Create a Vision Statement and Success Metrics
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- State the importance of a Slack vision statement and success metrics.
- Describe how to help your client build a Slack vision statement.
- Define the impact of deliverables for each workshop element.
Define a Slack Vision
As you dive into your client’s business goals and collaboration pain points, you can help them define how Slack can address those needs. This work helps them measure the value that Slack is driving for their business and explain why the move to Slack Enterprise Grid is helpful. By creating a vision and tools to measure and define the value of Slack for your client, you develop a common understanding of why this launch is important for the work that they do. Your client can reference these values throughout their launch, migration, and maturity journey with Slack.
For your clients who have a Slack customer success manager (CSM), it’s quite common for them to work with their CSM on defining how Slack drives value for their organization’s goals. In many cases, you’ll help your client update the work they’ve already started with their CSM, and of course, include the CSM throughout the journey. Make sure their vision for Slack and definition of success for the tool at their organization is still relevant, up-to-date, and complete. In some cases, you’ll need to start from scratch if your client hasn’t begun this work.
Vision Statement
You want to ensure that your client builds a vision statement for Slack. This should be their explanation of “Why Slack?” Having a vision for Slack signals to an organization’s employees that Slack has a real and clear purpose in their workplace and that by using Slack, they help the company achieve its objectives. A vision statement should help the organization’s employees understand the long-term desired end state for the company, and it helps answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”
Asking the client these key questions can help them define their vision statement for Slack.
- How can better collaboration help your business?
- Why will Slack be valuable to your employees?
- Which pain points or inefficiencies can Slack help solve?
Quick Tip:
Check with the CSM to see if there is an existing Slack vision statement for your client. Chances are the Slack Sales team or other specialists already created or started drafting a vision statement with your client.
Success Metrics
Through your discovery conversations with your client, you build an understanding of their business goals. The next step is supporting your client to define how Slack can help them achieve their goals through clear and measurable metrics. With an understanding of their goals, you can suggest some success metrics that they can track to help identify the value that Slack drives for their organization.
Consider the following example as a model.
Goal 1: Improve Collaboration and Cross-functionality Within Teams by Reducing Silos.
In Slack, this might look like reducing the amount of email by using more Slack channels and integrating a Content Resource Management system within Slack.
What to measure:
- Increased capability to align resources
- Internal email usage statistics
How to measure:
- User surveys
- Percent of messages read or sent in public channels
Goal 2: Enable Agile Processes and Workflows.
In Slack, this might look like building one or two global app workflows and implementing global #help and #product-team-channels.
What to measure:
- Decreased time to release new software
- Increased speed to identification and resolution of issues
- Decreased number of meetings for alignment
How to measure:
- User survey
- Percent of messages read/sent in public channels
- App usage
- Time spent in meetings
Goal 3: Create a Single Business-Wide Communication Platform.
In Slack, this might look like a full adoption of the tool by teams across the organization and streamlined onboarding of employees within Slack.
What to measure:
- Decreased time to hire
- Total number of business units on Slack
- Increased employee engagement scores
How to measure:
- User survey
- Slack usage metrics
Experience and Enablement Discovery
To help your client get the most out of Slack, you need to understand their biggest collaboration pain points. These insights help you craft the perfect Slack experience for them! You want visibility into their organization structure, including major functions and how they collaborate with one another. You also want to take into account any organizational or business shifts (for example, mergers and acquisitions) that can impact how employees at the organization work together. Your goal is to collect the necessary information to:
- Design your client’s Slack workspaces and channels for launch.
- Determine who should be involved in managing and updating that design in the future.
- Identify where to communicate about the Slack launch to keep your client’s employees informed.
- Identify potential Slack use cases to recommend to your client based on their existing Slack experience and future goals.
The format of your discovery sessions will vary based on the time allocated and the needs of your client. You can rely on your consulting experience to determine the best format to collect this information from your client and to determine the best format for the resulting deliverables.
Impact on Deliverables
Drawing a clear picture of your client’s current structure and communication state helps you develop key deliverables on a Slack launch project.
Grid Design Workshop
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Definition: A deliverable to define the structure and design of workspaces within an Enterprise Grid organization.
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Relationship to discovery: To recommend the structure of your client’s Slack experience, you first need to understand how communication happens today and in the future, who needs to work together, and if there are any security limitations.
Channel Strategy Session
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Definition: A deliverable, usually run in the format of a workshop or meeting, to recommend an initial channel structure and setup on Slack.
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Relationship to discovery: To recommend an initial channel structure and setup, you first need to know what permissions users will be allowed in Slack and what types of functions will be performed in Slack.
Governance Session, and Policies and Settings Session
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Definition: These deliverables are usually run in the format of a meeting, recommending the roles, responsibilities, and user support model required for purposeful and sustained usage of Slack over time.
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Relationship to discovery: To recommend a Slack governance team to maintain Slack, and suggest admin processes to support end users using Slack. (More about these deliverables in the final unit.)
Communications Plan
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Definition: This plan is a change management best practices deliverable to recommend key communications regarding the launch of Slack within an organization.
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Relationship to discovery: To figure out the best messaging strategy, explore your client’s communication tools and how they're using them.
Example Questions
- What are the major teams and functions within your organization?
- How are they communicating today?
- What frustrations do your employees experience in company-wide communication and collaboration?
- What software does your company use day to day?
- What does success look like for this Slack launch?
Learning Plan, and Learning Materials
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Definition: Learning materials deliverables that help your client reach their business goals with Slack, and the logistics and learning approach to take.
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Relationship to discovery: Your recommendations take into account the training constraints and requirements of your client. (More about these important learning deliverables in the next unit.)
Recap
Fantastic work! You’ve mastered the art of helping your client build a killer vision for their Slack rollout. Plus, you’ve got the skills to create successful, measurable goals for them. And you know how to map out your client’s current state to build key deliverables. Up next, explore why Slack learning and enablement are total game-changers for any organization.