Driving Change Through Influence: Three Steps to Build Change Champions

By Erica North, MA

Change is hard. That’s a fact. As leaders, we see it often - the hesitation, subtle resistance, and even outright pushback. But successful change doesn’t happen through the sheer will of the project team. It requires the contributions and commitment of people across the organization. It happens when people believe in the change, advocate for it, and lead others through it. It happens when you build change champions.

Change champions are promoters of transformation. They’re the influencers, collaborators, and trusted advisors who help others navigate the messy middle of change, aka the “valley of despair”. These individuals don’t necessarily have leadership titles or executive offices. More often than not, change champions are the people who others trust, the co-worker who is known for getting things done, and the colleague others seek out for advice.

When you intentionally identify and effectively leverage change champions, you boost your change efforts, build trust across the organization, and increase change adoption. Let’s dive into the three steps needed to do this effectively.

Step 1: Identify the Right People

Finding the right people is critical when building effective change champions. The key is to look for individuals who:

• Have Influence: These are the individuals others listen to and follow naturally. They may or may not have formal authority, but their influence is evident, regardless.

• Are Trusted: Credibility is critical. Change champions need a track record of reliability and integrity.

• Are Resilient: Change can be tiring, and champions need the energy and mindset to stay positive and persistent throughout the ups and downs of it.

• Are Good Communicators: Change champions must be able to understand and effectively articulate the vision to others in order to help them navigate the change.

Pro Tip: Identifying your change champions early is critical. This allows you to involve them early in the process and ensure they’re equipped to lead effectively (see Step 2 below). Using resources, such as a Stakeholder Analysis (more on this below also), to identify potential change champions can make the task more efficient.

Step 2: Build Their Capabilities

Once you have identified your change champions, there may be a tendency to just give them a PowerPoint and hope for the best. Don't do that. They need to be equipped with the skills and tools that will enable them to be successful.

• Educate Them: Help them understand the "what," "why," and "how" of the change. Share the vision for the change, the strategy and plan, as well as assessments of change readiness and potential risks.

• Engage Them Early: Change champions are most effective when they feel real ownership. Bring them into the early planning and design stages of the change so they are genuinely invested in it.

• Give Them Tools: Provide your champions with what they need to be truly effective in their role. This might include communication guides, FAQs, talking points and development workshops focused on building critical skills such as active listening, conflict resolution, and leading through uncertainty.

• Support Them: Schedule regular check-ins where champions can talk through challenges they are facing, share their feedback, and celebrate progress together. These moments keep energy up and remind your champions how valuable their efforts are.

Step 3: Leverage Their Influence

Once your change champions are identified and equipped, it’s time to strategically leverage them.

• Start Small: Find quick wins and engage champions in those opportunities to build momentum.

• Encourage Conversations: Change champions will be most effective when they engage with their networks. Encourage them to discuss the change with their colleagues, share their personal insights, help others see how the change aligns with their work priorities, and highlight early successes and positive outcomes resulting from the change.

• Give Them Opportunities to Share: Provide platforms for champions to share their experiences, insights, and successes related to the change. This could be at team/department meetings, through newsletters, on intranet spotlights, during informal coffee chats, or lunch & learns.

• Track Impact and Adapt: Your champions’ influence can be measured through surveys, pulse checks, and participation data to track engagement and adoption. If you see that your champions are struggling to build momentum for the change, you can provide additional resources and workshops designed to address the specific challenges that they are facing.

Tools to Build Change Champions

Building effective change champions starts by knowing who your stakeholders are and what their level of impact and influence is. We are sharing a Stakeholder Analysis tool from our Transformational Change Guide to help you do this.

The Stakeholder Analysis includes two tools that, when used together, offer a robust understanding of your stakeholders and help you identify and engage the right individuals to become your change champions:

• Stakeholder Impact Tool: This tool allows you to map out your most important stakeholders and develop a strategy to influence them, ensuring you concentrate on the right individuals.

• Stakeholder Commitment Tool: After identifying stakeholders, this tool helps you gauge their current level of support. It highlights where the gaps exist and who may have the influence to help close those gaps.

Our Transformational Change Guide was created to equip change leaders with the insights and resources necessary for a successful change initiative, from the initial planning and design phases to measuring impact and sustaining the change. If you'd like to hear more about how Performance Impacts can support your change initiative, don't hesitate to contact us.

