What Makes a Great Agency ClickUp Champion: The Complete Guide

Gray MacKenzie joins Andrew Dymski, CoFounder at ZenPilot, for an in-depth conversation about one of the most important roles in any agency’s operations: the ClickUp champion. After working with thousands of agencies on ClickUp implementations, the ZenPilot team has observed clear patterns in what separates agencies that successfully adopt ClickUp from those that struggle - and the presence of a strong internal champion is consistently the deciding factor.

Why Every Agency Needs a ClickUp Champion

A ClickUp champion is the singular point of contact in your organization who takes ultimate ownership of your ClickUp instance. They own three critical areas: the system’s design, the habits and behaviors of the team inside the system, and being the go-to ClickUp expert who can answer the team’s questions.

This role is not unique to ClickUp. Whether you run on Monday, Asana, Teamwork, or any other platform, you need someone who owns the system. Without this ownership, project management tools gradually deteriorate. Templates go unmaintained, custom fields become inconsistent, and team members develop workarounds that undermine the structure you built.

The champion serves as the glue between the demand side (client-facing teams) and the fulfillment side (delivery teams) of the agency. They understand both perspectives and ensure the system creates a single source of truth that serves everyone.

Selection Criteria: Seven Traits to Look For

Gray and Andrew outline seven non-negotiable criteria for selecting a ClickUp champion.

Not an owner or leadership team member. This is the first and most important rule. Owners and directors of operations typically start with enthusiasm but push system maintenance aside once the demands of their primary role take over. The daily, sometimes mundane work of enforcing standards requires sustained commitment that leadership roles rarely allow.

Thick skin to be a referee. The champion must enforce rules of engagement across the organization. When someone changes a due date without adding a comment explaining why, the champion needs to address it. This requires someone who is comfortable with conflict and can hold people accountable without taking things personally.

Comfort managing up. The champion needs to call out leadership team members who don’t follow the rules. If the leadership team doesn’t buy in, the rest of the team won’t either. This requires someone who can have direct conversations with people above them in the org chart.

General understanding of team processes. The champion needs working knowledge of how discovery projects flow, how implementations are structured, how retainers are organized, and which departments and roles are involved at each stage.

Capacity to spend time in the role. For most agencies, this means 20-30% of an account or project manager’s time. You cannot hand this responsibility to someone who is already at capacity. For larger teams, the champion role may require full-time dedication.

Analytical mindset. The champion needs to interpret data, draw conclusions, and identify trends. When time tracking data reveals that a specific service line is consuming more hours than expected, the champion should be the first to spot it and raise it to leadership.

Innovative and tech-savvy. The best champions are curious experimenters. They maintain ClickUp sandbox environments, test new automations, stay current with ClickUp updates, and continuously look for ways to improve the system. They respect the process but want to challenge it.

The Four Work Cadences

The champion’s work follows four distinct cadences that together keep the system healthy and the team on track.

Daily spot checks focus on compliance. Is the team following the rules of engagement? Are tasks being created correctly, statuses being updated, and comments being added where required? The champion supports team members through education and holds them accountable when standards slip.

Weekly roundups shift focus to trends and planning. The champion looks for recurring patterns - teams that are consistently over capacity, project types that regularly miss deadlines, or process steps that create bottlenecks. When these patterns emerge, the champion escalates them.

Monthly and quarterly analysis is where the champion delivers strategic value. By analyzing profitability by client, project, department, and service line, the champion compiles insights that inform leadership decisions. The cycle runs: capture data, pull reports, analyze trends, develop insights, suggest improvements, plan changes, optimize, and empower the team to execute.

How to Hire a ClickUp Champion

When crafting the job description, include your company culture and work environment, the specific impact this role will have on the agency, and clear ClickUp experience requirements. For the interview process, Gray and Andrew recommend a show-and-tell exercise: ask the candidate to document and train you on a personal process. Evaluate their communication quality, teaching ability, and attention to detail - do they include due dates, time estimates, and dependencies?

Resources Mentioned

• Gray MacKenzie on LinkedIn - Founder at ZenPilot
• Andrew Dymski on LinkedIn - CoFounder at ZenPilot
• ZenPilot Blueprint - ClickUp implementation process