In the age of information overload, connecting with an audience requires knowing exactly what they want – and how to give it to them.
by Greentarget
Evaluator
The idea was straightforward but big: Identify the norms that govern the ways we work and the spaces we work in to better understand how those norms shape workplace wellness. The goal was to help corporate America reduce employee burnout, attract talent and build healthier organizations.
To accomplish this, Greentarget and two partners planned to convene a roundtable of experts from an array of industries through the new Immediate Frontier initiative. On February 4, we announced that the roundtable would happen in late April.
In between, of course, the world changed on us.
Without the ability to bring a group of experts together and amid the chaos of the abrupt work-from-home transition, we seriously considered spiking the project. But then we realized that finding solutions around work, wellness and space had just become more important than ever.
We just needed a new approach – so we created one. We call it qualitative, consultative research.
And that approach is fueling Work, Wellness & Space, the inaugural research offering by Immediate Frontier. The project, which is a partnership between GreenHouse::Innovation and Greentarget in special collaboration with Learn Adapt Build (LAB)/Amsterdam, launches today.
How We Got to the New Approach
If our task became more important in March, it also became more difficult. Decision-makers around the globe didn’t just face an economic disruption in the wake of COVID-19, they also faced momentous questions about how work would continue in the months and years ahead.
We could have pivoted to a traditional quantitative survey, but we knew (even from brief conversations with decision-makers in March) that direct conversations would be the best way to thoroughly explore attitudes and opinions. We considered a video roundtable, but finding a mutually agreeable time when many participants were dealing with critical business issues seemed tone-deaf and unlikely to work.
Instead, we set about a series of one-on-one qualitative interviews with experts in commercial real estate, architecture, medicine, design and several other fields. But from the earliest moments of our earliest conversations, we saw that these weren’t just interviews. They were consultative discussions.
How the New Approach Works
A good analogy is traditional beat reporting, in which a reporter, after months or years covering similar topics, develops knowledge bordering on expertise, enabling her to ask better questions and write more fully developed, insightful stories. Over the course of two months, our team began that journey through a combination of seeking out top experts, asking informed questions and knowing our stuff better every day.
We pulled this off through close collaboration with our Content & Editorial Strategy team, which has a strong background in journalism, and our Research & Market Intelligence team, which has years of experience in qualitative research. The new approach also benefitted from the willingness of our research participants to hop on Zoom within a few days’ notice.
This all led to something we hadn’t expected, something we think we can replicate. While providing guidance in research reports is something we’ve done for years, we were able to test possible guidance before findings were released by bouncing one expert’s view off others. And by bringing actionable insights from one related field to another – e.g., telling a commercial real estate executive what we heard from a healthcare executive and discussing why and how that mattered – we connected some interesting dots.
The Result
This approach has fueled a research report – the first chapter of which we’ll release today – covering a bevy of work, wellness and space issues. As decision-makers around the world think about what their offices will look like, how workspaces will function and how employees’ wellness can be reimagined, the work we’ve done through qualitative, consultative research has provided an important perspective on what appears to be a generational inflection point. It has also afforded the ability to iterate and advance the conversation as the impact of the pandemic evolves in tandem with the release of our research report chapters.
We believe our findings could help pave a way forward – one that perhaps leads to greater workplace wellness. We’ll release the results each week between now and Labor Day.
We hope our insights spark broader conversations that help decision-makers at a critical time and that improve the interplay between work, wellness and space for years to come.
It’s the first week of March and on your commute to work you read that new cases of the coronavirus were identified in the United States.
Some days later, you receive an email from your boss that the office is closed and that you’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future.
Working parents wonder what they’re going to do with their children – how am I supposed to be their teacher and lead this conference call? – and millennials, thought to be ‘comfortable in their usage of digital technology,’ cringe at the notion of virtual happy hours.
“At least it’s just temporary,” most of us thought.
Yet fast forward 15 weeks and here we are, many of us still at home, reflecting on how far we’ve come, how our routines have evolved, and whether this will be our new normal. The fact of the matter is that for many of us it will be. In a recent survey conducted for our client, Littler, 50 percent of employers said they were considering requiring more employees to work remotely to reduce physical office costs, and most said they were amenable to accommodating work-from-home requests.
And contrary to what we’d feared in the pandemic’s early days, what many are finding – despite this monumental evolution – is that people at work have remained collaborative, innovative, and creative.
How? At least for us here at Greentarget, we can chalk it up in large part to our core values. Here’s a glimpse at how we’ve applied them to our new work lives.
