Post on 05-Jul-2015
The Power of PersonasHarnessing demographic segmentation in employee engagement
Judith Sparkes, Suncor Energy
Marcus Evans
2nd Internal Branding & Cultural Development
October 17, 2011
1
• Suncor Energy
• Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta
• 13,000 employees in Canada, USA, Europe, Middle East, North Africa
• Leading position in oil sands supported by integrated operations
• Pro-active advocate of developing Canadian sustainable energy strategy
• Focused on:
– Operational excellence
– Growth
Background
2
It’s hard to engage employees in the business if you can’t connect with them.
3
Before embarking on a communications plan, it’s vital to understand interests, perspectives and goals of audiences.
It’s the only way to connect organizational goals with what’s important to your audiences.
Personas can help bridge the gap.
4
What are personas?
• Archetypes; hypothetical
“stand ins”
• Description of a fictional person
who represents major group of employees
• Realistic but not real
• Although fictitious:
– Based on real employees
– Grounded in reality as much as possible
Source of example: www.mollystevens.com/images/samplePersona.jpg
5
Benefits of personas
• Common and shared understanding of
audience segments
• Engage employees
– Test plans and strategies against personas to assess:
• Reach
• Resonance
• Manage communications and HR functions and
resources effectively
6
How to create personasResearch
• Demographic data
• Surveys
• Interview business stakeholders who know the audience well
• Employee interviews and focus groups
• Basic demographics
– Age, gender, years of service
• Job responsibilities and what typical day looks like
• What person likes best about their job
• Teams or people person interacts with most
• How time rich/poor
• Goals, attitudes, beliefs
• Characteristics
• Motivators
• Preferences
• Other relevant information:
– Work environment
– Information-seeking habits
– Personal and professional goals
• Invaluable but rarely provides richness required
• Provide objective criteria – age, gender etc.
• Produces averages
• Doesn’t necessarily represent segments which actually exist
• Doesn’t help understand audience
7
How to create personasDevelop
• One page
• Name and photo
• Personal details
but don’t go
overboard
• Include elements
that make sense
in your context
• If narrative “too much”
for your corporate culture
– Minimize amount
of personal detail
– Give persona a title
rather than a name
– Write the persona as
a list of bullet points
rather than a narrative
• Patterns in
attitudes and
behaviours to
create clusters
8
Suncor example
9
PersonasExample of an abbreviated persona
10
PersonasExample of a detailed persona
“I have a computer in the control
room, but don’t use it to get to
company fluff stuff. My boss tells
me all I need to know to get my job
done and Sally in the front office
always makes sure that us guys
get print outs of the info that we
really need. I also flip through
the newsletter, but only really read
something when I know someone
in one of the pictures or articles.”
11
Practical applications – Example #1Using personas to test communications tools
12
Practical applications – Example #2Using personas in strategy development
“In the Know” initiative
• An employee communications program that positions employees to be ambassadors for Suncor and the industry, called “In the Know”
• Opportunity to engage employeesin “new” Suncor
• Company-wide approach complemented by tailored business unit approaches
• Example: Refining & Marketing
13
Questions?