How can you build a coalition of sponsors and champions for culture change?

You need every living soul on the project, to make it a success ? Start by pinpointing individuals who are influential within the organization and share a common interest in the success of the change initiative. These are your potential sponsors and champions. Engage with them, communicate often but always adding value. Make sure they can do the ripple effect and push your project through the entire organization. Also, get their regular feedback and adapt your project accordingly.

To define vision and goals, articulate a clear, inspiring future state that aligns with both organizational values and stakeholder aspirations, ensuring that it addresses key challenges and opportunities. Leverage them by engaging potential sponsors and champions through tailored communication that highlights the mutual benefits of the envisioned change, emphasizing how it aligns with their interests and goals. Build a coalition by fostering a sense of ownership and participation among these stakeholders, providing platforms for collaboration and feedback, and recognizing their contributions to drive culture change effectively.

In any change management, cultural changes are more challenging and slow. The untold culture is more stronger than the defined culture in the form of policies, processes and guidelines. Crafting a clear vision and goals are important however it is more critical to have a real commitment from the sponsor(s) through their actions. Cultural changes are successful only if the senior leaders drive them through their actions and walk the talk. Appreciating and endorsing the right culture without delay is another quick win to follow.

The starting point is to assemble the right change team with strong and resilient change champions identified. These hand picked change champions with the right attitude and aptitude will be the catalysts to change implementation towards the desired objectives. Above all, these objectives must be pragmatic and realistic, very much driven by the baseline of the organization’s maturity and background.

Where do we want to go and more important, why do we want to go there. Clarity will bring people close to your process. And see if your vision looks like theirs.

The top two things I have learned to look for in change-management champions are: grit and curiosity. Grit is the energy and mindset to keep going even when it is hard. Curiosity is the constant desire to understand the "why", root causes, and unintended implications that drive outcomes; and using that desire as fuel to complete analysis, find the right data, and run experiments to learn in real time.

Be sure to identify change champions from every corner of your organization. This is particularly important in organizations with a business or corporate team that operates relatively independently from a frontline or production team. Don't forget to vet change champions with their manager and/or HR leader before tapping them. It is important that anyone involved in championing a change be in good standing, have a positive reputation across the organization and that they're going to be around for the duration of the change implementation.

In my opinion, this is the success mantra. Get to know who are with you and who are not, what plans you have to make those who are not on board to become part of the journey. Use those who are on board to champion and recruit others and expand the influence / impact map

There would be many senior leaders in the organizations however not all of them are your sponsors or champions. I have often used the Power-Interest Grid to identify the sponsors and champions. These are usually the leaders who are on High on power as well as High on Interest. There could also be those who are High on Power and relatively Low on interest in the context of project however their position is such that you still have to manage them closely. The combination of their power and their interest in your project is the combination you need in your sponsors and champions.

To find the best sponsors and champions to support the change, analyse your stakeholders’ interest, influence, and impact. You can do this by carrying out interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Your sponsors will be the senior leaders with high interest and influence on the change. The champions will be the people who are enthusiastic and committed to the change.

The key to engagement from my perspective is co-creation with your sponsors. You can conduct interviews or group workshops to better understand their pain points and ideas and find common themes.

Understanding the goals of the individuals whom you wish to engage is the first step. The closer we can align our objectives with their existing goals of the sponsors and champions we want to engage, the more likely we are to establish long-term and enduring coalitions. Therefore, let's not forget that the initial step in engaging sponsors and champions is to know them well. It's crucial to focus not on ourselves, but on the other party."

Something I have found helpful is identifying those who might, or do, demonstrate the greatest resistance to the change- working with them to understand concerns and turn those concerns into opportunities. Once you have the later adopters as your champions, there is no looking back!

A lot depends on the change readiness of sponsors and champions. Nothing beats consistent and regular two-way communication to encourage healthy discussions, feedback sharing sessions, and updates on status of change implementation. Another important point is to close the loop on all engagements with sponsors. This way trust and respect will quickly be earned to facilitate the smooth implementation of change.

I like to use design thinking tools in workshops to make the roadmap and change initiatives as much theirs as it is mine or the owners. Ideation, brain walking, brain writing and ranking in the end will assure every process that will implement the best ideas and more important, the teams ideas. If you impose initiative, it might backfire, but if you work together and offer them the stages, they can not resist their own ideas.

Some ways I've engaged change sponsors and champions include: 1. forming a change advisory committee 2. forming a communications team 3. forming a change ambassadors team 4. forming a change execution team The goal is to create avenues for ownership over different parts of the change process so the work of change is distributed and owned by diverse groups of people across the organization.

