Reflection:  Visualization

Submitted by:  Ori Abrego

Challenge

Working in the chemicals market segment, I have seen many changes and advancements in products  and processes over the years.  During that time however, the culture and norms had remained relatively  static – until recently.  The industry is now changing, driven by a shift in the generational balance as  Baby Boomers and Gen X starts to give way to Millennials and Gen Z.  This shift is creating the challenge  for our company to shed traditional communication methods (emails, posting memos on bulletin  boards, etc…) in conjunction with fully embracing technology, and find new and better ways to  communicate and pass on information; ways that will be embraced by the new and future workforce.

Selection

One of the strategies selected to accomplish this was to use Visualization.  This was chosen for a couple  of reasons.  First, visualization is a stark departure from conventional communication methods, which  have always been very formal and text-based.  Secondly, the use of pictures, info-graphs, and video in  on internet based apps and platforms as the replacement for conventional methods is in-line with the  expectations of the generational shift and the new work cultures being created.  Finally, visualization  was chosen out of being opportunistic as our company was converting from Outlook to the Google Kite  platform.

Application

Google Kite has many non-email based features that could be an option to put through the processes of  “what if?” and “what wows?”  To facilitate a new and more effective method of communicating  amongst our business team, we settled on using Google Communities as the “what works” in this  project.  The mission of our Area Community Page is to act as a resource to broadcast important  announcements and information, and most importantly to celebrate individual and team wins.   Embedding picture, info-graphs, or even videos that help convey the message are mandatory.  Of  course, there is a function for feedback and comments, which are encouraged.  Google Communities can  be accessed from any company desktop or laptop, and the app can be installed on any smart phone.

Insight

To this point, the Area Community Page has been a success.  The number of invited members that  actually submit posts and participate in the discussions is higher than was originally anticipated.  As  word spread to other Areas in the East Region about our project, we received requests from outside of  our team to join our Community Page.  This naturally led to other Areas now instituting the same idea –  a complement to our Team that we are proud of.  As a final insight, we had originally set the parameter  that anybody could submit a post for publication on the page, but it was held for review by a senior level  manager for approval before actually going live.  In the beginning while this was still in effect,  submissions were coming in only sporadically.  The Team met to address this, and decided to remove

the parameter.  What a difference that made!  With the formality of managerial review removed, along  with the delay between submission and posting caused by managerial review – participants in the Area  Community Page were now free to post at will.  This exponentially increased the amount of postings in  any given week, and naturally also the feedback and resulting conversation.  This also brought this  project back in line with the original intent of moving away from formal and long-standing  communication methods to a more modern and forward thinking one that would be embraced both  today and tomorrow.

Approach

In hindsight, if we had utilized a Learning Launch, we could have realized the negative impact of the  approval parameter on the rate of postings in a much smaller setting, instead of having that hard lesson  impact the initial roll out and first impressions.   I can see that regardless of how confident you are when  you get to the “what wows”, a Learning Launch should be part of your process.