- Work Hard. Embracing a work-life balance – when work is literally in your own home – may seem more challenging than ever, but we willfully accept that challenge by remembering that we are fulfilled and energized by embracing serious work on serious issues and achieving results that exceed expectations. As part of Greentarget’s commitment to wellness and in an effort to recharge so we can reengage purposefully, we hold quarterly yoga and mediation sessions for all employees, among a slate of additional wellness initiatives.
- Be Authentic. At Greentarget, being authentic means that we listen with empathy, and seek to understand each other, our clients, and the world around us. The need for compassion, particularly for those struggling to balance the needs of their families and work, has never been greater. Offering to dive in or lend a hand when a colleague needs to pull away for a few hours isn’t deemed cumbersome, it’s simply our dedication to one another.
- Embrace Curiosity and Drive Creative Thinking. The shift to work-from-home, while it may have been familiar to a handful of organizations, was novel to many. Businesses and individuals alike found themselves searching for new ways to learn, grow and challenge conventions. At Greentarget, we’ve launched a completely virtual internship program, have ditched the conference line and replaced it with video meetings, and held an informative webinar for nonprofits seeking to have their COVID-19 story heard, just to name a few examples.
- Embrace the Stretch. The last several months have pushed us outside our comfort zones, introducing new routines and habits, but that discomfort has fueled growth. In April, each member of the team submitted a picture of how they have been embracing the stretch during their time in isolation. From learning how to play the keyboard to setting up an indoor 9-hole golf course, it’s safe to say we have a pretty fun and creative group.
- Grow as Individuals and as a Team. Despite adversity, we can surely say that we’ve come together to ensure we continue to deliver the service and counsel our clients have come to know and expect, and we’ve grown as individuals, as a company and as a partner to our clients as a result. To celebrate, the team has been challenged with individually growing an herb – cilantro, chives, dill, mint, oregano, etc. – provided by Greentarget, which will be used for a cooking or cocktail competition once the shoots start coming in. We also put together ‘The Greentarget Cookbook’ last month, where everyone submitted their favorite recipe – who doesn’t benefit from that?!
Sure, COVID-19 and the subsequent stay-at-home orders brought confusion and frustration, but it also taught us that even as businesses evolve, corporate values – if they’re a true reflection of your business and your employees – should always ring true, both inside and outside the office.
The past few months have seen communications professionals reaching for their crisis manuals over and over. Yet while these manuals may serve as constructive guideposts to start, their use is limited: how many playbooks, for instance, contain guidance on “abrupt, plague-induced lockdown” or “mass anti-racism movement and worldwide protests?”
Some fundamental crisis tenants, like communicating with empathy and transparency, apply in any scenario. But if these latest crises have shown us anything it’s that there’s no one way to plan for everything. Instead, the sudden lockdown and the pressure organizations felt to respond to last week’s events underscore why today’s communicators need an improvisational mindset.
Defining an improvisational mindset
To be clear, improvisation does not mean quickly coming out with vague platitudes and hollow statements expressly designed to meet the expectation for some sort of response. Nor does it mean – in this context, at least – moving ahead heedlessly, without any thought at all.
Rather, an improvisational mindset encourages communicators to pivot fast to meet changing conditions, move the conversation forward, and back up words with action – the way a musician or comedian adapts to the scene or song at hand and acts in ways which progress it.
Frank Barrett, author of Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons From Jazz, summarizes the challenge well:
We live in a high-velocity world with so many cues and signals that don’t come to us with clear messages. We are always facing incomplete information, and yet we have to take action anyway. Improvisational mindset means you have to leap in and take action to say yes. If you’re just in a problem-solving mindset, your imagination is going to be shrunk. You have to have a mindset that says ‘yes’ to the possibility that something new and interesting and creative can emerge.
What’s more, we perceive improvisations as truly authentic not simply because they’re made up on the spot. But it’s precisely because the performers are so practiced and credible that they can improvise effectively.
In the corporate world, authenticity tends to stem from a company’s track record. Nike, for example, could quickly improvise an ad denouncing racism because it had “built equity with its inclusion of Colin Kaepernick in a 2018 ad campaign.” For many others, the better choice was to donate to relevant groups or outline steps to improve their own diversity.
Embracing “yes, and…”
The “yes, and” approach that drives improv is always useful, but especially in today’s increasingly unpredictable business environment. Fortunately, in the past few months we’ve seen our clients embrace this mindset. Here are a few examples.