[Access your free Stakeholder Analysis tools here.]

Looking Ahead

Building change champions is just the beginning of driving successful change. In our next blog post, we’ll explore another crucial topic: overcoming resistance to change. We’ll share strategies to address the pushback that frequently, and predictably, arises during change.

Stay tuned and, in the meantime, start building your network of change champions!

Leading Through Uncertainty: The Role of Purpose and Vision

By Erica North, Talent Management Consultant with Performance Impacts

As we move further into 2025, taking a minute to reflect on some of the transformative changes that 2024 brought provides valuable insights for the year ahead. Last year we saw substantial advancements in AI technology, increased scrutiny in the Healthcare sector, a heightened focus on sustainability, and a rethinking of product offerings to attract younger consumers, just to mention a few. For organizations, these developments weren’t just challenges, but opportunities to innovate, adapt, and lead. Today’s leaders are tasked with ensuring their teams have the clarity and direction to remain resilient and engaged in their roles. Leaders who can articulate a clear, compelling purpose and vision for their teams are ultimately able to leverage these opportunities and navigate change and uncertainty more effectively.

Purpose and vision are the foundation for reliance and direction, especially during uncertain times. Purpose answers the “why,” providing teams with a shared mission and values that outlive short-term fluctuations. Vision, on the other hand, defines the “where,” offering a clear and compelling picture of the future that inspires collective effort and commitment. Purpose and vision enable leaders to align their teams, prioritize work, and maintain forward momentum even through shifting circumstances.

Lessons from the Field

Late and recent history is ripe with examples of organizations navigating uncertainty and change. Some handled it expertly, while others struggled to adapt. Regardless of the outcome, leaders today can learn important lessons from these examples.

Who Did It Well: Patagonia

In 2024, Patagonia responded to the heightened focus on sustainability by doubling down on its already significant commitment to the environment. In alignment with their purpose of “saving our home planet”, the organization expanded their regenerative agriculture programs, increasing the number of participating farms by 25% and funding over $15 million in sustainable farming initiatives, as well as donating 100% of its non-reinvested profits, over $75 million, toward climate change mitigation and conservation efforts. The alignment of purpose and concrete action rallied both employees and customers, reinforcing its brand and market position even during 2024’s challenging economy.

Who Struggled: Disney

Recently, Disney has struggled to present a clear and unifying purpose exposing significant challenges in the alignment of its brands and businesses. Without a cohesive vision, Disney struggled to align actions across their various operations, resulting in fragmentation that negatively impacted its overall strategy. For example, their streaming service, Disney+, promoted progressive content aimed at younger customers, while their traditional media channels offered family friendly classics. This created confusion for employees and customers regarding the company’s core identity. Additionally, Disney’s theme parks marketed “magical experiences for families,” yet raised ticket prices, reduced perks, and introduced fast passes that made the theme park experience feel unnecessarily exclusive. These misalignments reduced trust, caused employee disengagement, and diminished Disney’s market leadership.

Call to Action

As we continue into 2025, let’s commit to creating and sharing a clear, compelling purpose and vision for our teams. We truly believe that when leaders have this clarity, they can align their teams, engage them effectively, and focus on the right priorities to drive meaningful change. To support this call to action, we’ve linked the Change Vision Worksheet from our Transformational Change Guide (releasing soon!). This resource guides leaders in crafting a vision that ties their change efforts directly to organizational strategy. Completing this worksheet equips leaders to communicate with clarity and confidence, ensuring alignment across teams and creating a shared sense of purpose.

Closing Thoughts

Leading through change is challenging, but a clear purpose and vision are the keys to success. By intentionally communicating and aligning your team around a shared purpose and vision, you will inspire confidence, foster commitment, and drive results.

Is your organization navigating a major change initiative? Stay tuned for the upcoming release of our Transformation Change Guide, where you'll find valuable resources and tools to help you lead change effectively.

HumanKind STL

Making a difference in our community.

By Karrie Carlin, CEO of Performance Impacts

October 13, 2022

Recently, Performance Impacts organized an event for 200 new Afghan Refugees who arrived in St. Louis this last year.  It was truly an honor to see the American and Afghan children playing together and having a fantastic time. They taught each other different games, basketball, and cricket, and had a common love for soccer.

