Be honest: when was the last time you read a 50-page strategy document and then started your working day full of enthusiasm? Probably not very often. In the modern workplace, employee motivation is the key competitive factor. But motivation doesn’t come from instructions; it comes from understanding, involvement and a sense of purpose. This is where visual tools such as dialog pictures, mission statements and process graphics come into play. They are the key to translating abstract goals into a language that everyone understands.

The ‘Sense of Purpose’: Why we need to know why we work

Motivation can be broadly divided into extrinsic (e.g. bonuses, salary) and intrinsic factors (e.g. enjoyment of the work, a sense of purpose). Long-term success is almost always based on intrinsic motivation. Employees want to know: “What is my contribution to the bigger picture?”

A corporate mission statement in text form often remains abstract. However, when this mission statement is visualised as a dialog picture, something magical happens: the vision becomes tangible. Employees see themselves in the scenario; they recognise the values in concrete situations. This fosters identification – and identification is the strongest driver of motivation.

Process graphics: clarity creates certainty (and a desire to perform)

Nothing demotivates people faster than unclear responsibilities or complicated processes that nobody can make sense of. Process maps visualise complex workflows in a light-hearted yet precise way:

- Clarity: Employees know exactly where they stand in the process.

- Transparency: Silo mentality is broken down as the interfaces with other departments become visible.

- Appreciation: A well-designed process map shows that every individual’s work is important to the end result.

When obstacles are visualised and discussed together, frustration turns into a drive to shape the process. That is employee engagement in action.

The Power of Participation: From Affected Party to Active Participant

A key aspect of employee motivation is self-efficacy. Dialog pictures are not a one-way medium. In workshops, they serve as a basis for discussion. When employees see their own ideas and challenges reflected in an image, or when they are involved in the process of creating the image, they feel that they are being taken seriously.

Note: People support what they have helped to create. A visual mission statement that is ‘discovered’ collectively is far more readily accepted than a strategy imposed from above.

Conclusion: Motivation is a matter of communication

Boosting employee motivation means reducing complexity and stirring emotions. Dialog pictures, mission statements and process diagrams are not mere decoration for the corridor – they are highly effective management tools. They make strategy open to discussion and visions achievable.

Would you also like to unleash the energy in your team?

Let’s work together to find out how we can visualise your company’s key issues to inspire your employees in the long term. Contact us for a no-obligation initial consultation!

OUR CULTOUR CHANGE

AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland - The health insurance company is the largest health insurance company in the two federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, with over 1. 2 million insured persons and 85,000 supervised employers as well as around 3,500 employees. The health insurance fund maintains business relationships with more than 100 hospitals, 10,000 doctors, psychotherapists and dentists, around 1,300 pharmacies and many hundreds of other contract partners. It offers high-quality care for the population and tailor-made concepts in the regions. For this, modern, future-oriented structures are also essential in the corporate culture.

In the framework of the"Together on CulTOUR" programme, develops a vision of the future and principles for leadership and cooperation. The existing brand mission statement of the AOK-community was adapted.

The aim of the dialog picture is to communicate the developed products, to permanently anchor them and thus to create a successive "KulTOURwandel" which will prepare the AOK Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland for the future challenges of the health and nursing insurance market.

With the help of the dialog picture, the complex contents have been depicted and brought into an overall context. This ensures a common understanding of the new. A further advantage is that all employees deal with the topics not only on the rational, but also on the emotional level, and the dialog picture provides space for constructive discussions and a valuable exchange of experiences or opinions.

THESE BENEFITS ARE OFFERED BY PLUSCARD AS AN EMPLOYER

Since the card business has been growing organically for many years, the questions for further services from PLUSCARD are also increasing. Furthermore, more and more transactions have to be processed and numerous legal regulations from the banking industry have to be implemented. This creates an ever-increasing need for new employees from various commercial and IT professions.

For PLUSCARD, the "Attractive Employer" image is already the second implementation with DIALOGBILD. The goal is to show and explain the advantages PLUSCARD offers as an employer in a new, exciting way. We use the full-size dialog picture at our applicant days. We also use smaller formats at trade fairs and are happy to give the picture away as a postcard.

he collaboration with DIALOGBILD was impeccable. We had a large pool of ideas that we wanted to implement. In condensing the brand attributes, our own agency WIE AM SCHNÜRCHEN worked with DIALOGBILD to identify the appropriate focal points, so that we only had to select and refine the ideas that suited us in HR development.

The roll-out was exemplary for PLUSCARD as an employer. The picture was initially displayed internally and only for employees to see. Our favorite question was: Do you recognize yourself or a colleague in the picture? We received the funniest answers and really "discovered" a lot of colleagues in the dialog picture. A lot of fun for everyone in the end. So word also got around quickly about what there was to see.

DECIDE. DO. WIN.

Chiesi is dedicated to the research, development and distribution of innovative prescription therapeutic products in the fields of respiratory, neonatology, transplantation and rare diseases. Founded in 1935, the company currently employs more than 4,800 people in 26 subsidiaries worldwide and sells its products in more than 70 countries. More than 300 of their Hamburg employees work in internal and external sales.

The project "Chiesi - being an attractive employer" covers a multitude of topics in the area of human resources. An internal employee survey has shown that the offers of the HR management were not recognizable for everyone.
The department has grown immensely over the past two years and has become more complex. Therefore, it’s a good time to make HR's offer easy to understand for everyone.

ALL TOGETHER AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS

Aperam is a global stainless steel, electrical steel and special steel company with customers in over 40 countries. In addition to its industrial network, which is spread across six production sites in Brazil, Belgium and France, Aperam has a highly integrated distribution, processing and service network, as well as the unique ability to produce stainless steels and special steels from low-cost biomass. Aperam employs around 9,600 people worldwide and is headquartered in Luxembourg.

Aperam takes the fight against the corona virus very seriously. In all Aperam offices around the world, numerous measures have been taken to protect all the people who work at the various locations. Despite these measures, there is always a risk of contamination outside the plants. That is why it is important that every employee applies the basic hygiene rules for coronavirus prevention outside of work, in his or her private life.

Sometimes it is difficult to make children understand and aware of the precautions. In order to support Aperam employees in this task, Aperam has prepared a range of tools specifically for families, with the aim of making the basic concepts of disease prevention easier to understand through simple and playful presentation. Part of it is this comic, which has been developed in two versions: one colored and one black-and-white, with the aim of giving children the opportunity to combine learning these rules with the joy of colouring the comic. The story was translated into 10 languages and distributed worldwide.