- Internal stakeholder coaching – We’re helping several clients coach their lawyers or consultants on how to leverage earned COVID-19 media coverage and content in client conversations and outreach. The thinking here is that the “last mile” of client outreach, which happens one-on-one, is most impactful – and now more than ever. They’ll have to be ready to think on their feet and lead with their humanity. If your organization’s professionals are unaccustomed to this type of touchpoint, an improvisational approach can help make them more effective in off-the-cuff situations.
- Flash surveys – A few clients of ours quickly pivoted their quantitative research efforts to better understand emerging client needs and concerns. One law firm, for instance, launched a flash survey of its clients because they had been conducting a survey that felt suddenly, if temporarily, irrelevant. We moved fast to help them generate a new survey that yielded relevant results and insights. Ultimately, the flash survey findings grabbed media headlines in top tier HR trades and national business media.
- Online focus groups – Similarly, we have several clients launching virtual focus groups as a way to obtain qualitative measures/feedback on various issues and offerings. These insights are critical in empathizing with particular audiences, and in avoiding tone-deaf positioning of products and services.
- Agile content production – For another client, we developed a three-part podcast series about the impacts of COVID-19 on the energy industry. The process, which would typically take at least a month, was finished in about a week. Similarly, we improvised to quickly edit a survey report – originally fielded before the world was sheltering in place – so it could elucidate how the findings became even more relevant and useful in light of COVID-19.
It’s unlikely we would have conceived of these projects in typical times – but then, atypical times require atypical responses. As communicators, it’s our job to say “yes, and” to new situations and find creative ways to address them head on.
With COVID-19 disrupting life around the world, staying informed matters more, to more of us, than ever. And that’s causing a somewhat surprising side effect:
Authorities are back. And not just the kind who order you to stay home and wash your hands a lot. I’m talking about true subject matter authorities – those experts who have the knowledge and experience to help us make sense of what’s happening.
With information overload, and particularly misinformation overload, plaguing all of us, now is a big moment for authoritative spokespeople who can provide clarity. “People realize when the chips are down, and everything is on the line, and you can be the next person in the hospital bed, it’s the experts that you want to listen to and the experts you wish you had listened to all along,” Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, recently told the Associated Press.
As McNutt and others explore this topic, they typically emphasize experts on health-related issues. But even a glance at the news shows us that the COVID-19 crisis is wreaking havoc on nearly every aspect of our lives. With audiences and journalists alike desperate to know what it all means, now is also the time for those with deep understanding of critical issues of all kinds to engage.
That goes for legal minds who can explain how rules and regulations apply to an unprecedented scenario, policy experts who can explain moves by the Trump administration and other officials, and consultants who can speak to how business leaders can guide their organizations through a “new normal.”
At Greentarget, we believe authorities like that not only have the opportunity, but the responsibility to contribute to the conversation at this pivotal time – both by speaking for themselves and by working with journalists to help disseminate their point of view through the media.
Public Trust for Industry Spokespersons Was High Before the Pandemic
One bit of good news: Even before the pandemic hit, trust for industry spokespersons was high, according to the Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer, which measures the average percent of faith in institutions like NGOs, business, government and media. Further, the findings showed that 92 percent of employees said CEOs should speak out on issues of the day, including retraining, the ethical use of technology and income inequality.
The public already trusts individuals in positions of authority and wants them to speak out more. That’s significant because it underscores how effective thought leadership – as opposed to more noise – can stand out, even in normal times.
And now, as journalists desperately try to keep up with COVID-19’s unprecedented impact in all its forms, they have an increasing appetite for experts who can provide passionate, insightful views that break down how this will affect businesses, healthcare, employment and other critical issues.
Tips on Engaging With the Media
If you’re new to the game of thought leadership but don’t know where to start when speaking with reporters, keep these points in mind:
- Be Specific: Journalism and research are and will be increasingly data driven, and spokespeople must adapt their messaging accordingly.
- Be Credible: As public trust in journalism continues to build, it will be increasingly crucial that spokesperson messages are trustworthy while delivering valuable content.
- Empathy Counts: As newsroom staffs shrink, media relations strategies must be thoughtful, deliberate and empathetic to reporters.
- Raise the Thought Leadership Bar: Commercial messaging is already a challenge, but the bar for thought leadership is getting higher. Editors will look for content that not only communicates expertise but provides information their audience needs to know.
Thought leaders have a real opportunity to rise above the noise in a moment when expertise is especially valued. We need our smartest and best thinkers to engage and direct a smarter conversation. Now more than ever.