1. Identify leaders and influencers in the organisation with the respect, authority, and ability to drive change. These individuals should be passionate about the change initiative and possess the influence to sway opinions and behaviours. 2. Clearly articulate the vision for the culture change and the benefits; provide training and resources needed for them to effectively communicate and advocate for the change. a

Clearly articulate the reasons behind the change, elucidate the benefits it brings, and highlight the risks associated with inaction. Customize your message to address the interests and concerns of sponsors and champions in a manner that resonates with each audience. Empower sponsors and champions with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to excel in their roles through continuous support and training. Acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of sponsors and champions to maintain their motivation and engagement.

If your sponsors and champions are not self-energized to take action, then you providing them with tools won't do much. You want them *demanding* the tools from you because they are so invested in the change already, so they can take the action they want because they want to.

Bring a regular update about your change initiative on the agenda of top leadership meetings and halo your champions and sponsors to shine and be proud of the successes and achievements.

Identify and empower individuals who are passionate about the cultural change. These champions can be influential employees who can act as advocates and role models for the new culture.

1. Create a sense of community among the sponsors and champions. Regular meetings, workshops, and informal gatherings can help build relationships, share successes and challenges, and sustain enthusiasm for the change initiative. 2. Recognise and celebrate the achievements and efforts of your sponsors and champions. Public acknowledgment, rewards, and even simple thank-yous can go a long way in maintaining motivation and commitment. 3. Maintain open lines of communication with your coalition, sharing updates on the progress of the change initiative, addressing challenges, and adjusting strategies as necessary. 4. Embed the coalition deeply in the planning and execution of culture change.

Very true, and I would add that the coalition or change network created for a specific occasion will often survive the project and, when nurtured with care during the life of the project, it will be an enduring / continuous process not tied to a go-live event. The objective is to establish a change network that will persist beyond the initial implementation and become a dynamic entity capable of responding to new challenges and improvements. Encouraging sponsors and champions to share their stories and experiences becomes a key element in this ongoing process, creating a reservoir of knowledge and inspiration that contributes to the sustained success well beyond the project's conclusion.

Nurturing your sponsors and champions through continued engagement is absolutely key, especially in culture change where it cannot be a 'one and done' mentality. Real cultural change takes time to embed and to emerge into something more organic. Nurturing sponsors and champions beyond any launch date is vital to this. As the article indicates, nurturing isn't just a one way street of continuing to provide insights and communications, it's very much about engagement, listening and adjusting so if something really isn't working it can be fixed or replaced. Keep in mind that sponsors and champions often value being in the know and trusted; of being heard. They will quickly disengage if they feel undervalued and ill-used.

A coalition of individuals driving change is an effective means to align, create a vision, and provide direction. However, amidst the pursuit of change, it is often overlooked that the coalition itself requires nurturing. This is crucial as they are instrumental in propelling the change initiative forward. To nurture the coalition, it is essential to establish trust, maintain consistency, and uphold commitments. Additionally, forming relationships, setting work norms, celebrating successes, providing learning opportunities, and actively seeking feedback contribute to effective coalition development and increase the likelihood of successfully navigating the change process.

Understanding the big picture and cross-functional needs is crucial for successful change management. Knowing the organization's needs helps me identify how my skills can contribute. Without this understanding, it's difficult to find my role and collaborate effectively. It's not just about my needs; it's about the organization and its people.

Continuously assess progress toward the cultural transformation initiative's goals. Gather feedback, analyze data, and assess the efficacy of your tactics and activities. Be prepared to make changes and course corrections as necessary to keep the initiative on track.

Just as the new culture is sustained by the introduction of new patterns of maintaining symbols, beliefs and structures, it is crucial to keep in mind that cultural change is an ongoing process. Consolidation of change requires sustained efforts to instill and maintain new values and practices over time. Building a change coalition is complex, given the iterative nature of organizational change. It is a process that demands visionary leadership, long-term commitment, and the ability to navigate and resolve conflicts inherent in the transition of cultures.

Socializing the change with the stakeholders impacted and getting their alignment before kicking off implementation can go a long way in gathering support for any change.

Besides just anointing sponsors and champions, engage the rank and file with an inspiring or fun internal branding campaign that can get them to rally around the change. Using cartoons or other graphic storytelling, and/or a meaningful tagline that makes everyone want to wear the T-Shirt, plus themed virtual or in- person events for the whole company, not just the chosen few, can make people feel part of a movement, rather than having change imposed upon them from on high. Sponsors and champions are great for making sure change is understood and implemented, but nothing beats a powerful communication campaign that everyone can buy into to make everyone pull together.