Many other volunteers from HumanKindSTL partnered with us to make this a special and successful event.  The purpose was for these new families to meet and connect and for us to help provide some additional support and friendship as they get settled in our community.

We donated fabric so they could make more of their traditional clothing, Dominos pizza (which was a new favorite for many) and everyone was able to share in tasting some incredible Afghan cuisine.

Donations of toys, shoes, and clothing were available for the children to take home with them.  It was also so special for us to provide sports equipment for each child, so they all left with a new gift.

In thinking back to that special day, the memory that sticks the most was seeing the smiles on so many faces.

We welcome these wonderful families to our St. Louis community. Thank you to Mary Ann Jose and Kathy Miller for also donating new sports equipment for the kids.

If you want to get involved or donate, HumanKINDSTL is doing incredible work helping all of these families get acclimated.

Website: HumanKINDSTL

The Great Engagement Reboot: Building a Thriving Workforce for the Future

By Karrie Carlin, CEO and Erica North of Performance Impacts

August 3, 2024

Is your workforce disengaged? You’re not alone. Employee engagement is a critical and complex factor in today’s dynamic business landscape. This article dives into the concerning statistics on disengagement and its hefty price tag, while unveiling the immense potential that lies in fostering a positive employee experience. But this isn’t just about lamenting the present; it’s about charting a course for the future. We’ll delve into the ever-evolving world of work, examining historical trends and using those insights to prepare for the exciting possibilities that lie ahead. With 25 years of experience, Karrie Carlin, CEO of Performance Impacts and Empower Leadership Coaching, is an executive coach and strategy/leadership consultant, who helps businesses of all sizes excel by optimizing their human capital and organizational strategy. Karrie was a consultant at Arthur Andersen in the Strategic, Organization and People practice, managed the Human Capital group at MarketSphere Consulting, and started Performance Impacts 15 years ago and recently launched an executive coaching company and matching platform called Empower Leadership Coaching. She has partnered with clients from GM, H&R Block, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, BJC Healthcare, Alberici, Edward Jones to mid-size companies, family owned business, private equity clients, and non-profit organizations. She has her masters degree from Washington University and undergraduate business degrees from the University of Notre Dame. Leveraging 15 years of HR and OD expertise across diverse industries, Erica North empowers businesses and leaders with customized talent solutions to drive success at every level.

The Disengagement Crisis: A Drain on Businesses and People

Recent data from Gallup paints a stark picture: a mere 23% of global employees are truly engaged. The remaining workforce falls into two concerning categories: 59% are quietly quitting, doing the bare minimum to get by, and a further 18% are actively disengaged, potentially undermining company goals. This translates to a staggering cost – a whopping $8.8 trillion annually for the global economy (Gallup, 2022). This results in a multitude of problems for businesses, including knowledge drain as experienced employees leave, high training costs associated with constant turnover, impacts to overall culture, disrupted team dynamics that hinder productivity, and a decline in customer service. Furthermore, disengagement creates a negative reputation, making it difficult to attract top talent in the future (whether that negative reputation is known to a company or unknown). The impact on employees is equally concerning. A disengaged work environment breeds uncertainty, stress, and ultimately, a higher likelihood of them leaving the organization.

The Power of a Positive Employee Experience

The good news is that the opposite holds true. Organizations that prioritize employee experience and foster a culture of engagement reap significant rewards. Studies show that companies with highly engaged employees generate 2.5 times more revenue compared to their less-engaged counterparts (ADP, 2022). Profitability also increases by 23% (Gallup, 2022). Examples like Salesforce, a tech giant known for its positive and innovative work culture, showcase the power of engagement. By offering flexible work arrangements, investing heavily in employee development, and prioritizing social responsibility, Salesforce has achieved consistent employee satisfaction and continued financial growth. Engaged employees are not only more productive, but they also lead to 10% higher customer loyalty, 18% higher sales, and a 17% reduction in employee turnover (Gallup, 2022).

