Change Communications
Case Study: Technology
When marketers and communicators at a global technology company realized they needed deeper, stronger and more integrated skill sets to drive capabilities the market was demanding, they asked North Star to partner with them to identify an integrated set of marketing and communications competencies that everyone would call their own.
North Star worked with the senior management team to articulate the most valued technical competencies, define how professionals would demonstrate proficiency in each of them, and launched assessment tools so that managers and employee could have direct, transparent discussions about career growth. North Star also worked with the senior team, and subsequently the entire global team, to define a set of behavioral competencies that would accelerate their collaboration and team effectiveness.
Overlaying all the competency work, North Star developed and executed a strategic change management plan that focused on engaging leaders and the extended team with carefully sequenced communications and activities that fostered adoption of the competencies.
Change Communications
Case Study: Automotive
The Chief Communications Officer for a Fortune 50 company wanted a consistent lens through which to develop, assess and advance the North American Communications talent strategy for a global automotive company. North Star worked with the CCO, the senior team and the full function to identify competencies, articulate progression through those skill sets, assess existing talent and facilitate productive discussions between leaders and their team members about clear development plans.
North Star provided comprehensive reports to leaders and analytics for the full function to the CCO to drive decisions on prioritizing investments in talent development. Leaders and employees both reported having the first, most robust talent discussions in their careers through the process, and the company has used the competency framework for new role creation, talent succession planning and ongoing people development discussions.
Change Communications
Case Study: Financial Services
An increasingly challenging regulatory environment, a dramatically changing internal structure and a need to invest in skills led a global financial services company to engage North Star in identifying both technical communications competencies and behavioral competencies that would move the needle quickly for the team.
With communications and marketing professionals placed in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, the client partnered with North Star to engage leadership first, then roll out the competencies to the broader team in multiple phases. North Star created a change management strategy, sequenced communications to ensure all team members had an opportunity to shape the behavioral competencies, and structured in-class training in multiple markets.
As the team members completed their orientation and early training, 80% believed behavioral competencies would enable the team to work more effectively; 100% believed the standard templates and criteria for creating communications plans would help them create more effective communication plans; almost 90% said they believed the technical and behavioral competencies orientation was effective in helping them understand what is expected of them; and 100% said the time invested in the training was worth the investment.
Case Studies
Our Case Studies showcase our expertise in working on a range of complex challenges in a variety of industries.
Change Communications
Case Study: Consumer Goods
The largest merger in industrial history demanded an employee and leader engagement strategy that would produce a measurable ROI over the course of a two-year journey. Strategies for engaging 35,000 employees and 9,000 leaders during radical change yielded measurable results – not just communications results, but business performance improvement. This included driving employee and leader engagement, impacting voluntary attrition rates below historical norms, and enabling the business to deliver significantly increased operating performance (+23% EPS) improvement.
A sweeping, integrated communications effort included the introduction of 9 new internal channels and tools for internal stakeholders, the creation of unique training experiences and content in a dedicated leaders portal, and conversion of all internal digital channels into two-way media.
Innovative, relevant content — delivered through a continuous feedback loop — drove CEO global town halls attendance up by over 500%; and an internal Merger Moment series of digital print and video content garnered 264,000 internal impressions in a few short weeks leading up to the transaction close –a 650% increase over other articles in that channel, with a 1,500% click-through rate.
Communications metrics were aligned with employee organizational health and engagement measurement efforts, yielding a clear correlation between communications programming and improved engagement. Results included significant improvements during the pre-merger period with employee confidence in the future state, belief in leadership communications transparency and company pride.
Change Communications
Case Study: Consumer Goods
Consolidating four North American headquarters into one for the world’s largest auto manufacturer might sound simple. But moving almost 5,000 employees and their families, from the east coast, the west coast and the Midwest to a single location in the south central part of the U.S. required a thoughtful and highly strategic employee communications and engagement strategy.
North Star provided counsel and strategy for employee communications, beginning with the announcement of the consolidation and moving quickly into managing the change journey of almost three years – when the new headquarters location would be constructed. Differences in regional culture, on top of many unknowns and restructuring actions in the early stages of the journey, required critical leader and employee communications tools, strategies and measurement disciplines . With risk to talent retention across all functions and lines and business, North Star helped facilitate collaboration and coordination across multiple functions and operating parts of the business.
The communications efforts yielded strong employee understanding of the rationale behind the decision to consolidate, deeper understanding of the attributes of the new headquarter location community, and awareness and use of support programs available to employees to help them with key decisions along the way.
