Employee Engagement — A Success Story

Ask any creative professional. Continual reinforcement of the value of the creative process, the importance of great intake and strong strategy, and the constant drive we have to over-deliver defines the day-to-day for creative teams. Challenging yet rewarding, it forces us to constantly learn, grow and innovate.

Managing the in-house creative team at Kaiser Permanente, I found this to be especially true. And when we learned through a partner survey that our intent to drive great results wasn't coming through in our day-to-day interactions, it was time to take action. So I looked to 5 simple yet fundamental truths to guide me.

1. There are two sides to every story.

The survey participants were marketing consultants and project managers that work directly with our designers, writer/editors and proofreaders. The survey provided both qualitative and quantitative score data that made their position very clear: things could be better.

But their input was only half of the story. Carefully packaging the feedback into theme areas, I prepared to present the results to the team. Opening with "everything discussed in this room stays in this room", we had an open, honest conversation around the scores, the experiences they were having with our marketing partners and what we could do next. It was an energetic conversation, to say the least. But in the end, the team agreed that the issues weren't insurmountable, and accepted the challenge to improve the scores.

2. Sometimes the best thing to do is get out of the way.

Now that we had both sides of the story, it was clear to me that we needed a tool, technique or training path to inform the team's day-to-day interactions. As their manager, it was completely within my scope of responsibility to make those decisions and implement. But this was the opportunity to put them in the driver's seat. Turn the negative energy derived from the criticism they received into positive problem-solving energy.

I enlisted two highly respected influencers from within the team (thank you, Melissa and Tony) to get things started. While I could help set the frame, this needed to be a grass roots effort. Something they could lead from within the team at a peer level.

3. Creatives love a good challenge.

After a few days, these influencers presented their suggestion — let's develop a Creative Challenge. As I mentioned, the goal was to create a tool, technique or training path designed to improve our interactions with the team, and ultimately our partner survey scores. But it was also to get the team really invested in the solution and a successful implementation. The implementation would never work without them.

Taking over one of our team meetings, Melissa and Tony introduced the challenge to the team, encouraged people to team up, develop ideas, and present them for a vote. They would be available for questions or guidance. They would be the liaisons with the management team. This is was their time to develop a solution that worked for them.

4. Creativity is contagious.

There were ultimately 10 presentations from individuals and teams as large as 6 people. The presentations were insightful, thoughtful, clever and hugely entertaining. And after the voting, we had a clear winner. But it didn't stop there.

The team with the winning idea incorporated the thinking of many of the other presentations. The resulting "7Cs" campaign was so well received, we extended the solution beyond the creative group and into our production services team. We scheduled guest speakers to support the theme, held group seminars on Curiosity and Communication, and encouraged team members to Connect with partners outside of a project setting. We even had a group coloring event where we all embraced our “calm”. All ideas generated by—and for—the team.

5. Results speak for themselves.

Our scores went up substantially in the following year's partner survey. The qualitative and quantitative results showed that our partners saw our increased effort and partnership. It had always been there, of course, but was showing up differently. More engaged, more informed and aware of what our partners valued in their collaborations with creative.

What's more, we saw an unexpected increase in our employee engagement scores that year. According to our annual survey, the creative team felt heard, valued and appreciative of the opportunity to solve problems from where they sit. They didn't have to be management to make a difference. They were able to develop their own tools to be successful. They were able to make an impact. And at a place like Kaiser Permanente, or any large enterprise, that's really saying something.

(Oh, and it didn't hurt that the work won a few design/communications awards along the way, including a Hermes Platinum award!)

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