Launching the customer promise of Robert Bosch Oy inside the company
A student team project of Haaga-Helia UAS Experience Designer course in spring 2020.
My role in our team of four was to keep us moving in the right direction by asking good questions and to ideate effective solutions to our challenge.
In our work, we used the iterative Design Thinking process to produce results.
The challenge
Through a number of workshops, the personnel of our commissioner, Robert Bosch Oy, had already formed a customer promise: I promise, we take care.
The management wanted something more than just stickers and posters to remind about the promise, and to somehow instill it in the minds of the employees and to the company culture.
Gaining insight
Through research, and especially by interacting with the personnel and the customers, we found that
- the customer promise indeed reflects the core values of the employees – and that they share them with Bosch as a company
- there is a real need to remind them of their values in a memorable and meaningful way.
- the employees have busy schedules and they would appreciate ”sneaky” reminding (not time consuming)
- there was ”a gut-feeling” that the shared values might not always be a top priority for everyone
Defining and ideating
Having gone through a process of verticalization in their huge international organizational structure, the employees at the Finnish Robert Bosch Oy needed something to anchor themselves onto – and to give their we-spirit a boost.
The customer promise could be used to build and support the sense of community across different branches – a process that had already begun by moving every branch under one roof.
Our ideas were aimed to do just that.
Prototyping and testing
We gathered feedback from employees working remotely through a survey. The first 5-in-5 was conducted simultaneously (read on).
Various ideas were tested at the Bosch offices in Vantaa in May 2020.
Solutions
How do we measure a change in gut-feeling?
By a survey tool called 5-in-5, that we developed. It consists of 5 questions (in 5 minutes) to which a person answers on a sliding scale of 1 to 10. It produces an index depicting status quo. Fast, cheap, effective – brilliant!
We also created reminders in varying tones of voice:
- a permanent, majestic one in the lobby as a reference point
- thought-provoking quotes in selected places at the office
- humorous notes in surprising places to play with the meaning of the customer promise
The 5-in-5 survey is to be taken again after a four month period of exposure to the quotes, notes and reminders to see if there was a change.
We handed the commissioner a detailed blueprint to help them with staging the experience for their employees.
Some takeaways
Our team established clear ground rules and roles right from the start. We agreed e.g. how to manage conflicts respectfully. One was in charge of the visuals, one of communication etc.. As a result, the team work was fantastic.
Furthermore, Bosch was an excellently co-operative commissioner. Our professional plan was loved and was going to be implemented as such – as soon as the personnel returned to the offices in the autumn of 2020.
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