Fostering environmental champions: A process to build their capacity to drive change

This paper describes a six-step process to build the leadership capacity of environmental champions. This process was developed during research involving champions in Australian water agencies. The process, like leadership, is sensitive to context. It includes gathering local information on the factors that assist particular types of champion to exert influence, and using this information to build customized capacity building tools, such as leadership development programs. The paper explains each step in the process and provides illustrative examples from research on water agency champions. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed, including the hypothesis that the process should be transferable to other work environments under certain circumstances.

► We describe a process to build the leadership capacity of environmental champions who can be catalysts of change.
► The process gathers local information on the factors that assist environmental champions.
► The process uses this information to build customized capacity building tools, such as leadership development programs.
► The process was used to foster champions in Australian water agencies.
► We hypothesize that the process should be transferable to some other work environments.