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Practical Ways to Help Employees Promote Your Change Project.

 

written by Michal Erder and Tara Schlosser

 

“You’ve been selected to join the Brand New, Never Done Before, Best Project Ever Change Champion Network! Please keep an eye out for a boring monthly meeting invitation, a bland quarterly newsletter, and don’t forget the list of tasks we’re going to send to you that we expect you to complete on top of your existing workload. Thanks for being a Change Champion!”

If you aren’t rolling your eyes – or worse – you are an extraordinarily generous and patient person, and maybe you should be our life coach.

Establishing change “champions” (or advocates or ambassadors or agents) is popular for organizations implementing major changes. It makes a lot of sense to enlist employees to engage with the new system or process and promote it to their peers.

A change champion network is a group of early adopters and influencers that drive change – not just by communicating, but by embodying the change in their activities and beliefs.

The people involved in the network should understand the change – its benefits, impacts, and timelines – believe in it, and have a vested interest in others coming along for the ride.

The problem with change champion networks isn’t the concept; it’s the execution, which often leaves people feeling underwhelmed, overworked, and at worst, frustrated.

How do change projects get it wrong?

  • The wrong enlistment. Are they volunteers? Or are they voluntold? If you “enlist” people who haven’t expressed interest, you get a network that’s capable but not motivated.
  • The wrong recruits. Do they have time? Often people are chosen because they are high-performing, influential, and good communicators. That’s who every project wants, right? That’s the problem. We often see the same people pulled into activities over and over. If you punish performance, you get an elite team of burned out employees.
  • The wrong timing. Asking people to be part of a change network after the change is already designed and built feels disingenuous. You can’t have an impact on a change if the decisions have already been made.
  • The wrong schedule. Often, project leads create the plan around what the project needs. If you schedule meetings or events during busy days or crunch time for the employee, they have to choose between this new gig and their real job. Even if they want to help, they might not.
  • The wrong first impression. Change networks usually have kickoff events. These sessions often miss the mark: a generic overview PowerPoint the change, a quick demo of new functionality or processes, then a discussion that is a) too quick, b) too high-level, or c) dives deep into one element that a few people in the room care about. A bad kickoff – ironically – usually ends with a list of things the project team needs the champions to go off and do.
  • The wrong tone. What is the vibe? Are the change champions defensive? Do they fear criticizing the project or pushing back on details? What have their bosses told them? What have the project team members said? There are many reasons people might feel like they can’t say what’s on their minds. If they don’t feel like they can be honest, you will be met with deafening silence. That’s the opposite of what you want.
  • The wrong support. Teams sometimes give their champions a packet of information and set them loose. That’s, at minimum, a recipe for inconsistency. Some will thrive and create momentum, and some will flounder.
  • The wrong rewards. Even if people have time, get engaged, and do exactly what you want, with enthusiasm, what then? They get a thank you email?

So what?

When any of these things happen, there are two major consequences. First, your change champion network is not effective. Champion networks are meant to bolster excitement and engagement among employees; that means the champions have to be informed, motivated, and excited in the first place. If they’re not, the broader stakeholder groups certainly won’t get on board.

Second, and maybe most importantly, failed change champion networks can erode the trust and credibility in the organization itself. So, the next time you say “come join this network of your peers” people might dread the assignment – and the change itself. That’s like the opposite of a change champion network; it’s a change haters’ network.

So how can we build networks that matter?

How do we create a change network that works?

Get them in time to make a difference. Change champions are prized because they’re so knowledgeable and influential to the employees you need to drive this change. So treat them like the experts they are – get them on board in time to give you input on stakeholder impacts and the best ways to communicate. Then…actually take their advice. Don’t just ask for their wisdom for the sake of engagement. In other words: get them involved early and then help them help the project.

Choose wisely. This is more art than science. What’s right for your organization and your project will be unique to you. Here are some things to consider.

