Build a Champion Program: Peer learning for AI adoption Success
Build a champions program that moves Copilot adoption forward. Get your complimentary copy of the "Build a Champion Program" guide for practical guidance on creating peer learning moments, standing up Copilot communities, surfacing skilling resources, measuring adoption, and helping users turn AI curiosity into everyday productivity. Complete the short form to download the guide and start building trusted champions who can share best practices, celebrate success stories, answer questions, and support Copilot adoption at scale.
What is a Copilot Champion program and why does it matter?
A Copilot Champion program is a structured way to reimagine peer learning so employees help each other adopt AI tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Instead of relying only on top-down training, you identify and support “Champions” across the business who:
- Share practical prompts and best practices
- Tell real success stories of how Copilot saves time and improves productivity
- Host Q&A sessions and virtual town halls
- Act as a bridge between business users, IT, and leadership
This approach is grounded in the Think–Act–Feel framework, which recognizes that adoption is not just about tools and tasks, but also about how people feel about change. Trust, support, and peer examples help users move from “Why should I care?” to “How can I do more?”
When done well, a Champion program helps employees:
- Understand how Copilot changes their day-to-day experience
- See where they can use AI in their own roles and teams
- Get help quickly from peers instead of waiting for formal support
- Share their own wins and ideas, creating a positive feedback loop
For organizations, this means faster, more sustainable AI adoption and clearer insight into what’s working on the ground.
How do we support Champions and end users with learning resources?
You can give Champions and end users a structured learning path using Microsoft’s out-of-the-box resources, so you don’t have to build everything from scratch.
1. Copilot Communities (Viva Engage)
- Use the Copilot community template in Viva Engage to quickly set up a space where people can:
- Share prompts and best practices
- Post success stories about time savings and productivity gains
- Access company announcements on AI usage and direction
- Ask questions and get support from peers and IT
- Join virtual town halls with live Q&A
2. Copilot Academy
- Curated learning paths designed by Microsoft experts to help users learn, discover, and use Microsoft 365 Copilot.
- Accessible directly at aka.ms/CopilotAcademy.
- Integrated into Viva Learning as an out-of-the-box academy with no admin configuration required.
- Available in 8 languages, making it easier to support global teams.
- Includes hands-on prompt guidance from the Copilot Prompt Gallery to build prompt engineering skills.
3. AI Skills Navigator
- An agentic learning space that helps individuals build AI and career skills, and helps organizations accelerate business outcomes.
- Offers rich, multimodal content and curated credentials from Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub in one place.
- Provides live-like skilling sessions available anytime with agentic support.
- Generates personalized AI-driven learning playlists.
- Can create AI-generated podcasts from complex material for on-the-go learning.
- Accessible at AISkillsNavigator.microsoft.com.
To deepen expertise and stay current, you can also:
- Join the Driving Adoption Tech Community (aka.ms/DriveAdoption)
- Participate in Monthly M365 Champions calls (aka.ms/M365Champions)
- Use the Microsoft Adoption Hub (adoption.microsoft.com) and the interactive scenario library (aka.ms/ScenarioLibrary) to connect AI capabilities to real business pain points and opportunities.
How do we measure Copilot adoption and business impact?
You can use Microsoft’s built-in measurement tools to move beyond anecdotes and track how Copilot is being used and what value it’s creating.
1. Copilot Dashboard (aka.ms/CopilotDashboard)
This pre-built dashboard helps business leaders prepare for rollout, monitor adoption, and understand impact. It includes:
- Readiness tab – View licensing and Copilot activation status across your tenant.
- Adoption tab – Track Copilot trends and usage down to the app feature level, with filters by group, organization, and job function.
- Impact tab – See Copilot actions by productivity categories, Copilot-assisted hours, and a related value calculator. You can also explore how Copilot usage correlates with behavioral patterns in your business and incorporate sentiment data from uploaded survey results.
- Learning tab – Access research and best practices to inform your AI journey.
You can use the Copilot Dashboard metrics eBook to interpret these metrics and align them with your internal KPIs.
2. Viva Insights advanced impact reports
- Included with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
- Provide Copilot business impact reports that connect Copilot usage to your key business metrics.
- Offer advanced adoption and impact reports with customizable, prebuilt views to dive deeper into trends.
By combining these tools, you can:
- See where adoption is strong or lagging across teams and roles
- Identify which Copilot features are most used and where to focus enablement
- Quantify Copilot-assisted hours and estimated value
- Incorporate user sentiment to understand the “feel” side of adoption, not just the numbers
This measurement approach helps you refine your Champion program, target training, and make informed decisions about your AI roadmap.