Learning from the Past to Build the Future of Work

To effectively prepare for the future of work, we must understand its past. The workplace has undergone a dramatic transformation over the decades. From the hierarchical structures and emphasis on job security in the 1950s to the rise of remote work, adaptability, and a focus on employee well-being in the 2020s, the way we work has continuously evolved. Understanding these historical trends allows us to anticipate future developments and build a workforce that's prepared to thrive in the future.

A Look Ahead: The Future Workforce

Predicting the future with certainty is impossible, but based on current trends, we can make some educated guesses about the future workforce. Here are the five key areas that will be critical for building a thriving workforce in the coming decade:

1. Lead with Purpose

Employees today crave more than just a paycheck. They want to feel connected to a larger purpose. Clearly define your company's social mission and integrate social responsibility initiatives into your core values. Actively involve employees in these efforts, allowing them to contribute their skills and passions to a cause they care about. This fosters a sense of fulfillment and deeper engagement with the work they do.

2. Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning

The skills needed for success are constantly evolving. Embrace a culture of continuous learning by offering a diverse range of learning opportunities: mentoring, coaching, peer groups, stretch assignments, online courses, workshops, job rotations, and conferences. It is also important to regularly assess your workforce's skill gaps and develop targeted development and training programs to address them. Furthermore, you can encourage a growth mindset by recognizing and rewarding employees who take initiative in acquiring new skills. This multi-pronged approach ensures our workforce remains well-equipped to navigate the evolving demands of the future.

3. Prioritize Flexibility and Autonomy

The future of work is all about agility! By offering flexible arrangements like remote work and compressed schedules, you cater to diverse needs while empowering employees with ownership over their work and results. We must move beyond the outdated practice of measuring success by hours spent at a desk. Instead, we can implement performance management systems that celebrate achievements and results. This shift from time-focused metrics to achievement-driven ones fosters accountability, engagement, and a high-performing, innovative team.

4. Embrace Human-Centered Technology

Let's harness the power of technology, not be ruled by it. The future belongs to human-centric solutions that empower our workforce and elevate the customer experience. Skip the tech-for-tech's- sake mentality and instead, involve your team! Task forces can brainstorm how technology best serves customers, fostering open communication about emerging advancements like human augmentation. By investing in skills like data analysis and critical thinking, we ensure our workforce complements, not competes with, technology.

5. Invest in Leadership Development

Great leaders cultivate great cultures. Find and build leaders who inspire, engage, lead with authenticity, and facilitate a purpose-driven culture. Invest in their development by honing critical leadership skills like authenticity, trust-building, and self-awareness. Empower them with self-directed learning resources, targeted development for high-potential leaders, and a robust succession plan for smooth transitions. Two-way communication is key. Regular employee feedback, through engagement assessments and 360-degree feedback, allows leaders to understand their teams and collaborate more effectively. This continuous learning loop benefits everyone – leaders, individuals, and the entire organization.

Fostering a positive employee experience isn't just a feel-good initiative, it's a strategic investment with measurable, positive outcomes for both companies and their people. By prioritizing continuous learning, flexible work models, human-centered tech, and leadership that inspires, we’re building future-ready teams. Engaged isn’t enough – let’s empower our teams to thrive in the dynamic world of work.

Creative Problem Solving

By Erica North, Talent Management Consultant with Performance Impacts

July 13, 2022

THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY.

Imagine for a moment that it’s 1978 and you are vacuuming your home with your brand-new Hoover Junior. You are lugging around your heavy vacuum cleaner from room to room dissatisfied with its performance. The bag is filling way too fast and every time you change it dust goes flying into the air - creating more work in the process. It’s never ending. You think to yourself, “there has to be a better way”.  That is the exact thought James Dyson had when he utilized cyclone technology in a way that had never been done before and created the world’s first bagless vacuum.

In our day-to-day lives, it can become comfortable to maintain status quo and continue operating in our tried-and-true ways. In our many years of working with leaders at all types of organizations, we hear frequently “because that’s how we’ve always done it”. However, as time goes on and organizations are expected to continuously innovate and evolve, stopping to consider if there is a better way is vital to ongoing success.

To help organizations do just that, we work with leaders to practice and implement creative problem-solving.  Creative problem-solving is a method of solving problems when conventional thinking is unsuccessful. It promotes finding fresh perspectives and developing innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals.

