Remote, deskless and hard to reach_NRS.pdf

6500 students, 600 staff, 8 years to keep people engaged as a new building rose from the ground up. How the LCF communications team ran our LCF Move campaign.

1. Remote, deskless and hard to
reach: how to engage the
disengaged
Naomi Richmond-Swift
1

2. A brief guide
to this template
Delete following examples before use | May 2020

3. The Scenario
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛In 2023 LCF moved its 6,500 students and 550 staff
from six sites across London to a new purpose-built site
on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
⬛We announced the move in 2014 (small flurry of
external comms interest) but were asked to keep staff
and students engaged from then on, particularly with
need-to-know information
⬛A key balance was the timings –how to keep people
engaged far enough in advance but near enough so
they didn’t switch off, especially when there were
inevitable delays
3LCF at East Bank

4. Aerial Photography of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Photograph: Jason Hawkes

5. The Problem
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛LCF was across six sites, all very different with
different cultures and operations
⬛Many of the sites were for teaching making, so
staff were not at computers
⬛We have a high number of Hourly Paid Lecturers
(HPLs) who come in to teach and then leave
⬛The timing for student engagement was key so
as not to disengage those who would have
graduated before they were able to enjoy the
new building
5LCF at East Bank

6. The Problem
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛Our engagement with online communications was
good, but we tended to see the same groups of staff
engaging
⬛We used email analytics and calls to action to test
who was disengaged –who never clicked links, who
never booked the all-staff party
⬛The main groups were those who were deskless
such as front of house staff, technicians, and the
Hourly Paid Lecturer community
6LCF at East Bank

7. ⬛We repurposed a role to create an Internal Communities Manager –this was an engagement role
but within the comms team. Her role was to work with groups of staff who showed low engagement,
going to where they are such as their meetings (either physically or virtually) and to be the link with
HR for key engagement and information sharing such as staff surveys.
⬛We mapped out disengaged audience groups then ran a circles of influence exercise –who were
our allies, influencers, and who had never engaged with us. We did quite a lot of social listening to
see who was saying incorrect or negative things about LCF or the move.
⬛We had to create communications and engagement plans/timelines really for each group as they
had different needs, with a whole separate plan for students.
The Solution
7LCF at East Bank

8. Circles of Influence
8
Target: disengaged/disgruntled
groups
Allies and influencers: who can
help us reach the disengaged?
Engaged groups and those
we know well

9. Technicians
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛Our allies/influencers here were the technical
managers, who we spent a lot of time with. Everyone is
busy so it was a lot of catching them in the studios or
buying lunch. Time investment heavy but a key group.
⬛We researched all the data we could on our technical
staff, including staff survey data which showed they
scored lower than other departments in ‘our work is
valued.’
⬛We also knew that these groups were not desk based,
so any content had to be short and engaging, they
didn’t have time to read long email texts while with
students
9LCF at East Bank

10. Lifeblood
10

11. Line Managers
⬛We couldn’t be everywhere all at once so we
singled out the cascade channel and ran some
manager-specific activities to help managers feel
confident about the benefits of the move
⬛We developed toolkits for all line managers then
ferociously referred to these in all staff channels
–on our intranet, in meetings, using our
leadership, on posters, even in appraisal
documents
11
Yao Wang, MA Fashion Photography

12. HR and IT
⬛We used the opportunity of the legal requirement
to write to all staff (including Hourly Paid
Lecturers) about our official change of location to
include a top-five ‘things you need to know’
about the move, with key messages to tell
students too.
⬛We worked with IT to change the intranet login
page (which appears when any staff member
logs into the network) to this top five
12

13. Champions
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛We created a network of ‘move champions’ from different job
families to help us share information about the move
⬛This was incentivised with a choice of partner
discounts/freebies such as a month’s gym pass
⬛The champions were particularly strong at helping us
understand that staff felt attached to their current sites and
wanted to ensure they had chance to say goodbye. We ran a
number of small events on those sites, and for remote staff
there was an online archive project ‘Love letters to the
buildings.’ Staff could also vote on objects we took to the new
site, such as buttons which we embedded in the floor
13LCF at East Bank

14. Fun
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛…can be seen as a dirty word, but we knew people were on the grief section of the change curve –
saying goodbye to our old sites and heading into the big unknown
⬛We arranged a series of quite silly local events that staff couldn’t help but walk past. For example ‘Don’t
Leaf Us Behind’ where all the plants from the offices were put in reception and staff could take any they
wanted home
⬛We did an online challenge where people made a film and nominated someone else. Tough to organise
(we ensured we had 10 allies lined up to start us off) but it connected those who worked remotely
⬛We also had a raffle for the wall pictures that weren’t coming with us –called by our Head of College. His
personable and informal leadership ‘getting stuck in’ really helped us
14LCF at East Bank

16. Students
Remote, deskless and hard to reach
⬛Messaging had to be careful not to highlight the fact that we were
moving because many of our current sites were no longer fit for
purpose
⬛We concentrated on the alumni benefits of the new building eg
library and archive access
⬛We secured East Bank partner benefits for the now, such as joint-
funded PhDs with V&A and Sadler’s Wells
⬛We invested in supporting creative businesses in East London so
that graduates could access a robust careers network
16LCF at East Bank

17. 17

18. Communication updates: students
Student FAQs
Signposted to students via LCF’s move webpage, digital
screens and YOUR.LCF newsletter
18

19. Student Engagement Plan for Stratford 2022 -2024
Get answers to your questions on LCF's Move
Student Forum
Our new home in Stratford is more than just a new building and
whether you'll be moving with us or graduating this summer,
LCF's new campus will bring benefits such as showcasing your
work, providing spaces for us to come together, opportunities
with our neighbours on the park and much more. We know you
lead busy lives and getting information to you can be challenging
amongstall the emails and communications, so we've set up a
forum where you can ask us anything, anytime about LCF's
move.
19
Scan to join on Yammeror
searchbit.ly/LCFMOVESF

20. Chief Repetition Officer
20

21. Communication updates
LCF Moves East: Canvas area updates
Stratford Transition Forum: Communications updates21

22. Communication updates
LCF Moves East: Canvas area updates
Stratford Transition Forum: Communications updates22
New Stratford Glossary of
terms relating to LCF's move to
Stratford.

23. Communication updates
Recent LCF Stories
23

24. Communication updates
Recent LCF Stories
24STEG 17/01/23: Communications updates

25. 25LCF moves East

26. Communication updates
YOUR.LCF: our move edition, staff newsletter
December 2022 edition:
▪656 recipients
▪39.48% open date (up)
▪18.9% click through (up)
Next issue, end of January /
early February 2023
These newsletters are also
added to Canvas as a
‘blog/news post’ for all UAL staff
to access and signposted in The
Big Picture (all UAL staff
newsletter). 39 views / 22
users
26 STEG 17/01/23: Communications updates

27. Building takeovers
27
For those not on emails, we had to go to
where they were, so we took over
gallery and reception spaces we knew
they would walk past. Big impact
spaces such as whole-wall murals on
staircases, and iPads and paper
comments boxes for questions

28. In Summary:
⬛Cascade -circles of influence with toolkits
⬛Help people see themselves –word of mouth
⬛Timing
⬛Location
⬛Fun
⬛Chief Repetition Officer
28

29. arts.ac.uk
Loredana D’Andrea
Events Manager
[email protected]
Thank you