What do effective champions do?

Successful implementation of a trauma-informed approach to service delivery is often facilitated by a group of champions, who lead these efforts (Jankowski et al., 2019; Loomis et al., 2019).  Powell et al., (2015) defines these champions as those “who dedicate themselves to supporting, marketing, and driving through an implementation, overcoming indifference or resistance that the intervention may provoke in an organization” (p. 9). The role of champion has been operationalized as an internal employee, with intrinsic commitment, who through diligent effort demonstrates their enthusiasm, persistence, and energy toward change with conviction.  (Miech et al., 2018). These individuals may be emergent,responding to an identified need they feel compelled to address (Howell & Higgins, 1990), or appointed by a senior leader or colleague based on perceived interest and expertise (Wood et al., 2020). These champions may work in teams representing single units (Papadakis et al.,2014) or act as boundary spanners across different organizational domains (Ash et al., 2003; Clack et al., 2018). There is evidence in the literature that supports the importance of champions in creating systems and organizations that are trauma-informed, and able to address the deleterious impact of trauma on client and patient populations, and those who serve them (Dichter et al., 2018; Koury & Green, 2017; Sprang et al., 2021).  This literature also sheds light on some of the activities that champions undertake that are effective.