Linda Moore REFLECTION – VISUALIZATION

CHALLENGE

While working for my previous employer, a large defense contractor offering products and services from undersea  to outer space, I managed all tradeshow and sponsorship activity for a sector headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.  Before I arrived, each business unit was managing their own pool of funds, deciding which shows and sponsorships  in which to participate/contribute and there was no overall structure as to the total sector spend. Decisions were  being made with no regard to sector priorities, large contract bids or future bid considerations. Additionally, there  was no alignment on any of the branding and marketing material, and more than once different business units  from the same sector were appearing at trade shows, without knowledge the other was participating. There was  an immediate need to align the funds under one umbrella and to develop a unified approach to spend, messaging  and participation at tradeshows and with sponsorships.

SELECTION

For this exercise, I opted to apply the design thinking tool of visualization to first uncover the issue at hand. To help  with our fight to align the budget under one umbrella (managed by me), I first needed to shine a light on just how  many unnecessary (from a business perspective) trade shows the business units were attending, how much in  sponsorship money was being dispersed, as well as the total sector spend in these areas. As we know, visualization  as a design tool (as per slide five in the week one slides) means to “make it tangible and concrete; to draw a  picture, tell a story, take a photo, make a map…” By pulling together historical data about these spends, compiling  it into one location, making it colored-coded and easy-to-read/filter, I was able to get senior leadership to  understand what I was trying to accomplish and persuade them into what I was trying to do for the organization as  a whole by taking the budget ownership and participation management.

While the new tradeshow and sponsorship process would be an evolution beyond just shining the light on the  need (identifying which to participate in and why, aligning objectives to meet customer and business needs, etc.),  this first step was important in being able to secure buy-in.

APPLICATION

This was a larger undertaking than one might initially believe. After having initial conversations with each of the  business units, it was clear that not everyone was on the same page; why would they be? After all, it did appear as  if we were taking away their autonomy in this area. That was when it was apparent that visualization needed to be  used, in order for the larger picture to be seen. I started first by trying to wrap my head around just how many  tradeshows and sponsorships our business units were participating in and contributing to. Since this function was  never “managed” appropriately, there was little documentation and I had to rely on speaking directly to those  within each business unit (three, in total), and digging into past financial history. They were a bit reluctant at first,  but eventually, I was able to garner the insight I needed to begin pulling together all the data into one place.

I used Microsoft Excel to house the data, using different colors to identify the three business units. In doing this, I  was able to provide an all-up look at what tradeshows the sector was paying for exhibits and sending attendees,  primary business objective for exhibiting/attending, what sponsorships were being purchased, dates/locations of  all activities and total spend for the sector. By using different colors for each business unit, it was easier for  leadership to sort and better understand if the selected events/activities aligned with the larger strategy for each  business unit. It also allowed me to keep everything in one place while having the ability to sort and filter to tailor  different conversations based on the audience. It may seem like a simple approach, but after uncovering that there  was participation in over 60 tradeshows, and contributions to more than 200 sponsorships, it was clear that to  start, all information needed to live in one place and leadership needed to see this visually. Since the budgets for  tradeshows was separate from that of sponsorships, I separated those entries on different tabs.

Below is a screen shot of the tradeshow list, with colors and some columns not shown, as to avoid potentially  sharing any proprietary information. The light green highlights shown reflect international tradeshows.

Linda Moore REFLECTION – VISUALIZATION

Linda Moore REFLECTION – VISUALIZATION

INSIGHT

This exercise turned out to be extremely valuable and was eye-opening for sector leadership. By being able to see  and sort all the data in one place, leadership was able to just how much money was being spent, and where each  business unit was deciding to focus their budget. In creating a common understanding, through the use of  visualization, eyes were open not only to the challenge the sector was facing, but that there were options and  opportunities to be better aligned and consistent with messaging and approach. Leadership was able to better  understand the problem itself and use data that was already available (just now in one, organized place) to begin  considering a more reasonable approach to managing this process.

APPROACH

This exercise taught me the value in keeping data such as this in a central, organized repository from the  beginning. If there had been better management of tradeshows and sponsorships prior to my starting with the  organization, this would be one step that could have been avoided in the process of identifying a new approach. I  have since taken this more detailed, structured approach, to a new organization with great success. With this  specific example, I would not choose a different design thinking tool based on what was uncovered by going  through this exercise. Visualization was the missing component to connect the dots for those further removed  from the process, and set the stage to use other design thinking tools further along the process to find a new,  unified approach to managing these efforts.

