Healthcare leaders: It’s 2026. Do you know who your champions are?

The concept of the healthcare workplace champion may be ripe for developing and expanding in this time of protracted workforce shortages. Researchers make the case in a new study, suggesting star performers can help overstretched provider organizations build resilience against demoralization in their ranks. 

The study was conducted at the University of Stavanger in Norway and published ahead of peer review July 7 in BMC Health Services Research.

Defining champions as employees who demonstrate a deep commitment and passion for a specific cause or initiative within healthcare, organizational psychologist Eline Ree and colleagues found such individuals are increasingly recognized as key resources—not least during implementation processes and quality improvement work.

The team further uncovered the importance of managers as “champion enablers.” Functioning in this way, whether formally or casually, supervisors and other staff leaders identify, support and encourage champions, along the way “facilitating a sound psychosocial work environment with a culture of openness and psychological safety.”

From Norway with love (for healthcare workers)

For the study, Ree and co-researchers recruited 55 managers and staff from two Norwegian hospitals, five nursing homes and one homecare service. 

The participants incorporated a resilience-strengthening intervention, and the investigators interviewed them in focus groups and workshops held before and after the experiment.

The team also analyzed observation data gathered during these discussions, which yielded notes from a total of 79 interviews. 

Their key findings include these six: 

1. Participants described champions as workers who see opportunities instead of obstacles.

Participants also saw in their champions a willingness to “take on responsibility for finding and collecting the resources needed to solve challenges.” The cohort commonly said champions tend to possess a “can-do” attitude and tap this trait to help and guide others. 

One nurse commented that champions “usually identify themselves. They stand out—in a good way.” 

2. Many participants emphasized the important role champions play in completing everyday tasks. 

A common theme was the contribution champions make to patient focus, care quality and work culture. 

“Champions often served as resource persons or coordinators,” the authors report, adding that this held across hospitals, nursing homes and homecare services. 

3. Participants spoke about having several champions at their workplace.

Each champion had different fields in which they had a special engagement and commitment, without necessarily being assigned formal roles as resource persons or coordinators, Ree and co-authors write. 

“This could be in different professional fields (e.g., quality and patient safety, cancer care, pain relief, nutrition),” they add, “or social engagement both for patients and colleagues (e.g., planning social events) and relational engagement.”

4. The most common barrier for taking care of and ensuring the engagement of champions was scarcity of resources. 

“Although champions were perceived as important resources in the workforce, they often had ideas and initiatives that were challenging for the managers to accommodate due to lack of resources such as time and money,” the team notes. 

5. Another barrier was not being listened to or appreciated by managers.

Some participants described champions who contributed far outside of their regular work tasks without being recognized by their managers, the study report shows. “A few managers expressed annoyance with some of their staff who always came up with new ideas and new ways of organizing the services,” Ree and team write. 

These managers tended to say they sometimes lacked time to deal with champions’ suggestions, in cases perceiving the champions as “nagging.”

6. The most important enabler of champions as organizational capacity expanders? Leadership. 

Impactful leadership duties included being present in the department and engaged in ongoing projects, noticing the staff’s efforts for patients and the organization, and involving employees in matters that are of importance to them, Ree and colleagues report. 

Ree and co-authors believe their findings have practical implications for healthcare leaders, policymakers and practitioners.

“Champions can be leveraged as a strategic asset in the pursuit of a more resilient, innovative and responsive healthcare system,” they comment. “It is prudent to acknowledge and support champions and allow organizations and their leaders to take advantage of these resources in practice.”

They hasten to add: 

‘This does not mean creating an unfair working environment, favoring some employees over others. Rather, it means seeing people and promoting humanity and motivation in the work environment and adapting working conditions to support everyone.” 

The full study is available for pre-review downloading here.