Keeping your champions network alive
Getting a champions network off the ground is one challenge. Keeping it alive is another one entirely.
A network can have a strong launch and a slow, quiet death. People sign up with good intentions, attend the first couple of sessions, and then gradually drift. Not because they stopped caring, but because the network stopped giving them a reason to stay.
Let's talk about how to keep that from happening.
The thing that actually keeps people engaged
It's not the content you send them. It's not the training sessions or the newsletters or the updates. Those things matter but they're not what keeps someone showing up month after month when they have plenty of other things competing for their time.
What keeps people engaged is feeling like they're part of something. A community. A group of people who share a connection and who are doing something together that matters. When a champions network is working well it develops something close to a hive mind. People start to think collectively, share things with each other, build on each other's ideas. That energy is self-sustaining in a way that a content calendar never will be.
Your job is to create the conditions for that to happen and then get out of the way.
What that looks like in practice
Give them early access. Before a campaign goes out, before a piece of content is published, let your champions see it first. Ask for their reaction, their feedback. Does this land? Does this make sense to someone who isn't in the security team? Would your colleagues engage with this?
That does two things. It gives you genuinely useful feedback that makes your work better. And it makes your champions feel like insiders rather than recipients. They're not just getting your content, they're shaping it.
Make them beta testers. When your security function is building something new, involve them in the process. Let them trial things, break things, tell you what doesn't work. That level of involvement builds a sense of ownership you can't manufacture any other way. It also helps your security team feel part of something. Put them in direct contact with your network so they can see the benefits too.
And listen to what your champions are telling you. Really listen. When a champion tells you that something isn't landing in their team, or that there's a behaviour you haven't addressed, or that a particular message is creating confusion, that's intelligence. Act on it. And then tell them you acted on it. Close the loop so they can see that their input has a direct effect on what you do.
Making them feel special
This sounds simple and it is. People stay engaged when they feel valued and when being part of something gives them something they wouldn't otherwise have.
Early access to content and a direct line to the security team. A community of peers across the organisation who they'd never otherwise have met. Visibility with senior stakeholders and the chance to shape something rather than just receive it.
None of that costs money. All of it costs attention and intention. And it makes the difference between a champion who shows up because they feel genuinely connected and one who's starting to wonder why they signed up.
What kills a network
It's worth being honest about this because it happens more often than people admit.
The most common way a network dies is that it becomes one-directional. The security team sends things out and expects champions to amplify them. There's no conversation, no feedback loop, no sense that the champions are anything other than a distribution channel. People feel used rather than valued and they quietly disengage.
The second most common is unrealistic expectations. If you give champions a long list of responsibilities, a heavy time commitment, and the sense that signing up means taking on a second job, they'll fall out of love with the idea. Champions are volunteers who have their own roles and their own pressures. If the ask grows beyond what's reasonable, the best people will be the first to quietly step back. They'd rather leave than let you down.
Treat your champions with empathy. Their time is a gift. Keep the ask proportionate. And when life gets in the way for someone, which it will, make it easy for them to step back without feeling like they've failed. They'll most likely come back stronger.
Lead champions
As the network matures you'll start to see who the genuinely exceptional ones are. The people who go beyond what's asked, who bring ideas, who the other champions look to.
These are your lead champions. You can invest more in them. Give them more context, more access, more responsibility if they want it and have the capacity. They become something closer to extended team members. People who can represent the security function in conversations you're not part of and carry the work forward in ways a solo practitioner simply can't do alone.
A champions network has a maturity journey and so do the individuals within it. Recognise that and support it.
Show up for them
Running a champions network well isn't complicated but it does require consistent attention. Show up for your champions the way you're asking them to show up for you. Listen more than you broadcast. Keep the asks reasonable. Make them feel like insiders.
If you do those things, you'll build something that sustains itself. If you neglect them, no amount of good content will keep people engaged.
