---
name: adopt-champions-network
description: Drafts a charter for a volunteer AI champions network with what a champion does and does not do, the time the organisation protects, how people join and leave, and the route back to the sponsor. Use for "run adopt-champions-network", "AI champions network", "AI champions charter", "set up AI champions", "what should an AI champion do", "our AI enthusiasts are doing this in their own time", "peer support for AI at work", "AI ambassadors programme", part of the Claude Guide for AI Adoption Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# AI Champions Network
## When To Use
Three enthusiasts are answering everyone's questions in their own time and are about to stop. The help is real, nobody agreed to it, and nobody has said what it is for. The question this answers: what is a champion here, what time do they get, and what will the network never be used for?

## When Not To Use
Not for the people who deliver sessions: prepare them with the AI Train-the-Trainer Kit. Not for the format of the entries champions look after: that is the Shared Prompt Library. And if no manager will protect any time, do not write a charter around that gap: run the Adoption Capacity Check first.

## Inputs
- Who is already helping colleagues informally, on which tasks, and roughly what it costs them (their own account, no names needed).
- The sponsor, what they want to hear back from the network, and what managers have said so far about releasing time.
- The questions and barriers that keep coming up, and where the shared prompts live today.
If you have none of this, I start from one sentence on who is helping whom today, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
A champions network is a community of practice, and a peer network of that kind needs three things: a shared topic it cares about, people who meet and help each other, and a shared stock of practice it builds. Gallup's 2026 reporting on workplace culture notes that internal champions are a common response to AI, and that managers' own capacity has to be considered. The judgement is in the limits. A network with no protected time becomes an unpaid second job, and a network that reports upwards on colleagues becomes the sponsor's eyes: within a month nobody brings it an honest question.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: who is helping today and at what cost to their own work, who is the sponsor and what do they expect back, and what time have managers actually agreed to release.
2. Write the purpose in one sentence: the shared topic and whom the network helps. If the sentence needs "and" twice, the network is being asked to carry the whole programme.
3. Draw the two lists. Does: answers peers' questions, shares what works and what failed, tests library entries, brings barriers and questions to the sponsor as themes. Does not: train formally, police the rules, report on colleagues, count who uses AI, approve tools. The second list is what makes people willing to ask.
4. Set the protected time. The amount is a placeholder each champion agrees with their manager, with what moves or pauses to make room. I invent no ratio of champions to staff and no hours. With no protected time, the charter says the network should not start.
5. Write joining and leaving: an open call to everyone in scope, anyone can volunteer, anyone can step down without giving a reason. Nobody is selected by usage data or by a rating, and a handover is planned so leaving costs nothing.
6. Fix the rhythm and the route back: how often the network meets (you set it), what each meeting produces (questions answered, themes for the sponsor, library updates), who carries the themes to the sponsor, how often, with no names, and when the sponsor replies.
7. Decide recognition with the sponsor: time, credit and visibility for the work. Never a rank, a level, a badge ladder or a score. Then list what is still unagreed, so the charter is not announced ahead of the managers' yes.

## Output Format
```markdown
# AI Champions Network Charter
**Sponsor:** [name] · **Convenor:** [name] · **Version:** [n], [date] · Draft status: [first draft / agreed with the volunteers on date]
## Purpose
[One sentence: the shared topic, and whom the network helps.]
## What a champion does and does not do
| Does | Does not |
|---|---|
| [answers peers' questions, shares what worked and what failed, tests library entries, brings themes to the sponsor] | [train formally, police the rules, approve tools, report on colleagues, count who uses AI] |

## Protected time
| Team | Time protected per [week or month] | Agreed with | What moves or pauses to make room |
|---|---|---|---|
| [team] | [amount agreed, or "none: the network does not start"] | [manager] | [work] |

## Joining and leaving
Open call: [wording, where it is posted, who it reaches]. Anyone in scope can volunteer. Anyone can step down at any time, no reason asked. Handover when someone leaves: [what, to whom].
## Rhythm and route back to the sponsor
The network meets [how often, you set it]. Each meeting produces: [questions answered, themes for the sponsor, library updates].
[Who brings the themes, to whom, how often.] Themes only, no names. The sponsor replies by [date or rhythm].
## Recognition and limits
Recognition: [time, credit and visibility for the work]. Still to agree: [open points, each with who settles it].
This network is never a ranking of who is good at AI, a reporting line on colleagues, or a substitute for training, access or a clear rule.
## Decision
[Sponsor name] approves the charter and the protected time by [date]; each champion's manager confirms the time by [date]; each volunteer decides whether to join. The charter is reviewed on [date].
```

## Done When
- The purpose fits in one sentence and the "does not" list is as concrete as the "does" list.
- Every protected time entry carries an amount the manager agreed, or the charter says the network does not start.
- Joining and leaving are open, with no selection step, and the route to the sponsor carries themes with no names and a date for the reply.

## Quality Bar
- Champions help between sessions. They are peers, not trainers, not rule enforcers and not a help desk with targets.
- Nothing a champion learns about a colleague's use travels upwards, only themes, and no count of questions answered or people helped is kept per champion.
- Changes to someone's role or working time are a matter for the people who own them: check with a qualified adviser.
- If the sponsor asks the network for a list of who uses AI, the charter is the place where that request is already answered: no.
- Champions are volunteers with protected time: never a ranking, never a reporting line on colleagues.

## Next
Run adopt-shared-prompt-library (Shared Prompt Library) to give the network a shared stock of practice to look after.

## About the makers
This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).