As the saying goes, you get out what you put in, and nothing could be more accurate when talking about creative.
If you’re articulating your Employee Value Proposition, the creative developed is only ever going to be as good as the depth and clarity of insights that informed it. But it is possible to overdo it, especially if you’re a business with an incredibly large, diverse and disperse workforce.
The challenge becomes – how do we make sure we’re informing the EVP development with the right breadth and depth, without paying a fortune, taking too long or compromising the final output?
So here’s my advice on how to do it, without over-doing it:
It doesn’t matter how, it matters if
Remember data and insights are different. Just because you have mountains of data points, doesn’t automatically mean you have everything you need. Conversely, you might be able to get all the insight you need from very little data. Observing your peoples’ interactions could tell you more in an hour than engagement scores on a graph ever could. It doesn’t matter how you arrive at the answers, just that you do.
A good agency partner will advise you on the best ‘bang-for-buck’ method for your context.
Work with what you’ve got
This should be about filling in knowledge gaps, not starting from scratch. Every business will already have a wealth of relevant data to begin with. It might not tell you everything, but it will tell you where to focus efforts (and investment).
I mentioned in an earlier article Leading the EVP Journey that an important way to set yourself up for success is to link arms with your Marketing/Brand team wherever possible, Make sure you ask them what they’re already researching, or market data they’ve already bought.
Consider grouping with other upcoming or concurrent projects. Capture the insights you need for both at the same time and share the cost.
Quantitative and qualitative – you need both
Start with quantitative to theme and highlight local contrasts. Don’t forget this may be data you already have. Then validate, probe and embellish with smaller scale qualitative. This is going to save you a lot of time, improve objectivity, and offer everyone a chance to have contributed in some way.
The qualitative will not only give you the vernacular, it will also tell you how your themes are experienced differently by different audience segments.
Understanding both these aspects is critical to being able to articulate the proposition in a resonant way. You don’t get “It just really feels like us”from creative that’s had just quantitative data inputs.
The right number of focus groups
Group discussions are insightful, but there is such a thing as too many. After a certain point, the ROI diminishes considerably. A good agency partner can advise you on how many you’ll likely need, but first thing to remember is the groups don’t need to match your org chart. Instead, form groups based on two things: where the quantitative told you to dig, and how different one group of employees’ experiences is from the next.
You can’t ask that! (But we can)
There are many aspects of delivering an EVP where you could shave off a few dollars and deliver it internally without compromising the outcome, but this isn’t one of them. Having an experienced third-party is far more productive.
An external facilitator minimises opportunities for bias, politics or corporate memory to creep in. Also, having these discussions across so many different businesses and countries has taught us what to listen out for; distinguishing between what someone says and what they really mean. We can cut through corporate bullsh*t and get to core truths much faster.
And because we have nothing to gain from one type of response different to another, participants feel safe to share more freely than they would with a colleague with a perceived agenda. We can challenge and probe without worrying about what that’ll mean at the water-cooler the next day. We can ask the juicy, controversial questions.
So don’t be put off by investing in insights. They don’t have to be expensive, they don’t need to take a huge amount of time, and the output will be so much better for it.
