Build a community of champions Build a community
Build a community of champions
Build a community of champions A community of champions is a group of stakeholders willing to contribute their own creativity and experience to make your Service. Now® project more successful. It’s a diverse team whose members cross functional and geographical boundaries. Champions are people who are ready, willing, and able to support your Now Platform® project by informing stakeholder groups or others within their network about project progress, challenges, and changes. They are especially effective because they understand the language and media approaches (like email, social network, video, meetings) that your stakeholders are most likely to accept. Building a community of champions is critical to helping your organization get on board using the Now Platform. Unlike a CRM or ERP system, which is heavily used by some parts of your organization, Service. Now capabilities such as an employee portal and incident management may be be used by and impact all employees globally. Champions help spread the word about the benefits of using the Now Platform but also bring feedback from employees. Ultimately, the community of champions will help drive a successful launch of the Now Platform and help your organization continue to see business value. Insight: Build a community of champions Champions help build, grow, and sustain your Service. Now rollout by evangelizing and providing varying forms of support (e. g. , communication, product enablement, or change management) to your organization. To build a sustainable community of champions, champions should be: Carefully evaluated and selected based on the characteristics of an effective champion Formally trained and incentivized to increase their depth and breadth of knowledge of Service. Now Kept well informed about the status and any initiatives related to Service. Now implementation Given the support system, tools, and resources needed to execute the champion role Directed, encouraged, and empowered to guide, teach, and train their peers about the Now Platform Service. Now provides tools and resources (e. g. , pitch decks, communication templates, program guides, etc. ) to help you build and sustain a community to support champions through our Customer Success Center. Key Implementation Steps Start 1. Define the champion role Improve 2. Recruit, identify, and select champions 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2 Optimize 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 1: Define the champion role You’ll need to first understand these roles and responsibilities to determine who would be prepared to be capable and effective champions. This information will help you select and recruit champions. Define the champion role. Champions are embedded in process user teams directly affected by the upcoming changes. They will understand the nuances in culture that can be different from team to team and affect the acceptance of a change. q Define the roles, responsibilities, and characteristics of a champion so you can select candidates for the community of champions. These roles and responsibilities will vary based on the champion’s role within the organization (e. g. , first line manager versus line level contributor versus executive assistant). Some champions may be focused on more technical enablement, while others are more focused on change management. The general responsibilities of a champion include: q Providing information to their teams on the implementation project: who, what, why, where, when, and how q Providing constructive feedback to the Service. Now project team via scheduled forums q Using their level of influence to advocate for the use of the Now Platform q Embedding Service. Now as an integral part of how teams work q Acting as a support resource to team members deeply immersed in using Service. Now (i. e. , super user) q Capturing product- and change-related feedback for the project team q Acting as a reference/case study for other users looking to improve their own workflow q Being part of the go-live team at the Service. Now launch q Continuing as a champion after the go-live to help the organization build out the strategy of the Service. Now project Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 3 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 1: Define the champion role (Continued) q Determine the characteristics of who fits the profile of a champion: q A leader either in the formal sense or as someone who has demonstrated leadership abilities q Someone who is strategic and recognizes the need to change and scale to meet customer needs q Someone who is influential and respected by peers and within other internal functions Practitioner insight: All champions may not share the same responsibilities. Some of these members may be in a position where they are able to communicate messages effectively and efficiently to a particular audience. These individuals may become communicators for a particular capability (say incident management), or a geography. Others may not have roles with a prescribed audience, but because they are seen as thought leaders in the organization, they are in an excellent position to advocate for the project. There may be individuals who have the capacity to fill both roles. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 4 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 2 a: Determine the number of champions needed and their expected activities Before you recruit champions, consider the number you need, their expected activities and time commitment, and the incentives you’ll offer them. Define expectations for champions and the time commitments needed Determine the number of champions you’ll need based on the size of your organization and anticipated needs for organizational change management: q q q How big is your organization? In a smaller organization, for example, you may start with five to 10 champions within a business unit (e. g. , HR, finance, etc. ) whereas in a large global organization, you could have more than 20 people as champions in a business unit). q Reviewing weekly project reports and updating their particular function via team meetings – This requires no more than one hour per week. q Attending champion forums with the Service. Now project team for feedback – Time commitments in meetings, including kickoff and reoccurring champion forums, will range from two to three hours per month. How much representation do you need? How much effort is needed to spread the word about Service. Now? q Acting as a specific champion for designated work streams based on expertise: training and enablement, systems development, testing and QA, governance, organizational change management – Time spent weekly is most likely a minimum of one hour. Determine/identify the system of incentives needed to recruit/reward champions q Work with your executive sponsor to emphasize their role in defining and evangelizing the champion opportunity to teams. q Collaborate with team leaders to develop incentives for champions, including recognition in performance reviews and career progression. Steps 1. Define the champion role Determine the activities a champion is expected to perform, including: q Add up and communicate the total monthly time commitments across all champion activities. 