Microsoft APAC:
a vision for employees, by employees
Microsoft Asia Pacific wanted a vision for employees that captured the exciting possibilities of working in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
All too often, corporate visions are created by leadership teams working behind closed doors. But Microsoft understood that for the vision to really ring true, it had to come from employees. That way everyone would feel invested in the vision – and committed to realising it.
But with 3,000 people dotted around 12 countries how do you get people involved? How do you encourage everyone to speak up, whatever their language or culture?
The solution:
use social to start a conversation
We kickstarted a big conversation on the team’s internal social network by posing a simple question:
“What do you dream for Microsoft?”
We developed the strategy, branding and materials to promote the conversation and keep it going. And we monitored the online discussions, drawing the leadership team to interesting or popular contributions, and helping senior leaders frame questions during fast-paced live chats with employees.
The outcome:
a vision statement everyone could relate to
The conversation gathered 880 posts from 245 people across all over Asia Pacific. To hone all these ideas, we created focus groups of employees whose contributions had particularly resonated with their colleagues.
From there, we crafted a vision statement that everyone could feel connected to because they’d been part of creating it.
“I was so impressed with your ability to quickly understand the complexities of our Asia business. You immediately grasped the importance of getting input from people of multiple cultures, speaking multiple languages, and the significant challenges of doing that. I loved the creative ways you came up with to get everyone talking, which meant we landed on an inspiring vision that was right for our business and resonated with the whole team.”
Tracey Fellows
Former CEO REA Group and President,
Microsoft Asia Pacific