Engaging employees and building capabilities

CXCO was engaged to define the strategy and conceptual direction for a collaboration platform to be used by 11,000 employees. The goals were to engage employees, increase trust and build capabilities. We worked with our client to leverage the data they already held on usage patterns of the current systems. What was missing from the data was the rationale for use of some parts over others, insight into the “off-line” systems that employees had in place, understanding of the different factors that influence behaviour and use, and understanding around the context of use, the relationship ecosystem, and the levels of engagement across different members of the ecosystem.

We completed a current state analysis of existing systems, a longitudinal study and contextual inquiries with employees across the organisation, and a survey to gather attitudinal data. The longitudinal study was conducted to gain insight into tacit details that would not surface through an inquiry alone. 

We elicited details on work habits, collaboration activities, tasks, information needs, and user scenarios, and used contextual inquiries to gain insight into the rich contextual environment that surrounds and influences the person in their day-to-day work life.

Following analysis and synthesis of data from the study, the inquiries, and surveys, a multi-dimensional view of employee usage roles and levels of engagement was revealed. Four key behavioural profiles appeared, which were documented in a Persona format.  The insight on usage roles and levels of engagement informed the creation of a vision, encapsulated on a single page, indicating how this digitally interconnected community would function and interact in the future

What were the key benefits?

  • Ethnographic research helped uncover insight on unmet needs and unknown behaviour patterns and scenarios of use.
  • The personas were used across the organisation to understand the needs of employees from a collaboration and knowledge sharing perspective. They were used to inform the design and improvement of a number of systems across areas like finance and HR.
  • The Vision On A Page ™ helped the business understand the end-state, and increased understanding of the direction and requirements of the system
  • The conceptual direction streamlined IT and business planning, and accelerated requirements gathering and detailed design activities

What were the key results?

  • The vision illustrated the benefits of creating a digitally interconnected community that linked employees, content, and their formal and informal networks, within one unified and collaborative virtual space.
  • Employee personas based on  behavioural needs. These personas transcended business unit and functional boundaries, and helped the business consider employee needs from a holistic rather than siloed perspective.
  • The personas, vision and conceptual solutions were used by the organisation to guide decisions and focus on the distinct and specific needs of different user groups.

What was the approach?

Following a business discover stage, where we interviewed key stakeholders and completed a current state analysis, CXCO completed a longitudinal study followed by contextual inquires with a sample of employees from across the organisation.

The diaries developed as part of the longitudinal study, were supported by artefacts created by participants such as my “ideal experience” sketches, details on emails and calendar entries, and pictures of desktops and workspaces. This additional detail helped us understand how the participants managed information, their mental models and perceptions of what “worked”, and their unmet needs indicated through workarounds and compensatory activities.

Following the data collection, we went through a synthesis and analysis stage to surface the key insights and define a conceptual direction. We documented the 4 distinct behavioural profiles that appeared, and developed concepts of the future state experience. We tested and further refines these concepts, which lead to the creation of a Vision on a Page, with supporting solutions detailing the experience.