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 5 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 2 b: Recruit, identify, and select champions You’ll need to put work into recruiting champions to ensure you have the optimal team. Often, this involves engaging with managers to identify potential champion candidates. Market the benefits of champions to managers and potential candidates Develop a list of potential candidates for champions q Build a list of managers to help in recruiting potential candidates. Make sure you have a cross-functional and geographical reach across process user teams. q Explicitly define the key benefits of being a champion: q Recognition from and access to the executive sponsor and senior business leaders q Send out a communication to each manager with the following: q Career development, especially through participation in organizational change and digital transformation q A call to action to identify leaders to serve as champions for the Service. Now implementation q Early access and exposure to new technology q A description of the role and characteristics of a champion (as described in step 2 a), to enable managers to identify candidates q Additional incentives as identified by the executive sponsor and allowed by HR policy q A request for the manager to nominate a number of champion candidates (i. e. , five to 10) – Determine how many candidates you will need based on the size of the process user team impacted. Ask the manager to evaluate who they think would be good candidates and nominate them by a set deadline. q Conduct educational sessions on the benefits associated with being a champion through webinars, lunch and learn sessions, and individual meetings with potential candidates. q Guidance for managers to discuss the champion role with potential candidates and gauge their interests. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 6 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 2 b: Recruit, identify, and select champions (Continued) Evaluate and select champions q Compile the list of champion candidates received through management nominations or other avenues. For example, findings from the organizational change management (OCM) stakeholder analysis could help you identify individuals with the right skills and influence in your organization to be effective champions. q Consult with your project team and executive sponsor to incorporate their opinions on the candidates in the selection process. q Select your champions and inform relevant managers so they’re aware of the selections. Be explicit in asking permission to reach out and discuss the champion role with the selected candidates. Practitioner insight: Fundamentally, a champion is not just a strong adopter but is an active believer in the business case, and someone who’s willing to go the extra mile to promote Service. Now use internally. q Reach out to selected champion candidates to confirm acceptance of the champion role. q Start out with an introductory phone call or email to welcome your new champion. q Explain what a champion is. q Share why they were selected as a champion. q Share what you need from the selected champion. q Remind the champion of the potential benefits. q Let selected candidates opt out (remember, the most effective champions feel personally invested). q Provide the schedule for any upcoming meetings. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 7 Practitioner insight: Champions don't necessarily need ITIL experience or deep expertise in HR, customer service, or other functions to be successful. The best champions are individuals who have built strong personal networks, are well-respected, and influential among their peers. 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 3 a: Kickoff and train your community of champions to increase adoption (Slide 1 of 2) Training and enablement is essential to help your champions succeed. Ensure that your champions are aware of the training and resources available to them and that they take advantage of that opportunity. Then keep a cadence of education and communication ongoing. Conduct a kickoff session with all recruited champions so they can meet and learn about their new responsibilities q Set up an introduction briefing with your new champions to review the following: q Explain their role in detail and the expectations of how champions will work together (see Step 1 for talking points). q Provide champions insight into your vision and implementation roadmap, and business case for Service. Now, so they can articulate the value of implementation. q Conduct an overview of change management to teach them key principles of the psychology of change, communications, resistance management, and training. Provide a solid foundation of knowledge to prepare them to deal with change. q Preview the tools and resources your champions can use to promote adoption and where to access them. Providing training to your new champions q Require champions complete the Service. Now Foundations e. Learning training so they can hit the ground running with baseline knowledge of Service. Now. q Recognize and report progress to managers. q Include a signed note from the executive sponsor to demonstrate executive-level support for champion training activities. q Ensure you recognize champions who’ve completed training. q Provide a small token of appreciation or recognition (e. g. , certificate of completion, gift card, trophy, etc. ). Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 8 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 3 a: Kick off and train your community of champions to increase adoption (Continued) Establish ongoing communications with your community of champions q Communicate with your community of champions on a regular cadence to keep them updated on your implementation progress and any upcoming activities that will impact employees. Champions must always be one step ahead of employees so they’re prepared to respond to questions from their colleagues. q Schedule weekly champion forums to provide updates. This allows the champion to meet with the project team for Q&A and to provide input In early stages, schedule forums more frequently to prepare for before and after your go-live. Move to less frequent meetings (i. e. , monthly) as your Service. Now implementation evolves. q Create and send out weekly updates to inform champions about ongoing activities, project updates, success stories, best practice tips, and to recognize champions for key accomplishments. q Provide contact information for other champions, the implementation program/project manager, and the organizational change management program lead. Communicate the launch of the community of champions to your organization q Announce the launch of the community of champions to ensure that your organization is aware of the team. Provide contact details, photos, and ways to communicate with champions. q Include how champions will support the organization during any changes. q Ideally, have the announcement come from the executive sponsor or a senior leader to ensure the importance of the network can be expressed with senior leadership support. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 9 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 3 b : Build out resources for champions Resource centers should include information from the executive sponsor to ensure that champions can support the overall vision for your implementation, rather than just technical or process changes. Start to build out resources that will assist champions in their role q Create workspaces for champions to collaborate and access resources. q Review Service. Now’s Customer Success Center to access tools and arm your champions with Champion Enablement resources. Champion Enablement includes guides and templates that you can modify to make your own on these topics: q Go-live communication and adoption q Provide access to the executive sponsor for Q&A, help, etc. q If your organization has a dedicated organizational change management (OCM) program lead or an OCM team, check with them to see if they’ve already considered training needs for champions as part of developing their OCM enablement plan. q Program management and strategy q Introducing Service. Now to your enterprise q Create workspaces for champions to collaborate and access resources. q Create a centralized location (e. g. , Box, One. Drive) to access files and documents such as useful project information (e. g. , the implementation roadmap) and training materials. q Create communication channels (e. g. , Slack channel, dedicated email address such as champions@yourcompany. com and/or email groups, etc. ) for champions to communicate, ask questions, share stories, and give feedback. q Provide access to the rest of organization so they can easily communicate with champions. Steps 1. Define the champion role Practitioner insight: The community does not need to be only internally focused. Vendors and partners can provide significant insight and input into the community and support champions ability to understand where to look for value and next steps. Practitioner insight: Encourage champions to communicate success and failure stories to their peers to build understanding around messages that resonate and messages that don’t, and to help peers overcome adoption hurdles among their teams. 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 10 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 4 a: Utilize your community of champions The community of champions is tightly aligned with the Service. Now Project Management team. As an extended part of the team, champions should be involved in every phase of your project including planning, communications, training, preparing for go-live, and supporting upgrades. Use champions’ insight in project planning Use champions to advocate for effective training q Have champions participate in your Service. Now project planning process, taking advantage of their insight and access to the local level. Engage champions to: q Your champions can help ensure their teams are getting the right training. Ask champions to: q Review training materials and formats to provide feedback q Socialize planning decisions and verify any gaps. q Lead formal training of their teams (if doing “train the trainer’) q Test your messaging ideas to see what resonates. q Create “tips and tricks” documents to help their teams understand best practices q Request ideas for activities to help drive change on their teams. Use champions to amplify your communications q Engage champions to ensure your messaging is widely distributed and understood by various teams: q Highlight communications and action items during team meetings. q Hold Q&A sessions to squash rumors and provide facts related to employee concerns. Practitioner insight: If your organization has a dedicated organizational change management (OCM) program lead or an OCM team, coordinate how you plan to communicate through your champions with their OCM communication plan. q Provide feedback on how key messages are resonating and on the timing of communications and activities. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 11 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 4 a: Utilize your community of champions (Continued) Use champions for go-live q Ask champions to amplify the excitement of your Service. Now go-live and provide the support needed to make sure everyone is ready to go. Engage champions to: q Give on-the-spot support to their teams. q Coach teams on the right steps to execute their processes. q Provide feedback to the platform team on areas that are working or need additional support. Practitioner insight: For a community of champions to be effective, they must have the benefit of a wide perspective from a large number of departments and be able to represent a cross-section of roles and responsibilities. This will allow you to verify challenges and issues that might be faced by varying target audiences. q Help plan the go-live celebration. Ask champions to support Service. Now upgrades q Make sure champions set aside time to learn new features that come with upgrades so they can highlight and share them with peers. q Ask champions to promote adoption of new features, act as a resource for user questions, and support any organizational change management, particularly for capabilities (e. g. , predictive intelligence/machine learning) that represent a significant change from existing workflows. