06 Apr Employee Journey Mapping for Intranets and the Digital Workplace
The best intranets are indispensable: without them, it is simply not possible to complete business-critical tasks. Journey mapping for intranets is a process for understanding these business-critical tasks, and then identifying opportunities to make them more efficient, pleasurable and profitable.
What is an employee journey map?
A journey map visually describes an employee’s journey as he attempts to achieve a goal. It depicts a timeline of the employee experience; key touchpoints; what the employee is feeling, thinking and doing; and pain points and opportunities.
A journey map illustrates an employee’s experience while attempting to achieve a goal
Thinking in journeys focuses attention on the quality of the entire experience, rather than just a few intranet screens. It makes visible things that were overlooked even though they seem obvious in retrospect.
Best of all, it is not a lengthy report. A journey map is a visual tool that communicates a wealth of information at a glance. Journey maps are often mounted on walls where they can continue to guide intranet teams and stimulate creativity for years.
Example journeys for employee journey maps
No single journey map can represent an entire intranet. Each journey map illustrates a typical journey of an employee attempting to achieve a goal or satisfy a need. As an intranet often satisfies dozens of needs, it’s best to focus on journey maps for the employee goals that have the most impact on the business.
Example journeys include:
- An employee’s first day on the job
- Submitting an expense claim
- Keeping up to date with company news
- Planning a meeting
- Conducting research for a proposal
Many of these journeys involve channels other than the intranet. The journey map captures these, often pointing to new opportunities for the intranet to integrate with other channels or otherwise expand its value.
Our process for employee journey mapping
Our first step is to work with our clients to select the employee journeys that have the biggest impact on the business (and that the intranet team is reasonably able to influence).
Once the journeys are selected, we use a four-step journey mapping process popularized by Adaptive Path.
Credit: Adaptive Path’s Guide to Experience Mapping
Research: Uncover the truth.
Study employee behavior and interactions across channels and touchpoints.
In our first phase, we research the employee journey through a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods:
- Perform heuristic analysis of intranet channel
- Review existing data and research
- Conduct surveys
- Talk to employees through directed interviews
Key deliverable:
- Report detailing research findings
Workshops: Chart the course.
Collaboratively synthesize key insights into a journey model.
In our second phase, we lead intense but exhilarating workshops with stakeholders. We review the research, then construct and shape it into a draft employee journey.
Key deliverable:
- Facilitation of stakeholder workshops for each journey
- A rough map for each journey
Design: Tell the story.
Visualize a compelling story that creates empathy and understanding.
In this phase, we bring the journey map to life. We take the data, rough maps and key insights generated in the previous two steps and design compelling visual stories for each employee journey.
Key deliverable:
- Large-format journey map for each journey, suitable for mounting
Follow-up: Use your map.
Follow the map to new ideas and better employee experiences.
We’ll make sure you have your map in a variety of formats so it can be distributed far and wide. We’ll lead briefings and Q&As to introduce the map to your stakeholders. Then it’s up to you to use it. We’ll be pleased to help you implement the ideas generated through the intranet journey mapping process.
Key deliverable:
- Stakeholder briefing to review maps
- Ad hoc consulting on implementing ideas generated through the journey map process
How to engage us for employee journey mapping
Our Journey Mapping for Intranets service will help you answer questions such as these:
- What are employees really trying to achieve when they use the intranet?
- What are employees experiencing and feeling while trying to complete a task with the intranet?
- Where are the gaps between devices, channels and departments?
- Where are the opportunities to make the intranet more efficient, pleasurable and profitable?
The first step to a Journey Mapping engagement is a conversation to explore the employee journeys at your organization. Perhaps there are a few obvious journeys that are the best journey mapping candidates. Or perhaps a short engagement is needed to inventory and select the most appropriate ones. Once we have a high-level understanding of the journeys, we can provide an estimate for a complete journey mapping process.