that allows us to plot Change Champions across an organisation, ensuring that there is Change Champion coverage for a new project or change as appropriate across departments and divisions.

To scale to the entire organisation, you must use a scalable approach to identify champions and influencers and engage with them appropriately.

How does this happen?

It’s about looking at what true, basic traits reverberate with them.

What are the characteristics to look out for in a Change Champion?

Here are my thoughts on this.

1. They have a willingness to listen to new ideas

A champion for change is usually open to feedback, new ideas and they are often, though not always, quite creative. They embrace change, think critically, and are not afraid to move from the way things have always been done to something new.

2. They are good networkers

Able to interact across the organisation and make connections between others.

3. They have a focus on solutions

Rather than making a fuss or placing blame when things don’t go well, they come to you with options to resolve the situation and move forward.

4. They understand the organisation

They know how the organisation works and understand its culture, challenges, and strengths. They are also ‘tuned in’ to the mood of different areas of the organisation and able to provide clarification about the change where there is a misunderstanding or identify when and where communication is needed.

5. They are not afraid to take risks

A strong Change Champion recognises that we can learn from things that don’t go well and then build on this learning and they can motivate and mobilise change to help others be willing to take their first tentative steps to move forward.

6. They can communicate the positives

A key aspect of change is that people naturally look for ‘what’s in it for me’; an effective Change Champion can translate the outcomes of the change into positives for individuals and teams.

7. They are not afraid to ask for help

They recognise that everyone can benefit from the experience and ideas of others, whether that is a coach, a member of their team, or a line manager.

8. They are people-focused

They want to get the best out of others in the situation they face. Whilst they are enthusiastic about the change, they have empathy with those who are being affected by it.

9. They are not afraid to speak up

Whilst championing the change they are also not afraid to give feedback to leaders when they feel something could be tackled differently.

10. They are values-driven

They stand by their values whatever the situation.

A Change Champion can make a key impact on the outcome of a change management program, but it is not enough to just nominate Change Champions and then expect them to get on with it. To play their role well, they need to be managed, developed, and supported, and as a team of champions given the opportunity to resolve issues through an engaged approach.

Change Champions, in combination with modern change management frameworks like the BEE Methodology, can help give companies an unseen added advantage over the competition.

What are a companies most important assets?

By far and away in this day and age, it’s people.

The reason Change Champions succeed is that they gather opinions and insights from every corner of the organization, and then funnel them to the appropriate people who can act decisively.

At Simplify Change we work with companies to identify and build their Change Champion networks. Leveraging them to enhance and smooth delivery of change, massively improving ROI, and reducing project failure.

This is an age of digital transformation driven by technology and the applications boom. The organisations that continue to lead will become experts at identifying needs and quickly changing to realign their course.

Be bold in a bold digital world and your employees, stakeholders, customers, and shareholders will be singing your praises.

Make sure everyone in your organisation knows what’s in it for them and is having that verified by your champions and influencers and your adoption rates will continue to soar (initiative by initiative)!

If you would like to learn more, please listen to the podcast here: https://simplifychange.podbean.com/e/champions-and-influencers/ or watch the video above.