Some approaches you may choose to select champions are outlined in the table overleaf. THEME/AREA/ PROJECT DESCRIPTION ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES Reward Champions are selected or a or on-going piece of work or to support a specific project or work stream in which they are highly skilled. Can support an organisations holistic learning and development offering. Opportunity to share and develop employees’ strengths and assets and share these with other employees. Becoming a champion is recognised as something other employees should and could aspire to. May enable champions from certain teams and services, rather than across an organisation. Recruitment is based on certain skills rather than generally good employee advocacy. There may be other reasons teams are disengaged and it’s important to have employee champions from all employee groups and work bases not just a few. Self-selection/ volunteers Employees nominate themselves / express an interest in becoming a champion/ volunteer. Employees are generally already motivated and engaged. Inclusive approach, which empowers employees to take ownership and get involved. Employee-led approach with colleagues not feeling forced to become a champion. Forms a good platform from which to drive bottom up messages and feedback for leadership. Champions are typically within pockets of an organisation and not representative of the whole. It’s typically harder to recruit remote/mobile workers as champions using this strategy. Less engaged employees may not put themselves forward and it is often these whom you need to reach. Utilising existing networks/ connections Some organisations may already have advocates or champions or have had these previously and want to build on this network and have a broader range of employees becoming employee champions. If you are working in a communications or HR role, utilising your existing networks and contacts across the organisation can help encourage colleagues to become champions. Research shows that typically employees trust what their colleagues say more than senior managers hence peers could encourage others to become champions. Helps facilitate a more structured recruitment process that could be beneficial in large, complex The champions whom you recruit may not be representative of your full organisation. You may have potential champions who are outside of these areas who you don’t recruit. Your existing groups may have preconceptions e.g. highly engaged/disengaged which may affect your recruitment.
ENGAGING As stated in the MacLeod and Clarke 2009 report, Engaging for Success, the employee voice is one of the key enablers of employee engagement, so be prepared to listen to your champions – they have their fingers on the pulse in a way that senior leaders and communication and employee engagement specialists across any organisation cannot. It is important to ensure champions are valued and feel valued for their support. We’ll explain more on how to do this in the next section. Much like any role, there are a number of basic requirements any champion will need in order to be effective: Clarity of role – The most important support to provide is to make sure individuals clearly understand the role of a champion. This includes the purpose and objectives of the role within your organisation, what is and isn’t expected as part of it, who the champion will be representing or acting on behalf of, and why the role is of benefit to the business and the champion themselves. This clarity can allow individuals to take a proactive approach to their role with the confidence of understanding what’s in and outside of their remit. Top tip: Consider creating a role profile, which clearly outlines these details up-front for everyone so that they know what they are signing up to and what the organisation can expect. Clarity of direction - It’s imperative that your champion network understands how their role is helping the organisation to achieve its goals. FitzPatrick and Valskov (2014) tell us groups without a clear focus can degenerate and lose value, while Seashore (1954) says a cohesive group may even result in members working to meet their own needs, rather than those of the company, if not managed. Top tip: regular meetings with your network can be a good opportunity to refocus them on the organisation’s priorities or the group’s goals. Management sponsorship and backing - If the role of the champions is not supported by your managers - in particular, an individual champion’s line manager - they may struggle to fulfil their commitments and as a result feel undervalued or disengaged by the role. If the champion role is intended to act as a conduit for two-way feedback, champions will need easy and regular access to managers. Managers should be sure to demonstrate that they have listened and acted as a result of working with their champions,