exploring by emHrge™
Do you have a vision of the future and a mission for your team or organization that will bring that vision to life... but aren't sure how to get started in a way that will bring about success without creating unneeded disruption and overtaxing your team?
If so, you've come to the right place.
It's great to dream big. To imagine a better, brighter future. We've been to engage in such dreaming ourselves (how else could we have launched emHrge?) and have experience helping our clients envision what the future could be for them.
But after you've engaged in some productive envisioning, what you need is a carefully conceived executable roadmap — a roadmap that takes into consideration the needs of your stakeholders, the most pressing and vexing issues that are getting in the way of bringing your vision to life. You also need to consider your available resources, the organization's capacity for change, and more. In other words, you need to explore what's possible today, next month, next year, and onward.
Like our envisioning services, exploring by emHrge follows a proven, flexible process to help organizations develop the executable roadmap that will guide them as they seek to realize their vision and fulfill their mission.
An executable roadmap isn't a project plan. The final deliverable is more akin to a business plan. And like any good business plan, it is informed by clearly established objectives, an understanding of the current state as compared to the desired future state and market research. It also defines the actions to be undertaken, prioritizing them based on impact and achievability given resource requirements and availability.
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In other words, there's a lot of exploring to be done before that executable roadmap can be drafted and we're here to help. To learn more, select from each of the elements here.
Take a sip! Each circle contains more details.
Consensus building & objective setting
In this stage we figuratively (or literally) post your inspiring vision and guiding principles so they are front in mind as we establish, then prioritize your objectives. But first, we need to assess how well your plans, policies, and/or programs are performing in the context of your vision and guiding principles. At this stage, the assessment may be limited to a general analysis of existing data, including stakeholder feedback (either formal or anecdotal).* In other instances, a more robust assessment will be required, in which case we can work with you and either your or our collaboration partners to do a deep-dive assessment of your offerings, as described in the section that follows.
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Equipped with these insights, and using various tools, we'll then facilitate discussions and interactive individual and group exercises designed to:
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Identify what's working, what's not, and what could be done better.
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Review the effectiveness of your existing offering(s) and assess them in light of your (in some cases, newly established) vision, identifying gaps and potential roadblocks.
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Brainstorm new or enhanced approaches and offerings.
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Set agreed-upon objectives.
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Assess the degree of difficulty and level of impact of future changes.
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Prioritize actions.​
Program Assessments & Gap Analysis
Einstein counseled that problems can't be solved with the same thinking that created them. The corollary to this is that you can't solve problems if you don't understand where they exist and what they really are. And with so much having changed in society and the world of work, examining the problems through a modern lens is a key step in making your vision a reality.
The emHrge approach to assessing and identifying gaps in an organization's HR/total rewards programming builds on proven approaches by adding a new perspective. Our approach is designed to answer this fundamental question:
Are your your benefits and compensation programs and HR policies delivered and received equitably? More fully, are your offerings equitable, flexible, accessible, and effective — both in terms of costs and outcomes — across all dimensions of diversity?
We'll help you answer this question through a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis. Working under strict non-disclosure rules, we and our network of subject matter experts (some of whom we highlight as our collaboration partners) are equipped to:
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Perform robust analyses of your demographic, financial, and program data.
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Review your program designs, with an eye toward how well aligned they are with your vision and guiding principles.
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Determine the extent to which your existing programs address your various stakeholders' needs.
Together, we'll determine how well your HR/total rewards programming is performing, answering another fundamental question in the process:
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Is the investment you're making reaching the right people at the right time in the right way, delivering the desired outcomes in a fiscally sustainable manner?
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Equipped with this analysis you're well prepared to set your objectives (as described previously) inspired by your vision and informed by data.
Market Research (aka Stakeholder Sensing)
Too often in change situations, the stage at which general stakeholders — your "customers" — are engaged is at the "go" stage, aftert he change has been settled on and is being rolled out. With fingers crossed, changemakers hope the "changetakers" like, or at least accept, the new reality.
All of us know this has never been a good approach but often stakeholder sensing becomes a "nice-to-have" when time is tight and resources are constrained. But in today's world of social media and stakeholder (and even shareholder) activism, failing to engage your general stakeholders throughout the process can end in disaster. Conversely, gathering stakeholder input to help shape the change, even help create the vision, provides valuable insights. Sometimes these insights help shape the change management process and communications by identifying where resistance and/or confusion may occur; other times your market research will highlight the need to rethink the change itself.
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Engaging stakeholders isn't complicated. Yes, logistical challenges may need to be overcome. Care must be taken. And expectations set. But when done well, engaging your stakeholders at the beginning, middle, and end of the change journey can not only minimize disruption and help ensure success; it can reap unexpected benefits.
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Years of experience inform the emHrge method of stakeholder engagement. The process itself isn't magical; it's the insightful design and skilled facilitation that sets us apart. We even have the references to prove it.
Output: Your Executable Roadmap
With the insights gathered in the previous steps, we'll roll up our sleeves and develop an executable roadmap. This roadmap:
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Clearly articulates your vision and guiding principles.
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Details your objectives and priorities.
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Establishes a high-level timeline for implementing the agreed-upon changes.
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Documents key activities and requirements.
Additionally, we can further collaborate with you to develop a high-level change management and communications plan, which can be incorporated into your roadmap.
We also offer other support at this stage, including the development of executive briefings, project budgeting, storyboarding, and other services designed to help you obtain the necessary approvals and key stakeholder buy-in.
Who said it: The most likely source is Antonie de Saint-Exupery, a French aviator, who fought and is presumed to have died in an accident durring WWII, and author who wrote the fable The Little Prince.