Following acquisition by HSBC in 2004 and a period of consolidation, the M&S Money executive team wanted to begin to engage line managers in the future direction of the business and listen to some of the challenges and concerns they have at work.

Approach

HarknessKennett was invited by the Internal Communications Manager to provide support for two key leadership events. The purpose of these events was to update managers on current business performance and plans for the coming year, and to enable participants to review their responses to the Employee Engagement Survey and begin an action-planning process.  The overriding objectives were that people managers at M&S Money should come away from the event feeling reinvigorated, listened to and involved and confident about the future.

Outcomes

Post-event evaluation demonstrated a 30% increase in the understanding of business strategy and belief that the organisation is moving in the right direction.

“We have been delighted with the support and guidance that we have received from HarknessKennett.  We’ve been impressed with the speed with which they came to understand our organisation and business priorities. They delivered every aspect of the work – from planning to facilitation and evaluation – to excellent standards, and provided us with a solid foundation from which to start moving forward.”

Louise Breed
Internal Communications Manager

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With the rapid growth of the business, the need for a fully functional corporate intranet to support delivery of the business strategy became evident.

HarknessKennett was asked by the Internal Communication Manager to design an intranet which met the needs of employees and the leadership team from the start. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to review existing communication channels and think how they might change with the introduction of the intranet.

Approach

Requirements were gathered via interviews with the leadership team and with potential authors across the business areas. Output from the interviews was then tested in interactive workshops with frontline employees.

We developed strategic objectives for the intranet and designed an architecture which reinforced M&S Money’s culture and values. Guidance was provided on roll out and prioritisation, content authorship, development of standards and techniques for ongoing measurement.

Outcomes

Subsequently, HarknessKennett was asked to work with intranet content owners to populate priority pages for the launch.

“Not only have HarknessKennett really inspired us about what's to come, but they’ve added a huge amount of value from the vast experience and knowledge they brought to the project.  Thanks to their approach we're set up with real buy-in from many areas of the business as we move forward with the intranet project.”

Louise Breed
Internal Communications Manager

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