MICROSOFT
Global Mobility North Star

Microsoft participated in a two-day workshop to set the starting point for change in order to gain insights into the future of Global Mobility (GM) and identify what is needed to become a business advisor and an enabler of talent, helping Microsoft attract, retain, and develop top talent.

Client Engagement Workshop
*Note: A selection of images has been intentionally obscured to protect client confidentiality.

Duration: 7 Weeks (05.2022 - 06.2022)

The Challenge

How do we define and actualize towards our North Star vision in order to identify the value, products, and services we deliver and how to deliver them?

Objectives

  • Gather new team together

  • Share perspectives

  • Encourage collaboration

  • Gain insights

  • Understand GM history to move forward

  • Identify how success looks like

Design Process

The team leveraged EY wavespace models to scope, probe, and comprehend the ask of the client and how to approach it.

Empathy Interviews

We conducted 13 one-on-one empathy interviews with core workshop participants before the workshop to listen to their perspectives, below the waterline sentiments and expectations of the workshop. The interview responses were synthesized and turned into six key insights which were shared during the workshop to allow the participants to react and share their opinions.

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Workshop Agenda

A 2-day workshop agenda with a series of interactive activities was developed based on all the inputs from the client including the interview insights. Throughout the experience, participants were to reconvene why they were gathered and discuss immediate next steps to reach their envisioned North Star.

Production & Workshop Delivery

We leveraged Miro as a collaborative platform for designing workshop templates and allowing participants to be immersive and interactive throughout the session and make better business decisions. Additionally, the navigation theme was applied throughout the workshop production to visually augment the client’s North Star journey.

Day 1

  • Mindset Shift Activity

    The group reflected on what Microsoft Global Mobility meant to them and visualized their thoughts using Lego blocks. They shared how their model reflected the characteristics, attributes, or elements of Global Mobility.

  • Trade Shows & 4 L's

    EY SMRs presented Trade Shows on several topics to quickly transfer knowledge in small groups. Participants documented their feedback in the “4 L’s - Liked, Lacked, Learned, Longed For” template in Miro. After the Trade Shows, the entire group engaged in a discussion of themes, commonalities, and a-ha moments.

  • Headlines of the Future

    Participants were asked to envision a successful future for Global Mobility and write a headline that reflects that. In breakout groups, teams combined common ideas and came up with a Team headline.

  • North Star Vision Statement

    After sharing out team headlines, the whole group combined to create a North Star vision statement that would guide the group through the rest of the experience and ultimately into the next 3-5 years.

  • Value Proposition Framework

    DescriptAs the final activity of Day 1, the whole group worked on creating a value proposition statement by identifying what unique value Global Mobility brings to the organization today and into the future.ion goes here

Day 2

  • Defining Capabilities

    Day 2 began with an activity to acknowledge what capabilities will be necessary to enable the North Star vision in the future, under the categories of People, Process, and Technology. Then participants upvoted their top 3 capabilities per category.

  • Future State Operating Model

    With all the discussions in mind, participants identified foundational elements necessary to ensure a successful operating model, including the top 3 prioritized capabilities from the previous activity.

  • Actions for Achieving the Future

    After the Op Model exercise, participants were asked to identify what the group would need to Learn, Change, and Do to their current operations to fit into the new op model that was designed.

  • Action Planning

    Finally, the group created an action plan that identified what actions to take over the next 1.5 years and beyond.

Wrap-up

Microsoft Global Mobility team concluded the experience on a high note with some wrap-up activities including a Mentimeter polling asking what behaviors will help them achieve their future vision, a gather-around to appreciate and acknowledge each other’s hard work and collaboration, and signing a commitment card to keep the momentum with individual call to actions.

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