Leaders are highly influential in the daily lives and careers of their teams. With this position of influence comes opportunities to build others up to achieve their goals. When leaders embrace the potential of their impact and strive to have the greatest influence possible, they become champion leaders who make outstanding outcomes possible.
Becoming a champion leader, defined by Building Champions as someone who supports, advocates for, and inspires others, can be a pivotal moment to being the best leader you can.
The Champion Leadership Effect on Your Team
Champion Leaders Leverage Mentorship and Advocacy
Being a champion for your team, mentoring them, and advocating for them are all supportive and impactful measures, but each element has unique and defining characteristics.
- Championing – Taking mentorship to the next level, championing someone entails making them visible, offering encouragement, and going above and beyond to support their career advancement.
- Mentoring – A mentoring relationship offers the potential for mutual learning, growing experiences, and a sounding board for advice on your ideas or career goals. Mentorship offers a safe space to share failures or roadblocks, and get advice from someone knowledgeable about your industry.
- Advocating – To help people achieve their goals, advocacy involves recommending qualified, motivated employees for new opportunities, spotlighting their ideas, and supporting their growth.
Champion Leader Case Study from LEGO
Best-selling author Michael Brenner wrote about the influence of champion leadership at LEGO. The company faced potential bankruptcy in the 1990s, but consultant-turned-CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp later used empathy to propel the brand forward and overcome obstacles. As Brenner writes, Knudstorp embodied champion leadership by taking risks and encouraging others to do the same, leading change without a title, and changing culture with empathy.
“The best leaders don’t climb ladders, they build them for others. Champion leadership is about empathy in action: advocating for people when they’re not in the room, creating visibility for their ideas, and unlocking their full potential. When we lead with empathy, we not only grow our people, we grow the business.” —Michael Brenner, Author of Mean People Suck
How to Be a Champion Leader
To be a champion leader, use your position to elevate your team members. Be their voice in rooms they aren’t in, bring their ideas to the forefront with credit to them, and make innovation a core value of your team.
Championing others is an investment. Your effort must be used for the right reasons and at the right time; not necessarily sparingly, but mindfully. Whether or not to champion ideas is similar. To help decide when to champion an idea, consult the rubric from MoreBadIdeas.com to check for:
- Unique Insight
- Significant Impact
- Personal Joy
Being a champion leader is an opportunity to influence culture and have a significant impact on those you champion.
About Express Employment Professionals
At Express Employment Professionals, we’re in the business of people. From job seekers to client companies, Express helps people thrive and businesses grow. Our international network of franchises offers localized staffing solutions to the communities they serve across the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, employing more than 11 million since its inception. For more information, visit ExpressPros.com/Employers or ExpressPros.ca/Employers.
