What is a change champion and why do we need them?
Change has always been a constant, but these days it’s not just constant - it’s transformative! Businesses of all shapes and sizes are going through change; all the time. Plus it’s more than simple process tweaks and product changes - it’s the big, juicy, strategic change that has huge impacts across different stakeholder groups.
For communicators, this means supporting change management with communication plans that support leaders and the project to build awareness, trust, and ultimately, drive the change forward.
There are many communication strategies and tactics we can use in a change communication plan, but a key strategy is to enlist change champions throughout the business to support the work. Which brings us to the age old question:
What is a change champion?
Change champions are people in your organisation who love change, and love feeling involved in big projects, but it’s not part of their day job. They’re not always leaders - but they are early adopters of change, and they have a great network and great relationships with their colleagues.
Essentially, they’re cheerleaders for your change project!
Why do we need them?
Because you can’t do everything, and neither can leaders. Change champions help to spread your message ‘on the ground’. More importantly, their colleagues trust them and will listen to them … which is much more effective than messages being sent by ‘the mothership’ or leaders once or twice removed. They’re not seen as authority figures, but as helpful and supportive colleagues.
What do they do?
Change champions are recruited to help spread messages among their team members; support them through changes (for example, helping their colleagues use a new system or follow a new process); and feed questions and feedback back to the project team. They allow for consistent, direct feedback and ongoing management of how a change plan is being progressed - including any incoming hiccups that could impact a roll out!
So, how do I get them involved?
There are a few steps to getting change champions on board:
Put out a call for nominations - it’s great if people self-nominate, because they’ll be far more willing to stay involved. But leaders may also nominate people from their teams to join the ‘change coalition’.
Set expectations - be clear on what’s happening, what you need the group to do, and what support you’ll provide.
Provide tools - equip change champions with tools to help them help their team. This can be things like key messages, how-to guides, and digital assets. You can even let them take the reigns and design ways of communicating they know will work better with their team!
Get feedback - set up a real-time or regular feedback loop, so the change champions have a way of providing insights quickly on what’s working, what’s not, and what questions are being asked.
Change champions are an important resource to use in your workplace to ensure projects and big changes get across the organisation quicker and more effectively. Hey, you never know - maybe you yourself were a change champion at some point, without even knowing it!