  • If you use volunteers, you will probably get people with the time, energy, and desire to promote the change. However, you might not get a lot of them. And you might not get the right characteristics: early adopters, high performers, and influential employees.
  • If you “voluntell” people that they will be champions, you can hand-pick people. The advantages are many: you can ensure they have the right characteristics, roles, and distribution in the organization. The downside: they might not have capacity or interest. Moreover, if you ask leaders to select people, be careful – they tend to pick the same folks repeatedly.
  • The best approach is often a hybrid. Solicit volunteers for the capacity and motivation. And hand-pick others – but give all of them the capacity and motivation. That might mean taking work off their plates and offering incentives. More on that below.

Be transparent and specific. Have conversations with champions about what you expect. Do you want them to be influencers? Communicators? Or do you just need them to know about the change so they can answer questions? Are they responsible for a particular team? What are the activities you expect, and what information should they convey and collect? How much time will you need from them and when?

Help them get the time. Work with their managers to lessen workloads, backfill parts of their roles, or move deadlines. The change project is important, right? Then, leadership should clear the way for success. If we want people to do more, we need to help them make time to do it. And it’s not just on the champion and their manager; make sure the project team’s schedule makes sense for the champions and their day-to-day work teams.

Set the tone. You want your network to be nimble, empowered, and effective.

  • From the start, set up the network for open, honest, fast, two-way communication. If that means certain leaders shouldn’t be at the kickoff meeting, so be it.
  • Make sure the person leading the group is someone everyone knows and trusts.
  • Give champions just the information they need, in simple terms that make sense to them.
  • Let them question the what, why, and how.

Throughout the project, make it easy to give feedback and get information. Quick Teams chats, Slack, whatever – the longer champions wait for answers to questions, the longer champion and employee engagement wait. You lose momentum.

Support your champions. They need tools, content, and coaching. Don’t just give them the deck from your kickoff meeting. They need assets customized for their audiences – the right language, content, and tone. Don’t assume your champions are ready to stand in front of a room of their peers and present. Some might need advice, resources, practice sessions – whatever is right for them.

Let the network drive. They need the space and time to tell you what they need, and to get it. For example, we often pack the agenda for our change champion network meetings, when what they really need is time…to ask their questions and talk about what matters to them and their teams. Those discussions are so much more valuable than a project team member showing slides and talking at them.

Remove obstacles. The best plans and the best champions will run into challenges. For example, maybe some of their peers aren’t participating in scheduled activities. Maybe employees are simply refusing to adopt the change, in favor of the old ways of working. That’s not the champion’s problem to solve alone. It’s their job to raise issues to the project and organizational leaders, so the entire team can combat resistance.

Break it up and make it fun. Creative breaks or events can be a breath of fresh air, revitalizing the team.

  • Offer prizes for completing champion tasks.
  • Give out champion swag.
  • Spotlight champions who are going above and beyond.
  • Hold funny photo contests for meetings or sessions related to the project. For example, in-person sessions could be themed around funny hats, favorite sports team gear, or funny backgrounds (for virtual meetings).
  • Hold a “gif contest.” Have people submit gifs that describe their last meeting about the project.
  • Host a roundtable for people to share real stories about their experience with the new tool or process, and how their team reacted to it.
  • Hold “labs” where champions get 1:1 time with technical developers to talk in detail about the change.
  • Conduct sessions with high-level leaders to give change champions more visibility with leadership.

Reward their hard work. Your change champions are doing a job they weren’t hired for – or compensated for. So, what’s in it for them, other than the benefits of the change project? Figure that out with leadership. Reinforcements range from recognition and awards to monetary bonuses to perks to promotions. If the champions are critical to a change that will bring revenue and success to the organization, certainly it can afford to support them.

The bottom line: a good change champion network is POWERFUL. It can be the margin of victory for your project, creating awareness, engagement, adoption, and performance. It’s worth doing right.

Want to explore the topic in more detail? We’d love to chat: Book a meeting