Step 2 of Branding: Planning the Ergonomic Project Brand Process
The second phase of creating a project brand, in our case an injury prevention (IP) project, is planning. This is the four blog in the series on Branding: Why All Projects Need One. In the last blog I discussed the first phase in the brand campaign which was the pitch. Phase 2 is the PLAN. This is fairly self-explanatory—the Plan identifies the project goals, activities and steps involved. It is also defines who is involved from the key stakeholders to those who will have minimal but necessary involvement. The roles and responsibilities of each person/group involved defined as well as the risks and rewards (results) of the project.
Let’s continue using the IP project as our example and define those key items:
Goals:
- Reduce work comp and associated costs by 70%
- Keep aging workers employed
- Increase productivity/efficiency
Results:
- $200K in work comp savings
- $50K savings in limiting new hires to <5/year
- $50K savings in productivity/efficiency gains
Personnel:
- HR
- Operations mgrs./supervisors
- Consultant
- Laborers
- Finance dept
- Supply Chain/purchasing dept
- Work comp insurance rep
- Vendors
Risks:
- No change in productivity/efficiency
- Little change in injuries/ work comp costs
- Aging employees leave workforce early/retire
The roles and responsibilities for each personnel list should be clearly defined. If a group is listed, note who within that group is the “go-to” person.
After the above has been defined then it’s time to move on to the activities that are needed for the project. The activities listed should be connected to the project results. Project leaders often find a GNAT chart to be valuable in this process as it clearly shows the timeline and who is responsible for completing the activity.
During this phase the brand message must continue. One must continue to state the benefits (tangible and intangible) to those involved in the project to keep their support and not lose momentum. Keep looking toward the project payoff and use that to motivate the participants. Always remember to communicate the brand of project throughout the planning phase.
Caveats in this phase include not involving key stakeholders and team members in developing the plan. In other words, those who approve the project and those directly affected by the outcome of the project should be involved in the planning, i.e. C-level, directors and laborers, unless they tell you they specifically don’t want to be involved. In which case, I would still send communications to them in case they change their minds and/or they forget they declined to be involved and come back and asked why you didn’t involve them.
Another common problem is not getting the right people on the project team. You may have the right department but the person assigned is not a great fit. If this is the case, the project leader needs to go to the Champion and ask for assistance in resolving this. Another common problem related to personnel is failing to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each person.
The last thing project leaders tend to do (or not do depending on one’s perspective) is to analyze all of the project’s risks, potential land mines and uncertainties that might cause opportunities to be missed and/or cause the project to not reach its goals.
So now we have the pitch (the “why?”) and the plan for the project branding process. The next blog will explore the platform (implementation)