From our book The agile Manager (small a)
One of the components of the change “machine” that we put in place at a client is a working group.
Assemble a Working Group of people from other teams who are early adopters, champions of the new ways, or curious and supportive. They volunteer to take on the improvements you suggest, doing them as part of the Experiment Programme, which you do get support for.
There will be an ever-changing group 0f people who are early adopters of the new ways of working and managing, including some who are passionate, who want to champion the new ways, and those who are just curious (including some who are attracted by noise and success).
We harness this energy in a group who meet regularly to hear progress, and to do what they can to advance our cause, adding resources and removing impediments. The group is open and voluntary, and fluid. We do reach out to key stakeholders to encourage them to join in. Try to develop a diverse community of people. In some contexts, you can bring in outsiders to advise and help. If the size gets unwieldy, don’t shut people out: split it into more focused groups.
So membership is fluid: we invite some and others volunteer themselves. Some come along out of curiosity. Some realise they don’t fit or don’t have the available bandwidth, and they drift away. This group is expected to have more skin in the game than an Advisory Group: we have greater expectations that they will help out, take on some of the work that an Advancement Team would do if we had one. The Crew and the Champions will naturally appear out of this community.
They generate and track experiments, building knowledge and proof points, in preparation for evolving to the Incubate mode.