Change Communications
Case Study: Retail Consumer Goods
Leadership of a global luxury retail chain wanted to invest in a more comprehensive and strategic approach to employee engagement. North Star developed a strategy to prioritize and activate the corporation’s response to a critical employee engagement process, articulate a longer-term approach to employee communications, then partnered with the client to create a strategic plan and provide executive coaching to the function’s new leader. The plan, and its leader, received the full support of senior leadership, and transformed the company’s approach to – and effectiveness with – employee engagement through employee communications.
Case Study: Consumer Goods
Change Communications
Following a major merger between two large consumer products companies, fiercely autonomous operating entities would be united for the first time through everything from global purchasing to R&D to its selling/retail customer teams. The need for company-wide employee communications infrastructure was greater than ever.
The solution was to build an efficient global employee communications capability that would include channel development and measurement, and coordinated internal communications content/message alignment.
The solution featured building a suite of communications channels and a system for message alignment between Corporate and divisions that would deliver measurable results. This included E-Box – a quarterly tool for executives, launched as a digital “meeting in a box” to facilitate discussions with employee groups on critical business priorities; also used for Crisis Communications briefings, and ongoing measurement/dashboard scorecard in place on channel reach and message delivery.
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Launched first global daily electronic tool in the company’s history, launched to all management employees across the globe:
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Through 2-year post launch this flagship communications tool maintained 85% daily readership
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Specialty editions on Health and Wellness, and Diversity and Inclusion launched, delivering high awareness and understanding via Organization Health/Employee Satisfaction measurement
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Community focused weekly editions launched for geographic relevance
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First-ever global CEO Town Hall launched through webcasting; survey data showed
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89% agreed Town Hall helps them understand how the company was uniquely positioned to grow compared to its competitors.
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95% agreed they understand progress company progress on its strategic commitment to health and wellness
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Case Study: Consumer Goods
Change Communications
With the emphasis on the transformation of a global Consumer Product Company’s portfolio to healthier products and brands, senior management became concerned that the Company’s associates were feeling less comfortable speaking to the range of choices it offered, and uncomfortable addressing increasing criticism of some more indulgent categories in which they competed. After qualitative and quantitative research to gauge associate attitudes and opinions, a global, sustainable program was designed and executed to increase associate understanding of the company’s products and categories, and equip them with the facts to address misinformation. This effort was a first-of-its kind for the company in that it was truly a global internal communications initiative and required a significantly increased level of collaboration between divisions and corporate communicators.
Through the creation and global distribution of 19 “category cards,” associates reported significantly enhanced understanding and willingness to share insights about the company’s products. Tactical interactive program elements (weekly quizzes and prizes, flash e-signatures, photo contests, coupons, “Pride-casts” on specific topics like salt and sugar) generated far-reaching, sustained and engaged communication with associates. Specific post measurement demonstrated:
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Content in the category cards generated 95% approval ratings (top-two box selection) through 19 weeks.
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Total readership on electronic category cards - 406,191% answering weekly quizzes correctly - 76%
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Approval rating of 19-week series (top-two box) - 94.8%
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Associates believed they were better informed about our products - 96%
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Associates saying they would share category and product insights with customers, family, friends - 94%, an increase of 25% pre-program
Case Study: Consumer Goods
Change Communications
To help consumers find food and beverage products that contribute to healthier lifestyles, a new trademark was launched across more than 250 products in North America. To help drive awareness and understanding of the trademark, an integrated communications campaign – reaching internal and external stakeholders was designed and executed over a 6-month time frame.
A core element of the total communications plan was to engage the company’s 90,000 employees in understanding what the new trademark stood for, and advocating for the company’s brands which carried it.
A sustained employee communications program in the US – including innovative viral e-communications campaign, a specially designed internal engagement campaign, creative collateral and interactive web tools enabled strong awareness and understanding of the program, commitment and behavior to support its introduction;.
Post-launch measurement showed:
• 100% strongly agreed they understood what the trademark designation means.
• 99% agreed they understood how the new trademark initiative fits into the company’s overall health and wellness commitment.
• 98% agreed the internal Web site helped them learn more about the new trademark.
• 93% agreed that overall, they were satisfied with the amount of information about new trademark designation that they have received.
• Internally generated E-cards drove 75% of all web traffic to the external trademark site during its first month “live.”
• Learnings from US launch were applied to Canada launch, and subsequent employee and multicultural PR programming.