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 12 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 4 b: Recognize, reward, and measure your community of champions Champions are performing a role that is not in their normal job description. Make sure champions are recognized and rewarded for their work as a champion. Measuring their effectiveness also helps provide much-needed credibility to the role. Acknowledge champions for their support q Acknowledge and give prizes (e. g. , certificates of achievement, trophies, gift cards) to champions during go-live celebrations, thanking them for their help—and don’t forget you will need their help again on future upgrades. q Recognize champions by capturing and sharing stories of support by champions. Publicly promote success stories which not only benefit the champion, but also provide references for recruiting new champions into the community. q Request ideas for activities that will help drive change on their teams. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the effectiveness of your community of champions q Consider tracking KPIs such as adoption rates, user satisfaction, and the number of best practices created by champions. q Consider working with HR and senior management to provide additional compensation to champions to drive desired behaviors. q Consider gamifying the role of a champion through establishing levels (i. e. , beginner, expert) achieved through a level of accomplishments (e. g. , best practices created, champion blogs created, success stories shared) and reward through recognition and/or compensation. Practitioner insight: A champions’ responsibilities exceed what they are expected to do as part of their regular job duties, and they should be recognized for this extra value they deliver. If this additional contribution is not recognized, valued, and rewarded, it will be difficult to persuade anyone to continue in the role even though it is not full time. Conversely, if a high value is placed on the role, the number of champions will continue to increase, which should produce substantial benefits to the organization. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 13 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Step 5: Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise Post implementation, you’ll need to figure out how to maintain, sustain, and grow your community of champions. If you help your champions share their success broadly and communicate how Service. Now can help other process user teams achieve value, others will want to move on to the platform. Share success stories that highlight the additional value Service. Now can bring to the enterprise q Work with your champions who have successfully implemented their processes on the Now Platform. They’re your “gold star” internal references. Communicating their successes opens doors to other parts of the enterprise. q Ask champions to talk about and publicize successes across the enterprise. For example, finance managers who were initially reluctant to consider Service. Now might reconsider once they learn about the results HR is receiving from using the Now Platform. q Have your champions use marketing tactics through various forums including lunch and learn sessions, manager meetings, and social networks to raise awareness of Service. Now successes. Expand your community of champions q Identify other roles across the enterprise that will expand your community of champions including: q Executive leaders – Those with services operating successfully on the platform will be more encouraged to partner with the executive sponsor for Service. Now and to speak with others. q The Service. Now platform team – With program success comes opportunity. Being in an environment that recognizes their contributions and value will energize their efforts. q Management and team leads – This group will advocate for adoption by their staff knowing that the Service. Now team appropriately supports them and their needs. q Business relationship managers – These managers will catch wind of successes and discuss with the teams they support to see if they support Service. Now as a fit for solving their issues. q End users – Users will respond to surveys and talk about the great services they’re receiving—and others will listen. Practitioner insight: As your champion network matures, make sure that your champions become a true community that’s dedicated to helping the organization improve service outcomes. This goes beyond resources, and it requires champions to share knowledge with each other, across the wider organizational community, and with vendors and external partners. Steps 1. Define the champion role 3. Provide resources and training to champions 2. Recruit, identify and select champions 14 4. Utilize and reward your community of champions to support adoption 5. Utilize the community of champions to sustain and extend adoption to the broader enterprise © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
KPIs and stakeholders Key performance indicators Essential KPIs Nice-to-have KPIs • • • Stakeholder map # of champions across the organization % champions’ satisfaction survey with program information Adoption metrics for new system and processes: • # of unique users migrated to platform • # of processes migrated to platform • Average # of daily uses # of best practices contributed by champions, documented and made available to the organization Net Promoter Scores from user feedback Responsible/accountable Consulted/informed • • • Service program Manager Service Owners Now Platform owner Champions 15 Immediate service users Future service users © 2021 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Customer Success Best Practices Service. Now’s Best Practice Center of Excellence provides prescriptive, actionable advice to help you maximize the value of your Service. Now investment. Definitive guidance on a breadth of topics Created and vetted by experts Strategic Best practice insights from customers, partners, and Service. Now teams Critical processes Management Expert insights Distilled through a rigorous process to enhance your success Tactical Designed for: Platform owners and teams Practical Actionable Valueadded Expertvalidated Based on thousands of successful implementations across the globe Technical Common pitfalls and challenges Executive sponsors Proven to help you transform with confidence Service and process owners Get started today. Visit Customer Success Center. 16 Contact your Service. Now team for personalized assistance. © 2020 Service. Now, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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