How to harness the power of moments that matter
Workplace Revolution
Competitive Advantage through the Elevation of People+Work+Place
Holistic Employee Experience strategies aim to create the best workplace experience possible and to address each employee as an individual person with his or her own strengths, limitations, needs and preferences. ?In addition, the main effort is to improve organizational values, staff motivation, work conditions, staff development and the creation of a sense of meaning for employees.
- Employee experience as a tool for strategic human resource management in terms of demographic change and generation management, Christina Klinglmüller, bsc, MBA, Johannes Kepler University Linz
The impact of employee experience cannot be underestimated—when employees feel valued, acknowledged, and respected their engagement, motivation, and productivity are amplified, potentially also improving customer interactions, innovation, and overall organisational performance. ?
So, how can we elevate the employee experience by focusing on the moments that truly matter? ?When we identify pivotal moments in the employee journey, we can design supporting workplace experiences that are truly memorable.?
What are moments that matter?
At its core, "moments that matter" refer to the crucial touchpoints and experiences that shape an employee's journey, impacting their perceptions, behaviour, and overall relationship with their employer.? These moments include physical and digital interactions and have a significant influence on individuals, managers, and the entire organisation.?
They can range from important milestones like onboarding activities, promotions, or role transitions to everyday interactions like feedback sessions or team meetings. ?When strategically leveraged, these moments serve as catalysts for desired behaviours, promoting stronger connections and aligning personal and organisational goals.
A good experience makes your people feel seen and respected as the individual they are.
How do you find the ‘moments that matter’?
Discovering the 'moments that matter' in an organisations' employee experience may seem like a daunting task.? Its vast scope, many influencing stakeholders and intricate nuances make it easy to get overwhelmed. ?A simple yet robust framework can serve as a guiding light, bringing together the myriad of perspectives that shape the employee experience.
Begin with the moments that have the biggest impact
To create an effective plan, it’s crucial to pinpoint areas that are most important for both the organisation and its employees.? Rather than trying to cover every possible aspect, focus on those with the highest returns on investment.? Give priority to pivotal stages of the employee journey, such as onboarding, important elements of the in-office and remote experiences, major role transitions or life events.?
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When considering these areas, reflect on the following factors to determine priorities and address urgent needs:
o?? Is this area effective? Evaluate the impact of past initiatives and current experiences.? Reflect on which areas had a positive or negative effect on the employee experience.? Learn from successes and failures to understand what worked and what didn't.
o?? Is this important? ?Assessing the significance of these areas to different user groups and their teams helps prioritise them based on actual, felt needs rather than abstract concepts.
Tip – If your organisation runs regular pulse or annual engagement surveys these are valuable sources of information.? Likewise onboarding program feedback can highlight what new joiners are looking forward to.? And FM service feedback can also highlight supposedly small things that really get under employees’ skin.
Break it down into different user experiences
Everyone's experience is unique and diverse.? Managers have a distinct perspective compared to employees.? Those who come into the office regularly have a different encounter compared to remote workers.? Long-time employees bring a different outlook than new joiners, just as employees with varying workstyles and preferences do.?
Discover the groups that shape your organisation and explore how the hybrid experience impacts them.? What are their big decision moments?? What challenges or pain points do they face along the way?
Tip – if your organisation has personas or day-in-the-life scenarios these can be good starting points!
Get input from your people
A well-thought-out framework is crucial, but it’s not enough. The missing component?? Input from the employees themselves.? After all, they live the experience day in and day out.?
Tailor the methods for collecting feedback, sentiments, and insights to your organisations' unique needs and structure, but make diversity in response a cornerstone.? Consider surveying to uncover key workstyle and diversity needs.? Dive into user journeys in different demographic areas and co-create solutions with them. ?
Ultimately, prioritise employee voices and ensure inclusivity in feedback mechanisms to navigate and enhance the moments that matter most in their journey.
Tip – start by focusing on an important question, such as what influences people’s decision to come into the office?? The key influencers become moments that matter in the office, as positive moments will have a reinforcing effect on the decision to come in, as will reducing the pain of negative moments (such as queueing for the lifts!).
Conclusion
Moments that matter' is a helpful way to approach employee experience. ?It allows us to break down the employee journey into digestible chunks to better understand and empathise with employee needs and challenges. ?It prompts us to think about the things that often get missed because they aren't part of the traditional workplace remit, like onboarding, the at-home experience and major role transitions.
Because employees and teams are increasingly distributed, creating environments that add value to people's workflows and respond to human diversity becomes more important.? Designing for the ‘moments that matter’ empowers workplace professionals and designers to create and deliver exceptional experiences that leave a lasting impact.? It’s all about focusing on those remarkable moments that resonate and are remembered and shared over and over.
Workplace consultant and strategist, work style coach and author – Creating positive work environments, supporting thriving teams
1 年"The missing component??Input from the employees themselves." – such a simple idea, and so powerful. Thank you Caroline! Touchpoints are important, but we also need to look beyond touchpoints. I believe we need to pay attention to moments that may appear mundane to anyone else who is not living it. The accumulation of these can build up to big problems. We don't need to address a million variables, but we can't ignore experiences like: - Telling yourself hundreds of times a day that you don't belong, or that you're not seen - Having to listen to your coworkers' phone calls while trying to concentrate - Feeling uneasy all day because someone you don't trust sits behind you - Sleeping poorly, because there's too much on your mind, or your circadian rhythm is messed up - Feeling guilty for being part of an organisation that marginalises certain minorities - Developing depression due to not getting enough daylight at work - Keeping your ideas or mental health issues to yourself, in fear of negative reactions Thankfully, simple changes to the workplace can positively influence many many moments which, by themselves, may seem too small to matter ... So back to the main point: just ask (tactfully), and listen.