When looking to enhance employee experience (EX), one of the best EX ‘powertools’ to help you find your focus is journey mapping.
As our founder Emma Bridger and Belinda Gannaway put it in their brilliant book, Employee Experience by Design:
“Journey maps serve as a visual representation of an experience from an individual or group’s perspective, making them an invaluable asset for organizations aiming to elevate their employee experience.”
The Essence of a Journey Map
Journey maps aren’t just another business diagram; they provide comprehensive insight into an employee’s experience within your organization. These maps dissect and lay bare the various facets of an employee’s journey, shedding light on critical elements such as:
Steps Taken: These are the actions employees perform, both within and outside the organisation, in pursuit of specific (related) goals.
Touchpoints: Interactions with the organisation, from tools to systems, to process to people – these are the moments that shape an employee’s perception of their experience.
Pain Points: These are the bottlenecks, the hurdles, and the frustrations that hinder a seamless journey.
Moments That Matter: These emotionally charged moments wield a disproportionate influence on the overall experience.
What should I be ‘mapping’?
Anything! You can map the broader employee experience across the employee lifecycle, or you can focus on specific journeys, like returning to work after parental leave, or becoming a first-time manager.
Onboarding journeys are often popular for EX teams getting started with this, as they offer quick wins whilst promoting collaboration among various teams. The act of gathering a diverse group to build or reflect on a journey map can be transformative, shifting the mindset from process-centric to people-centric.
The Art of Journey Mapping
- To begin, identify the steps an employee goes through, exploring what an employee thinks, feels, and does at each point in their journey. For example, if you’re mapping an onboarding experience, you might include things such as; being offered the job, any pre-boarding activity, getting their equipment, meeting their manager, having lunch with the team (etc etc!)
- Data, both quantitative and qualitative, from surveys, observations, interviews, or group discussions, paints the complete picture of the employee’s experience.
- Consider who you might want to involve in this process. Ideally, you want to capture the voice of employees themselves, but it can also be useful to involve other stakeholders who may play a part in the journey. Good EX design cannot be based on assumptions!
- Journey maps can take various forms, from simple diagrams to artistic representations.
Strategic Applications of Journey Maps
Journey maps are versatile tools in the EX design arsenal. They can assist in developing strategic priorities for employee experience in many ways, including:
- Insight Gathering: Journey maps help collate and visualise insights for one or more employee personas, enabling you to pinpoint high and low points in the journey and prioritize improvement activities.
- Comparative Analysis: By comparing the journeys of different personas, geographies, or business units, you can identify inconsistencies and either amplify strengths or address pain points in your employee experience.
- Vision Alignment: Journey maps enable you to visualise the current employee experience (“as is”) and compare it with your desired future state (“to be”). This helps align the employee experience with your organisational vision and Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
In Conclusion: Finding Your Focus
If you find the idea of journey mapping intriguing and want to harness its power for your organisation, we’re here to help. Our expertise in journey mapping and employee experience can guide you towards identifying your EX focus and crafting strategies for improvement.
Alternatively, if you prefer a hands-on approach, consider exploring our online learning community, The EX Space. There, you’ll find a wealth of tools, resources, and training to help you embark on your journey mapping adventure independently.
In the ever-evolving landscape of employee experience, journey mapping is your compass, helping you chart a course towards a more engaging, rewarding, and productive work environment. Embrace it, and watch your EX priorities come into focus.
