Some people respond to change better than others.
Every time you introduce some new technology or innovation to your organisation, you’ll notice that some professionals jump to get involved, and others seem to lag behind. There may even be people in your community who can support those who feel uncomfortable embracing new ideas.
For companies unlocking the benefits of Microsoft Teams, one of the easiest ways to increase engagement, is to find your champions.
Champions are the people responsible for creating enthusiasm and adoption among teams. These professionals drive business transformation by empathetically assisting their colleagues in discovering new tools and answering common questions. A champion can quell the fears your current staff have about moving to a new service and provide feedback to project teams too.
Here’s your guide to building a Teams Champion program.
Defining Your Champions: The Value of Champion Programs
Champions are essential tools in improving the evolution of your business. These professionals support lagging adopters in discovering the benefits of tools like Microsoft Teams, and reduce the risk of business silos. Champions are a key group in an adoption strategy because they ensure everyone in your team has a chance to learn how to use their technology.
Champions are passionate about driving positive business change. They can assist with things like collaborative learning and peer-to-peer guidance. Champions can also supplement training and guidance provided to team members who are struggling with adoption. Champions:
- Encourage enthusiasm about Microsoft Teams
- Influence staff to jump in and use new tools
- Provide useful feedback and guidance to stakeholders
- Recognise potential adoption challenges
- Discover solutions to common problems
How to Recruit Your Champions
To become a champion, employees don’t need to have years of experience with Microsoft Teams and similar tools. The most important requirement is a desire to learn, evolve, and assist other people. Champions are enthusiastic people who feel comfortable in your tech environment. You can recruit champions by:
- Asking for volunteers: Champions are passionate professionals keen to engage in various activities throughout the business. There are people in your team who might sign up to become a champion on a voluntary basis, because they want to help others discover Teams.
- Talk to managers: Middle management and supervisors will have a good idea of which team members might be best suited to a championship role. Ask your middle-management team who they would recommend.
- Use internal tools: Using your internal analytics and reporting tools, you might be able to get a good idea of which members of staff are most efficient, productive, and likely to use advanced technology. Reach out to your top performers.
Crucially, simply picking your champions is only the first step. After that, you’ll need to provide these experts with the right training and guidance to ensure they’re comfortable sharing their knowledge with peers. You can motivate your champions to guide, assist, and share knowledge with colleagues.
How to Structure your Champions Strategy for Success
Setting your champions up for success is much easier when you’re committed to providing the right tools, training, and guidance to each member of your team. Start by making sure your Champions have the right access to various Teams features, so they can experiment with all the benefits the tools have to offer. This will make them feel more confident in the tech.
Next, when you’re working on your roll-out and adoption strategy, include your champions in the planning process. You should involve your champions as early as possible in this process, particularly if you’re taking on a pilot-based or iterative approach to growth. Giving these professionals an opportunity for early involvement and input will help to drive buy-in.
It’s also worth looking into the tools Microsoft can offer to help your champions. Microsoft offers its own champion program training models and guidance depending on the kind of champions you’re going to be bringing into your plan. You can use the Microsoft resources to teach, train, and motivate your chosen employees.
Microsoft’s most recent “Viva Learning” centre could be particularly valuable for champions, as it’s packed full of access to learning content. Business leaders can set their champions up with all the insights they need to understand the Microsoft ecosystem. At the same time, you can also provide training on how to use support and IT functions.
Keeping Champions Motivated
Properly training your champions is an important part of the adoption strategy. However, you’ll also need to think about how to keep these professionals motivated. Regularly updating your support materials and having frequent community calls should help.
At the same time, you should also look into:
- Autonomy: Give your champions power to construct their own training sessions, team-building activities, and collaborative learning experiences. If these professionals feel like they have the power to make a real difference in your organisation, they’re more likely to put all of their attention into your adoption program
- Visibility: Ensure that everyone in your team knows who your champions are and how to interact with them. You can include these professionals in your project launch emails and communications and invite them to participate in project meetings
- Recognition: Reward and commend your champions for the hard work they’re doing to help your organisation make the most of teams. Recognise the contributions these professionals make and thank them for the steps they take
At the same time, remember to set up a feedback loop so you can collect as much information about the adoption process as possible. This will help to ensure your adoption strategy keeps moving in the right direction.
Mastering your Champions Strategy
Champion programs can be a wonderful way to strengthen your Teams strategy and drive more adoption among professionals. The right program also ensures you can collect as much information as possible about your team and their needs as you introduce them to a new technology. Start planning your champion strategy early, and get these professionals evolved in adoption every step of the way.
