Making Complex Relationships & Opportunities Easily Understood
Situation: GM created GM Envolve, an umbrella brand to unify and consolidate 11 sub-brands with the goal of streamlining their customer’s experience with a single point of contact for all their needs.
My role: In my role as senior service designer, I helped to lay the groundwork for this transformation by working to uncover and communicate insights from more than 70 + stakeholders within 6 business units and the 11 brands. In partnership with a strategy lead, I performed a comprehensive survey and analysis of current customer pain points, strengths, and weaknesses, conducted interviews and co-facilitated in-person and online workshops.
The culmination of this work was the presentation of our findings in an innovative, highly effective, visual storytelling document, which I designed to illustrate the complex web of interactions between multiple contact points at any single GM customer and multiple GM business units.
Outcome: Complex relationships were made easily understood and actionable by various levels of GM leadership, enabling the business to realize efficiencies while improving the customer experience.
understanding the Service Eco-System
This exercise aimed to establish a broader view of the current GM fleet customers as they navigate their electrification journey and the logistics they would have to contend with while migrating their fleet into a mixed fleet of internal combustion vehicles and EV vehicles.
We ran a three-day workshop with all our stakeholders to collect their valuable points of view on who all our customer types are, and the different customer pain points they are aware of. This established a baseline for our journey work, which we would then validate with a set of actual customers.
Understanding the B2B Customer Journey
We reviewed existing work from the different brands being consolidated under the GM Envolve umbrella to understand their level of maturity around the customer experience.
We worked with partner agencies to establish a business-to-business journey spine that would exist across multiple work streams, keeping the nomenclature the same. As readers learn the phases and stages of the customer journey, they can look at any business-to-business map that deals with early stages and immediately get their bearings across the different product portfolios.
The B2B journey is not as linear as retail. Quite often, journey steps are cyclical and overlapping. This set of Journey maps demonstrates the complexity of the B2B journey and their unique relationship with GM.
I created a set of interconnected maps that would tell the individual stories of our cast of characters who worked together within a company to go from discovery to the acquisition of new vehicles. The summary map tells the story of the whole company and shows how different people interact at various points throughout the journey.
Electrification journey summary | the summary page set at the highest level to introduce the different characters, and how they worked together throughout the story.
Fleet, managers, journey | The fleet manager plays one of the largest roles in the company story, overseeing the acquisition of new vehicles, managing the existing fleet, and coordinating with the service manager, sustainability manager, and facilities manager.
Sustainability managers, journey | The sustainability manager is a relatively new role within companies, but they play an essential part in our overall story. They help the company reach its sustainability goals, whether electrifying the fleet or other sustainability initiatives around the company.
Service managers, journey | The Service manager appears only at certain times in our story: in the beginning, when we are trying to understand how electric vehicles will impact the fleet service center, and then again during the valuation phase and during a pilot.
Facilities manager/Infrastructure journey | When a facility needs to support EVs, the manager, and engineer need to assess what impacts, if any, EVs will have on that facility and come up with solutions to support the new fleet, whether it's working with the service manager to support the needs of repairing EVs or reviewing the electrical grid to make sure everything can be supported.
Mapping customers with internal stakeholders
Customer Relationship Landscape | as we were collected our research, I started to map the relationship between customer types and GM involved business units we heard they had talked to in the past.
The Path to the Ideal State
Using the current state journey, we identified overarching opportunity areas from the workshops. We then conducted a prioritization exercise with stakeholders to determine each opportunity's customer value vs. impact on the business.
By defining the ideal state as a collective, we empowered stakeholders to think beyond their silos. This allowed us to zero in on several key opportunity areas and map out at a high level an ideal state journey moving forward.
Electrification, aspirational journey for Discover/Assess/Acquire | Mapping the top 5 opportunity areas on the discover/assess/acquire timeline, along with the primary beneficiaries of these products and services and how each aligns with our guiding principles.
Background
Exploring the Heart of the Company:
We Started by uncovering Insights from 70+ stakeholders from 6 Business Units and 11 Brands.
Introduction:
We conducted interviews with 6 Business Units and 11 Brands. This ambitious endeavor aimed to unravel the intricacies of the work dynamics, camaraderie, and interpersonal connections that form the backbone of our organization. These interviews were conducted across various teams, departments, and backgrounds to unravel the fabric that weaves our company's culture together.
Diverse Perspectives:
Each group emerged as a microcosm of our larger ecosystem, offering unique insights into how individuals operate within their social circles. The interviews covered various topics, from work-related challenges and achievements to personal aspirations and shared values. By examining these conversations, we could delve deep into our colleagues' diverse perspectives and motivations.
Navigating Different Terrains:
Through these interviews, we explored the organizational landscape. As we talked with each group, we discovered the intricacies of their relationships, unraveling the subtle dynamics and roles within. Friend groups emerged as a vital support system, fostering collaboration, encouragement, and shared experiences, thus fortifying the bonds that enable our company to thrive.
Understanding Holistic Well-being:
Beyond professional achievements, the interviews revealed intriguing glimpses into employees' personal lives and passions. Through their stories, we unraveled the tapestry of their individuality, forging a comprehensive understanding of how their personal lives and professional pursuits intertwine. This holistic approach allows us to develop strategies that nurture well-being, ensuring our employees can bring their whole selves to work.
Fostering a Vibrant Culture:
After conducting these interviews, we realized the significant influence of connection on the overall workplace environment. Successful work teams promote effective collaboration and create an atmosphere of inclusivity, engagement, and belonging. With this understanding, we are ready to nurture a dynamic and flourishing culture within GM Envlove.
Conclusion:
Following a series of comprehensive interviews with all our stakeholders, we embarked on a profound journey of discovery. This journey unveiled the intricate tapestry that binds the different business units, forming GM Envolve. By gaining a deep understanding of the diverse perspectives, personal aspirations, and supportive networks within the organization, we are now confidently positioned to cultivate an inclusive environment where each individual can flourish. This transformative experience has significantly heightened our workplace appreciation and will undoubtedly propel us to new levels of innovation and success in the years to come.