Results
A mobilized team, a shared language around the company’s mission, and strategic priorities rooted in employees’ lived reality.
Context
This case study focuses on a growing SME in the printing industry, with a team of about twenty employees. The company operated three distinct business units: traditional printing, a division dedicated to school agendas, and a more recent acquisition in book printing. Following a previous strategic planning process a few years earlier, the organization aimed to update its priorities for the next three years. The CEO sensed a disconnect between management and employees regarding the company’s purpose and long-term goals.
Symptoms
The company wanted to align its strategic priorities with frontline realities in order to engage its teams around a shared vision. The goals of the process were to:
- Ensure all employees have a clear understanding of the mission and values
- Identify what motivates or hinders daily work
- Align strategic priorities with real needs, context, and on-the-ground perceptions
- Provide employees with a space to express themselves and strengthen their engagement
- Confirm or challenge the perceived lack of alignment within the team
Objective of the approach
The goal was to integrate employee insights into the heart of the strategic planning process, in a context of organizational evolution. It aimed to assess the level of alignment between employees and leadership on the company’s purpose, while also identifying cultural strengths, sources of motivation, and everyday frustrations. The process also sought to define concrete priorities for the next three years, based on field insights, and to foster a shared language around the mission, values, and strategic priorities to strengthen internal cohesion.
What We Accomplished
- Design and facilitation of a full cycle of one-on-one interviews with 17 employees
- Thematic analysis of responses across five key dimensions: company vision, perceived differentiators, employee-prioritized actions, valued elements, and daily pain points
- Summary of the voice of the employee shared with leadership and then with the entire team
- Joint presentation of findings, strategic priorities, and the mission-vision-values framework
- Cocreation workshop to put concrete words to the company’s identity and validate perceived alignment
- Facilitation of a collaborative team meeting to reinforce ownership and engagement around the updated priorities
The Outcomes
- Confirmation of stronger alignment than anticipated, even with varying language
- Creation of a shared language around mission, values, and priorities
- Strengthened employees’ feeling of being listened to and appreciated
- Clearer understanding of the “why” behind chosen (and unchosen) priorities
- A solid foundation for guiding decision-making and engagement over the next three years
