Education for Brand Champions

If there ever was a need for team building with an organized group, it is with brand champions. They need to get to know each other and identify special talents of the team members. Then when tough tasks must be accomplished, the team will already know its strengths and be able to move ahead. By understanding its weaknesses, the team will also know when to seek outside help.

Brand champions also need time to communicate with each other. We recommend the following communication vehicles for the team to stay in regular contact:

• Five-minute debriefing at the beginning of each day to verbally inform each other about highlights of the previous day. If the team members are located at different sites, they need to regularly check in by teleconference or videoconference.

• A message board in the brand champion office to track events, monitor task accomplishments, and pose questions. The team needs its own space to establish its unique identity.

• A regular time for scheduled meetings.

• Longer periods of time for strategic planning. A good time for this is when the team changes membership, once every six months.

We have found that most brand champions need development in the areas of

• choosing and managing projects

• learning how to give constructive criticism in a positive style

• communicating so they can sell their ideas to colleagues

• turning discussions with colleagues into open-ended conversations

• using questions to bridge conflicts

• listening empathically

• handling disagreements

Brand champions, if chosen well, can be an exceptionally high-energy group. They may tend to take on too many initiatives, not realizing they have to make choices. Utilizing a decision matrix like table 5 can help them make better choices, particularly when they begin this process. They can evaluate every project according to the five criteria listed so they choose projects that are reasonable but have high impact.

Table 5: Decision matrix

IMPACT ON BRAND EXPERIENCE	High	Medium	Low
IMPLEMENTATION TIME	Short	Medium	Long
UNDER OUR CONTROL	A lot	Some	Not at all
IMPLEMENTATION	Easy	Medium	Hard
IMPLEMENTATION COST	Low	Medium	High

The ideas that a brand champion team can implement are literally endless. When company-wide brand induction programs are organized, we recommend asking participants to write letters outlining changes they think need to be made in order for them to fully implement on-brand service. Astounding ideas come from such letters. After all, many of these ideas are from people who are fully immersed in customer contact. When people sign their names to their letters, we encourage the brand champions to personally respond to these individuals within forty-eight hours to thank them for their input. It is astonishing what these letters can do to ignite an organization, especially when staff see that something is being done with their input.