Creative Problem-Solving requires you to separate your "divergent" and "convergent" thinking. Divergent thinking is the process of generating many potential solutions. Convergent thinking includes evaluating those options and selecting the best one. It is the separation of divergent and convergent thinking that is key to creativity.

So next time you are facing a challenge and need to find a better way, utilize the creative problem-solving framework below to maximize your results.

Guide your Team Toward Success

By Erica North, Talent Management Consultant with Performance Impacts

May 20, 2020

The true test of leadership is successfully steering an organization through a major crisis while maintaining the confidence and commitment of employees. Here are some ways that resilient leaders guide their team past fear and toward success.

HAVE A GOOD COMMUNICATION PLAN

Explain challenges and solutions. It is important that your employees have a shared understanding of the organization’s problems and the fixes that are needed. Address employee concerns and encourage everyone to focus on what they can control. If a furlough, pay cut or lay-off is required, be transparent about what is happening. Talk about what to expect when going through stages of transition, how work will be distributed and discuss the possibility of future actions.

HELP EMPLOYEES DEVELOP RESILIENCY

Another tactic that can help employees move forward during a crisis is offering lessons in resiliency.  Stephen Covey’s “Circle of Control and Influence” is a useful tool to encourage your employees to be proactive and focus their energy on actions within their circle of control and influence. Individual coaching conversations are also extremely useful in building resiliency.  These guided discussions should be focused on recent successes, challenges, actions taken, as well as what they have learned during the crisis that they can still apply when things get back to normal.

HOLD ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE MORALE

Share the vision for the future and connect each employee to the organization’s goals. Offer career development, provide coaching, and encourage mentorship programs. Recognize successes. During cutbacks, helping employees feel valued strengthens morale. Share wins, success stories and recognize and thank employees for their contributions. And finally, don’t forget fun! Play, novelty, humor and laughter reduce tension and stress. Easy and inexpensive activities — manager-chef pancake breakfasts, afternoon surprise treats, potluck lunches, dress down days, pet days, amusing contests — can unite your team and generate creative energy.

BLUES. LEADERSHIP. RESILIENCE. TEAMWORK. VICTORY.

By: Karrie Carlin, MA, PHR, SHRM-CP

July 17th, 2019

“He’s laying it on the line,” Joel Edmundson says (of the St. Louis Blues). “When we see our top player doing that, every other guy follows. It is the kind of inspired leadership that can make a guy run through a wall.” Leadership, teamwork, resilience, and persistence secured the St. Louis Blues a spot in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals and now officially the winners of the Stanley Cup. These traits not only create success on the ice rink, but in business and other aspects of our community as well.  Research tells us that there’s a common thread amongst many CEO’s; they played sports.  There is a great deal we can learn through sports that help in all aspects of life. Another skill we can all learn from sports, especially this Blues team, is teamwork. 

Player Zach Sanford said, in reference to Game 3 against the Boston Bruins after their Game 4 win, "A tough loss like that, I think a lot of teams a lot of guys would have started throwing each other under the bus, blaming other people and doing this and that…with this group, it's all just boosting each other and having each other's back, and that showed tonight." Resilience is serving the Blues well, too. Blue’s Head Coach Craig Berube said of Ryan O’Reilly after a playoff game “Day in, day out, there’s not a guy who works harder than him…He’s always out there, even if practice is optional.” This type of resilience is fostered in sports and proves to be valuable when tackling tough problems in the business world. 

One other concept we talk about in the talent management and team development world is the Stages of Team Development – teams go through Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. Statistics tell us that only 17% of global teams ever reach the highest level of teamwork – Performing (Tuckman, 1965).  This team is there. It is evident that there is trust, respect, an understanding of each other’s role on the team, leadership, perseverance, and many more attributes that have taken them from last in the NHL to the Stanley Cup Champions.  Forbes research shows the top characteristics of highest performing teams are “clear vision, inspiring leaders, team cooperation, communication, and appreciation all around”.  As Michael Jordan said, “talent wins games but teamwork wins championships.” This incredible team fought hard for this win. They clearly demonstrated how important teamwork was in order for them to achieve this tremendous accomplishment.  

What can we all learn from them?  How can we be better leaders in all aspects of our lives like this talented Blues team on the ice?  How do we take our teams to Perform at the highest levels? A challenge for all of us on and off the ice.