Personalizing Your Employee Experience

5 Key Ideas for Personalizing Your Employee Experience to Achieve a Successful Transformation.

Step 1: Convince of the value of change

Every human being is different, so a unique formula – the “one size fits all” – cannot work. The personalization of approaches is at the heart of a lasting change. It is obviously possible to introduce changes through training but, quickly, the old habits are returning. To achieve a profound transformation, it is necessary to convince of its importance, by ensuring that employees appropriate it and find meaning in it. For this reason, it is preferable not to chain projects at too fast a pace, without first ensuring that the objectives that were pursued have been achieved.

Step 2: Define a framework and some game rules

Personalization could result in a dispersion of initiatives making the progress of the approach difficult to read. It is therefore essential to define a framework and game rules so as not to get lost and ensure that all contributors are going in the same direction. Having this common base, which can be translated into indicators, makes it possible to decline actions in an individualized way and to set objectives whose thresholds can then be differentiated according to employees.

Step 3: Identify needs

The approach can only be personalized if the needs of each employee, or at least of each community, have been identified. This exercise is sometimes complex to implement because managers do not always have sufficient information. Work on data may therefore be necessary, breaking down silos to promote sharing and cooperation. Depending on the functions held, satisfaction questionnaires can be set up, with customers, or even internally with teams. The definition of OKR’s (Objectives & Key Results) and the development of the feedback culture can also be useful steps.

Step 4: Relying on ambassadors

To make sure to reach all employees, it is important to rely on a network of ambassadors who can carry the message within the organization. Various initiatives strengthen their engagement such as videos explaining their role and what they have put in place. It can also be interesting to identify influencers to support the implementation of the strategy.

Step 5: Move forward in stages and integrate feedbacks

Some projects can lose meaning because they seem too large and ultimately not very concrete for the teams. To preserve their involvement over time, it is desirable to move forward gradually, with small “sprints” whose results are visible and can be celebrated, even if these victories remain above all symbolic. This agility also gives the possibility to constantly readjust the approach, considering the feedback, and thus give it further momentum.

Related article: Choosing the best system to ensure successful adoption