Taking a Champion Approach at Work

confident female employee presenting at a meeting to co-workers

Have you ever experienced a workplace discussion that was dominated with comments like ‘no’, ‘we can’t’, or ‘we’ve tried that before, and it didn’t work’? These types of conversations can feel counter-productive, especially when employees have been tasked to be innovative or solve a problem. It’s one of the reasons that individuals often prefer to work alone than as part of a group.

When behaviours like this occur, it can cause inequalities on a team where some voices are heard, and others are not. The intent is for everyone to contribute, and all input is valuable.  But there needs to be a way for ideas to be openly shared in a less confrontational way.

It’s helpful to recognize that some employees have a tendency to challenge the discussion by focusing on the obstacles versus champion their ideas by focusing on the opportunities. By learning how to switch from a challenger to a champion, employees can express their thoughts in a more positive context.

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Champion

VS

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Challenger

The Limitations of Being a Challenger

According to Heidi Grant, a social psychologist and author of the book Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You, it’s common for people to focus on obstacles when faced with evaluating a new idea. She says that we tend to ruminate on the problem rather than the solutions and this gets compounded when working with other people.1

A challenger is predominantly focused on the potential issues and has difficulty seeing beyond the reasons why something can’t be done. Those who focus too much on problems tend to shut down suggestions of other employees who might have fresh ideas. Progress can still occur if there are only a few challengers in a room. But when the majority in a group are challengers, then collaboration and innovation can come to a grinding halt. It can be frustrating for everyone involved.

Being a challenger is also not empowering for the individual who has that mindset. They might be very effective at voicing their opinion on why something can’t be achieved, or why it shouldn’t be tackled, but this hinders their ability to look for solutions or come up with anything new.

The Benefits of Being a Champion

When an individual takes a champion approach, they come into a group discussion with something of value to fight for, or debate. When they raise obstacles, it is in context of trying to improve an area that they strongly believe in.

A champion will share possibilities of what can get done instead of only focusing on what can’t be done. It’s hard to shut down a champion when they are driven by a set of values.

Employees who are champions want to be solution-orientated and need the help of others to achieve results. This puts them in a position of influence. They can motivate their colleagues by showing the meaning behind their passion, which is also a beneficial skill to develop in their careers.

Workplace Application of this Approach

There are simple ways to apply this approach in the workplace. To begin, you can encourage everyone in a group discussion to be a champion in a particular area of focus.

Here are some examples of areas that employees could choose to focus on:

Now imagine a group discussion that has three participates. One employee could be the champion for the customer; one could be the champion for the community, and one could be the champion for sustainability. When given a problem to solve, everyone could be tasked to come at it with a different viewpoint applying the champion approach. Instead of listing a bunch of problems, they will advocate for the area that they represent in a positive way.

Shifting the focus of your group discussions allows everyone the opportunity to contribute. This leads to greater innovation because a champion mindset is open to ideas regardless of the difficulty, whereas a challenger mindset is quick to dismiss ideas that appear too complex.

When groups can focus on the positive aspects instead of the negative, the results are clear.  Collaboration improves. Employees will inevitably work better together. And every voice will be heard.

Summary and Reflections

The champion approach helps teams work more effectively together and it fosters more productive group discussions. For even greater results, allow your employees to go beyond their functional responsibilities to champion an area of passion to them. This will provide them with the growth opportunity of advocating for something bigger than what’s in their job description. It’s a way to accomplish something even more meaningful to them personally.

Remember that it’s not enough for just one team to adopt the champion approach within an organization. It should be recognised and supported across multiple teams if you want to change behavior in your workplace at a broader level.

The results of doing so will be plentiful – from an increase in productivity, to better team dynamics, to more innovation, to higher employee engagement. It will have a ripple effect across your organization.

At Spireworxs, we believe that every employee can make a meaningful impact at work if they are empowered and supported by their managers and their colleagues. Find out how our coaching, training and customized solutions can help them reach their full potential.

1 Harvard Business Review: Is Your Team Solving Problems or Just Identifying Them, by Rebecca Knight (April 14, 2021)
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