🎯 Theme: Identifying champions
This page explains how to identify and empower champions who can drive data strategy adoption across municipal departments by securing buy-in, building communities of practice, and sustaining collaborative data initiatives.
Champions play a vital role in advancing city data strategies by driving momentum, securing buy-in, and sustaining collaborative practices across departments and with the public. As outlined in the ODI Report on participatory data initiatives, champions are individuals who “drive and push for change” — they advocate for the initiative, influence decision-makers, and represent the strategy to a broader audience.
Below are some important principles to identify a champion:
Principle 1 - Champions are municipal officials or civil servants who not only see the value of data work in the city and their spaces, but are already doing exciting “use cases” that solve challenges. The change they drive starts from one problem that solves a need in the municipality or city, but quickly gathers traction to become 3 use cases before becoming 6 use cases before leading to an institutional change in how the city/municipality sees data.
Principle 2 - Champions don’t necessarily need to have a leadership position to start driving change. They could see a problem and get support in solving it through data. In fact, showcasing value with data is the most important step to drive change. Leadership support is required, however, to scale the data work beyond a use case.
Principle 3 - There can be multiple champions at once, at different levels. In our work with cities, we have seen data work taking place in many departments concurrently. A leadership champion is critical to sew all these initiatives together so that it leads to institutional change and a direct policy, like the data strategy. It is important to create a community of municipal officials
Principle 4 - Champions don’t need a data or technical background to do data work. Historically, the function of data was isolated to certain individuals in the IT department in municipalities or cities. But data literacy is required at every municipal level so that officials know how to unlock its value for better decision-making. Hence, champions can be multi-fold, from different backgrounds, but they need to know what data can do for them and their municipality.
Principle 5 - Champions are inherently collaborative in nature. They know how to bring different stakeholders together towards a common goal. For example, if data initiatives are taking place across multiple departments, champions often find a way to bring these different actors towards create a community that learns and moves forward together. Influencing upward is a key part of how champions gather momentum around data work and create long-lasting change.
In a municipal context, champions may be internal (e.g., a Chief Data Officer or department head) or external (e.g., a community leader, elected official, or funder). However, internal champions are required for sustainability reasons and institutionalising data work. Their role includes:
- Solving the needs of municipal officials using data.
- Building a community of officials doing similar, exciting data work in the municipality and creating a space to learn from each other.
- Promoting the strategy internally by aligning it with executive agendas, securing resourcing, and encouraging adoption across departments.
- Engaging stakeholders by advocating for resident needs, translating technical concepts into accessible language, and amplifying public value.
- Sustaining participatory practices, ensuring that community input and citizen-generated data are incorporated into the city’s decision-making processes.
- Building legitimacy by lending credibility to the initiative, especially when the champion is a recognised leader in their field or community.
Ultimately, identifying and empowering champions early in the data strategy process can catalyse momentum, ensure political and operational support, and help embed a culture of data use and collaboration across the city.