MINDMAPPING TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

CHALLENGE

As part of my studies in Corporate Communications we regularly receive group assignments,  simulating real-life agency-client relationships and projects. The groups of 5-7 students per group  are randomly assigned each semester, pointing us to assume new team structures quickly. Within  this dynamic set of influences on team structures, our school requires us to use a quite rigid  structure when developing campaign concepts, providing regular coaching sessions to check on  our progress and making sure we use certain tools at the correct point of time throughout our  semester: the main challenge is to be creative and innovative within a rather rigid set of rules.

In this particular project we received the brief to create a new employer branding concept for a  large infrastructure client. The client’s employee base provides a diverse cross section through my  country’s society, covering all classes, educational levels, ages and genders (albeit having a  percentage of female employees of less than 12%), located both in urban and rural areas. The  client asked us to create a selection of activities that will reach all, or at least most of the employees  and will provide a solution for both the thinning knowledge base in lieu of the approaching  generational gap with about 1/3 of the current staff set to be retired in the next 10 years and make  the company more attractive for female employees without alienating the mostly male staff.

SELECTION

After having successfully convinced our coaches and our client of a strategy aiming to change the  mindset within the company, focusing on the three areas physical environment, tools and culture  we set out to come up with a selection of actual measures our client could pursue. Unfortunately,  at this point we had no access to actual staff members of the client and had to rely on our initial  research data. To organize a vast selection of initial ideas of measures, we chose to use Mind  Mapping. The method would also allow us to organize a potentially chaotic discussion among  headstrong and varying personalities within our small team.

APPLICATION

In order to come up with potential employee branding activities in a short timeframe we chose to  use a combination of two idea finding tools to counteract our lack of actual stakeholders to help  ensure the quality and validity of our suggested activities. After a rapid idea logging session in  which the four of us each started writing a list referring to a given topic for 90 seconds and then  handing over the list to the person next to us to repeat the process, we chose to use Mind Mapping  to narrow down our ideas to the most applicable set of approaches.

Each of our team members chose those ideas from the created lists that seemed most attractive  to them, wrote each of them on a post-it note, and then we set out to discuss them. Activities that  promised to work well together to improve employee experience were grouped and then examined  for their use in specific aspects of employee experience, such as the aforementioned physical  environment, tools or culture. We also created clusters for activities targeting gender diversity and  generational diversity to account for our sub-goals within the project. Within our discussion many  of our initial ideas were tabled or the approach to the idea was changed significantly (e.g. our initial  idea of a lunch roulette assigning new lunch partners was scrapped for a lunch package lottery in  which teams could enter a lottery to win a lunch package for their entire team, accounting for teams  that are constantly moving and would not have the chance to partake in a classic lunch roulette

scheme otherwise). In the end, I believe we came up with a viable set of activities our client will be  able to choose from within their budget.

INSIGHT & APPROACH

While the way we used the Mind Mapping method might not be exactly the way it was implied  within the course, it helped us tremendously organize and narrow down a large selection of  previously rather unorganized ideas in the field of employee benefits and other employee branding  tools. Considering that due to the rigid system our school has us working in during the projects,  we had no access to actual stakeholders of our client’s to examine our suggestions for practicability  we found a working approach to find viable solutions simply relying on the initial brief and our initial  research. Luckily we were able to get the entire team together (another challenge for students both  working and studying fulltime) to profit from each team members insights and experience. The  Mind Mapping approach definitely helped us and I will aim to use it again in campaign design  projects in the future, however, in an ideal world, I’d hope to invite other stakeholders of the project  to join the process to ensure the applicability of the created ideas.

Upon further consideration I believe that especially within communication projects the Mind  Mapping method is also applicable in earlier stages of the process, such as the definition of a  projects goals and objectives and will put this method to test in this context in future projects.


MINDMAPPING TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE CHALLENGE As part of my studies in Corporate Communications we regularly receive group assignments , simulating real - life agency - client relationships and projects . The groups of 5 - 7 students per group are randomly assigned each semester , pointing us to assume new team structures quickly . Within this dynamic set of influences on team structures , our school requires us to use a quite rigid structure when developing campaign concepts , providing regular coaching sessions to check on our progress and making sure we use certain tools at the correct point of time throughout our semester : the main challenge is to be creative and innovative within a rather rigid set of rules . In this particular project we received the brief to create a new employer branding concept for a large infrastructure client . The client ’s employee base provides a diverse cross section through my country ’s society , covering all classes , educational levels , ages and genders ( albeit having a percentage of female employees of less than 12 % ) , located both in urban and rural areas . The client asked us to create a selection of activities that will reach all , or at least most of the employees and will provide a solution for both the thinning knowledge base in lieu of the approaching generational gap with about 1/3 of the current staff set to be retired in the next 10 years and make the company more attractive for female employees without alienating the mostly male staff . SELECTION After having successfully convinced our coaches and our client of a strategy aiming to change the mindset within the company , focusing on the three areas physical environment , tools and culture we set out to come up with a selection of actual measures our client could pursue . Unfortunately , at this point we had no access to actual staff members of the client and had to rely on our initial research data . To organize a vast selection of initial ideas of measures , we chose to use Mind Mapping . The method would also allow us to organize a potentially chaotic discussion among headstrong and varying personalities within our small team . APPLICATION In order to come up with potential employee branding activities in a short timeframe we chose to use a combination of two idea finding tools to counteract our lack of actual stakeholders to help ensure the quality and validity of our suggested activities . After a rapid idea logging session in which the four of us each started writing a list referring to a given topic for 90 seconds and then handing over the list to the person next to us to repeat the process , we chose to use Mind Mapping to narrow down our ideas to the most applicable set of approaches . Each of our team members chose those ideas from the created lists that seemed most attractive to them , wrote each of them on a post - it note , and then we set out to discuss them . Activities that promised to work well together to improve employee experience were grouped and then examined for their use in specific aspects of employee experience , such as the aforementioned physical environment , tools or culture . We also created clusters for activities targeting gender diversity and generational diversity to account for our sub - goals within the project . Within our discussion many of our initial ideas were tabled or the approach to the idea was changed significantly ( e.g. our initial idea of a lunch roulette assigning new lunch partners was scrapped for a lunch package lottery in which teams could enter a lottery to win a lunch package for their entire team , accounting for teams that are constantly moving and would not have the chance to partake in a classic lunch roulette scheme otherwise ) . In the end , I believe we came up with a viable set of activities our client will be able to choose from within their budget . INSIGHT & APPROACH While the way we used the Mind Mapping method might not be exactly the way it was implied within the course , it helped us tremendously organize and narrow down a large selection of previously rather unorganized ideas in the field of employee benefits and other employee branding tools . Considering that due to the rigid system our school has us working in during the projects , we had no access to actual stakeholders of our client ’s to examine our suggestions for practicability we found a working approach to find viable solutions simply relying on the initial brief and our initial research . Luckily we were able to get the entire team together ( another challenge for students both working and studying fulltime ) to profit from each team members insights and experience . The Mind Mapping approach definitely helped us and I will aim to use it again in campaign design projects in the future , however , in an ideal world , I ’d hope to invite other stakeholders of the project to join the process to ensure the applicability of the created ideas . Upon further consideration I believe that especially within communication projects the Mind Mapping method is also applicable in earlier stages of the process , such as the definition of a projects goals and objectives and will put this method to test in this context in future projects .