Involving employees in the decision-making process at Innovapost
How an online discussion forum challenged employees to collaborate and participate in shaping Innovapost's outline of a collective vision of the future.
by Chris Xarchos, senior consultant in Innovapost's Communications group
Innovapost has been very effective in reducing IT infrastructure services costs to Canada Post, so much so that by 2007 Innovapost had become a victim of its own success.
Having achieved in five years what our original business plan suggested we might do in 10, the company faced the challenge of breaking into new markets and continuing to improve employee engagement.
As our shareholders moved to address these issues, we needed to be proactive in shaping our future with our shareholders.
Strategic direction for communications
For the company to remain healthy over the long term, we needed a new strategic direction that would help us grow and offer our people challenging work.
The company was looking for ideas to renew itself and strongly believed that for any new business plan to succeed we had to tap into the collective intelligence of our employees during its development.
The collaborative nature of web 2.0 technology provided the platform to do this.
Polaris challenged employees at all levels to have a frank discussion about the company's future.
Engaging employees in the "big picture"
The potential that an online discussion forum offered us was compelling because it directly addressed some critical employee communications issues faced by our organization. Namely, communicating our business strategy to employees and engaging them in the "big picture".
Enter "Polaris" (see Figure 1, below), so named for the North Star that has guided mariners and travelers. The main component of Polaris was an online forum where parts of our business could be discussed. Polaris challenged employees at all levels to have a frank discussion about the company's future.
It took business planning out of the boardroom and into the open. The result was a 3-month conversation that included the participation of 55% of employees and culminated in a collective vision of our future to be used in ongoing discussions with shareholders.
Figure 1. The Polaris homepage
Developing Polaris
A project team was assembled to run the Polaris project, made up of people across the entire organization and supported by our Communications unit. The project also had a strong executive sponsor and champion in our VP of Business Consulting.
Once our team was assembled, the project lead met with our internal application support and development team and explained the idea and its requirements. In a nutshell, we needed a solution that would:
- be low cost, in terms of development, IT infrastructure, and ongoing support;
- allow for technical customization that could address the need for confidentiality, meet our business needs and reflect our corporate identity;
- function like a traditional discussion forum; and
- be easy to use.
Customizable application
Our internal application support and development team researched a solution and after some user testing implemented the free, open source discussion forum application YetAnotherForum.net. This application was compatible with our existing intranet (ASP.NET with a Microsoft SQL Server backend).
The goal of Polaris was to involve employees in discussions about what kind of company they would like to see Innovapost become.
The application was customized and implemented in just a few weeks, and because it was free and compatible with our existing infrastructure, the only cost was our time (approximately CAN$4,000).
Polaris' goals and objectives
The goal of the Polaris project was to involve employees in discussions about what kind of company they would like to see Innovapost become and then communicate that vision with our shareholders. For Polaris to be considered a success, we strongly believed that a majority of employees needed to have their say in the future of their company.
Polaris complimented a number of other initiatives that Innovapost was using to map its future, including primary and secondary market research, and many discussions with shareholders, customers and partners.
The comments and ideas from Polaris, as well as our market research and discussions with shareholders, partners and customers were all effectively mapped into three paths to our ambition.
Getting the word out
The Polaris discussion forum was launched the spring of 2007. In order to reach and involve employees in geographically dispersed locations, it was important that the discussion forum be widely accessible.
Our Communications team ensured that the forum was accessible through our intranet site positioned very prominently on our intranet homepage.
Explaining Polaris' goals
An intranet page was created to act as a gateway to the discussion forum. The page also contained information that explained the goals of the Polaris project, described the topic areas and established some ground rules.
The communications team promoted Polaris heavily during the project's 3-month timeline. In addition to the intranet homepage, the team developed:
- A project graphical identifier that was placed on all project collateral.
- A full color, double sided invitation measuring 4" by 6" was developed and distributed to all employees to coincide with the project launch.
- Banner ads placed on the corporate intranet homepage to keep the initiative front and center.
- A weekly Polaris update via email.
The Polaris discussion forum
To jumpstart the conversation, discussion threads were established around 6 major topics:
- Target Markets/Clients.
- Service Offerings.
- Employee Experience.
- Competencies.
- Assets & Capabilities.
- Brand/Client Experience.
No business-related topics were off limits and participant anonymity was protected to ensure people were given the freedom to...
Chris Xarchos is a senior consultant in Innovapost's Communications group in Ottawa, Canada. His area of expertise focuses on corporate communications. He has also worked extensively in marketing, website design and project management.
First published by Melcrum in 2008.
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