The Value Framework

A Scalable Strategy for Employee Productivity

“We don’t have budget for this, but we’ll figure it out. We’ll put it under the COVID bucket.” We’ve heard this over and over again as teams rush to use new technology to stay connected to employees, keeping them engaged and productive in new ways. (And executives should be doing this as they take advantage of the 2020 loophole.) Employees are a pivotal stakeholder to company success. So, now that we’ve settled in to our new normal, what’s the framework for making sure employees are engaged, enabled, and–most importantly­­– empowered? Once identified, the framework can help C-suite executives rationalize expensive business transformation decisions with quantitative value.

Borrowing Maslow’s Hierarchy

A theory focused on behavioral motivation, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that basic requirements must be satisfied before psychological needs and then psychological needs must be satisfied before realizing maximum potential. Only then can the ultimate achievement be realized. If we apply Maslow’s framework to making sure employees are engaged, enabled, and empowered, it looks like this:

Once the CIO makes the strategic and financial commitment to purchase new workplace technology tools, they must enable and empower employees before the company can realize increased productivity – or value from the technology.

Applying Marketing Concepts Internally

CIOs have the responsibility of finding the right workplace tools for employees, regardless of where they work. (This responsibility has new challenges and increased visibility in today’s world!) Once CIOs decide on the optimal technology for their employee base – and receive the financial commitment from the CEO and CFO – they must align with the CHRO and CCO/CMO on the strategic approach for the employee experience with the new technology. Together, CHROs and CCOs can advise CIOs on the optimal strategy to communicate the new tools/processes to the key stakeholder: employees.

This focus on the employee experience helps build the strategy to reduce resilience and increase employee confidence, enabling them to best use the new tools. Only once employees are enabled are they able to feel empowered, leveraging the new technology to make specific functions (e.g. sales, HR, operations, etc.) more streamlined. CIOs rely on the efficiencies gained on the departmental level to quantify their own success in enabling resilient company operations.

Creating Cross-Functional Alliances

Often overlooked as the pivotal step to success, aligning with the CHRO and CCCO before any technology rollout or communication is required. When CIOs fail to partner with CHROs and CCOs/CMOs to build the employee experience, employees get confused, resentful, and go rogue, finding alternate tools that they are comfortable with to “get the job done.” After all, CIOs specialize in technology – not communicating value propositions with simplicity. Successful CIOs gain the ears of their CHRO and CCO/CMO, partnering with them to build a meaningful employee experience.

The Cost of a Poor Employee Experience

A lack of a strategic employee experience plan leads to companies paying for multiple tools (e.g. Dropbox, Box, OneDrive) that do the same thing. Not only a financial cost, too many technologies complicate the technology stack increasing the risk and potential duration of outages and security breaches.  And these very real business problems are amplified as employees develop fragmented processes, making it difficult to pass knowledge between departments. (Not to mention it increases the required knowledge for corporate IT teams as they’re expected to be able to help employees with any technology problem!)

Building the Employee Experience

We know the risk of enabling business transformation if the C-suite fails to properly communicate to employees: exit packages. Yet CIOs must ensure businesses resilience – especially during these turbulent times. Here’s a handy checklist to make sure your company is on the path to building a successful employee experience:

•  Select the technology platform

• Get approval/buy-in from CEO, CFO, CHRO, and CCO/CMO

• Create employee experience plan with CHRO and CCO/CMO (or skilled advisor)

• Allow CHRO and CCO/CMO (or skilled advisor) to execute employee experience plan (coordinating technical rollout, communication, and training plans)

• Remember new employees! Enable them with training led by CHRO/learning teams

• Give existing employees a year or more to grow comfortable

• Provide open forums for questions and upskilling

Quantifying Empowerment

Following these steps will help the C-suite enable and empower employees with new technologies and processes. And, as executives look for ways to promote their successes throughout the organization, they will be able to point to decreased technology platform costs, increased security, and more streamlined processes. Moreover, individual departments can provide case studies for success as employees feel empowered and begin to apply custom solutions to their areas of expertise.

Ellebridge can help

Technology is at the center of every category. Every business needs technology to survive. It’s like water. That means the CIO is at the center of the organization – regardless of industry. Yet many employees still feel intimidated by it. Contact Ellebridge to help your team leverage this framework to turn technology intimidation into empowerment. We’ll work with you to develop your team’s value story.