Turn training into transformation: How to build internal upskilling champions

Organizations have invested billions of dollars in learning platforms. In spite of these investments, many upskilling initiatives struggle to gain traction beyond a small group of enthusiastic learners. Why?

The answer lies in how new ideas and behaviors spread.

Whether it’s a new technology, a medical breakthrough, or a workplace practice, adoption follows a predictable path. A small group of early adopters (13.5% of the population) embraces a new idea or way of working. The early majority (34%) begins to participate as their confidence builds. Eventually, the late majority (34%) and the laggards (16%), who are more skeptical of change, follow.

Here's the challenge: There’s a chasm right after the early adopters. If you can’t get past it, the idea or behavior stops there. The trick is to amplify the early adopters so the new way of working naturally progresses. 

By intentionally building a network of learning champions, organizations can transform upskilling from a series of individual learning events into a movement that spreads throughout the enterprise.

People are far more likely to adopt new skills and behaviors when they see trusted colleagues take the first step. 

For learning leaders, this insight changes the conversation. Upskilling is more than content delivery. It’s a social adoption challenge. 

The organizations that scale learning most effectively understand that influence often travels through trusted peers long before it reaches the broader workforce.

If you intentionally cultivate employees who model new behaviors, answer questions, and encourage others to learn, you create the conditions for learning to spread naturally across the enterprise.

Use this practical roadmap to build a champion network that consistently accelerates learning:

Your first question is probably, "Where do we actually find our internal champions?"

In many organizations, the answer is simpler than you might think.

When I worked on a workforce transformation initiative with a large biopharmaceutical company, we partnered with the organization's talent management team to leverage their existing succession planning and high-potential leadership programs. 

They had already identified employees who were influential, collaborative, and capable of leading through change. By inviting this group to serve as learning champions, the organization accelerated adoption while also providing participants with meaningful leadership development opportunities.

Not every organization has a formal succession planning process or high-potential program. If those programs don't exist in your organization, ask managers to nominate employees. Remember: The goal is to identify individuals who already have influence within their teams and a genuine desire to help others grow. Those qualities are far more predictive of a successful champion than technical expertise alone.

Last but not least, you can invite employees to apply. Just keep in mind that becoming a champion should be an invitation, not an assignment. 

While leaders can identify individuals with the right characteristics, genuine influence and enthusiasm don’t always show up on paper. The most successful champions are those who see the opportunity as a chance to contribute, grow professionally, and help shape the future of their organization.

Once you’ve identified your internal champions, you need to give them the resources to be successful. After all, influence requires a different set of skills than technical expertise.

Start by giving champions early access to new technologies, learning pathways, or pilots. This creates a safe environment where they can experiment, make mistakes, and build confidence before the broader workforce starts learning. 

By the time other learners jump in and start asking questions, champions have already navigated these challenges and can guide others along their journey.

Champions should understand the business purpose behind learning and development initiatives. When employees ask "Why are we doing this?" or "How will this help me?", champions need to connect learning to organizational goals and everyday work. Context creates buy-in.

Give champions permission to learn out loud. Too often, organizations unintentionally create the expectation that champions should be absolute experts. This can discourage capable employees from stepping forward or make existing champions hesitant to admit when they don't know something. 

In reality, some of the strongest champions are those who openly share what they’re learning, acknowledge setbacks, and demonstrate that continuous learning is a normal part of professional growth.

When organizations equip champions with knowledge, context, and psychological safety, they create trusted guides who reduce uncertainty for others. Every conversation, demonstration, and shared experience becomes another opportunity to help learning spread throughout your organization.

The real power of a champion program accelerates when champions connect with each other. Instead of operating as isolated experts within individual departments, they become part of a learning community that shares ideas, solves problems together, and accelerates innovation across the organization.

This is why I recommend establishing formal communities of practice for upskilling champions. Whether they meet monthly, collaborate through Microsoft Teams or Slack, or participate in regular office hours, these communities allow them to share resources, celebrate wins, troubleshoot challenges, and identify emerging workforce needs. Rather than reinventing solutions across dozens of teams, champions learn from one another and continuously improve the organization's approach to learning.

Here are a few more benefits of setting up communities of practice for your champions:

Connected champion networks create an important feedback loop for leadership. Because champions work closely with employees, they often recognize barriers to adoption long before those challenges appear in dashboards or executive reports. 

They hear the questions employees are asking, see where learning experiences are falling short, and can suggest improvements to make future initiatives more successful.

Connecting champions creates a sense of shared purpose. Leading change can sometimes feel isolating, especially when employees encounter resistance or uncertainty. A strong champion community provides encouragement and reassurance that others are facing similar challenges. This sense of belonging helps sustain motivation long after the initial excitement of a new initiative has faded.

Organizations often think of champion networks as a way to distribute information, but the greatest value lies in creating relationships. Every new connection strengthens the flow of knowledge, experience, and trust throughout the organization.

As employees begin adopting new skills, make success stories visible. Celebrate employees who have used AI to improve a process or learned a new skill that opened the door to a new opportunity. Invite champions to demonstrate practical use cases during team meetings, share lessons learned through internal communications, or present at town halls or other events. 

Give champions meaningful opportunities to shape the future of your learning strategy. Invite them to test new learning experiences, provide feedback on course content, identify emerging skill needs, and participate in pilot programs. 

Their insights help you continuously refine both the learning experience and the broader workforce transformation strategy. Implementing their feedback is also a good way to improve buy-in and make them even more excited about learning.

Recognition also plays an important role in amplifying influence. For one thing, it’s important to show that you appreciate your champions’ time and effort.

When leaders publicly acknowledge champions for helping others grow, they also communicate that sharing knowledge, mentoring colleagues, and investing in continuous learning are behaviors worth emulating. Recognition reinforces a culture where learning is seen as a shared responsibility rather than an individual achievement.

Perhaps the most powerful form of amplification occurs when today's learners become tomorrow's champions. As employees gain confidence, they begin mentoring colleagues, sharing best practices, and demonstrating new ways of working within their own teams. The network expands organically, creating a ripple effect that reaches far beyond the original group of champions.

This is the true goal of a champion network. You aren’t just creating a handful of experts scattered throughout the organization. You’re cultivating a self-sustaining ecosystem where trusted people continuously influence, encourage, and develop one another. When that happens, upskilling becomes embedded in the culture, and learning spreads through the organization.

Organizations often invest tremendous time and resources in learning content, technology, and upskilling programs. These investments are important, but they’re only part of the equation. 

As organizations navigate rapid advances in AI, automation, and evolving workforce expectations, the ability to learn continuously will become a defining competitive advantage. Technology will continue to change, and skills will continue to evolve. What will remain constant is the need for trusted people who help others embrace change with confidence.

The next time you launch an upskilling initiative, don't just ask, "What should our employees learn?" Ask a second, equally important question: "Who will inspire them to learn it?"

The answer to that question may determine whether your next initiative becomes just another training program or the beginning of a transformation.

Empower internal champions with upskilling that delivers measurable results. Get the Tech Upskilling Playbook.