Facilitated Workshops Kick-Start Association Website Redesign
The Challenge
Our client had been through a failed website redesign with another company. They wanted to redo their website again, but they were wary of vendors. They were also wary of each other, because the website redesign project had strained the trust among departments.
The organization needed to learn to collaborate across departments, and make a case to the board of directors to fund another website redesign project, closely on the heels of the last one.
Our client hired Olkin Communications Consulting to facilitate a creative retreat and get the team communicating effectively, working together productively, and to kick-start a new website redesign project with early plans and an argument for the board of directors to fund the project.
Our challenge was to unite the team and get them to collaborate effectively. Every department leader and other key stakeholders wanted to be involved in the new website project, to ensure their departments’ and audiences’ needs would be met this time. That meant a lot of cooks in the kitchen. Also, the departmental stakeholders were used to working in silos and didn’t know how to collaborate. It was going to be hard for the group to reach consensus and make decisions.
Our Work
We reviewed the existing website and project documentation to understand why the design process and outcomes had failed. We conducted survey research internally, with staff and leadership, to determine goals, priorities, and where the first project went wrong. We also conducted research externally, with site audiences, to understand their needs and preferences.
We then planned and led a three-day, in-person retreat to present our research findings and lead the executive team and other departmental stakeholders through a series of planning workshops aimed at getting them ready for the redesign. To gain buy in from the departmental stakeholders, we tapped each department to co-lead one of the collaborative sessions in the retreat, giving them ownership of the process.
Outcomes
The large group worked iteratively on a high-level site structure and functional requirements for the new website–all balancing internal goals and end-user goals, as determined through our research. The results of these collaborative exercises would form the basis of the RFP for a new website redesign, a request to the board of directors for funding, and artifacts to test with actual site users.
Because all the collaborative work was tied back to the organization’s goals, strategies, and what we knew about the website audiences, we were able to keep the planning work on track strategically and instill user-centered values in each department within the organization–values that had far-reaching implications for their work, beyond the website redesign project.
By the end of the retreat, we had what we needed to start formally planning the new website and put out an RFP for a new design and technical vendor to create it. The leadership team felt good about working together successfully and accomplishing a lot in a short time. And, we got a standing ovation for our work leading the workshop.
We helped write a case for funding from the board of directors and were successful in getting the project funded. We wrote the RFP and provided an objective process for selecting the new technology vendor and content management platform. When our client selected a redesign vendor, we handed off artifacts from the staff retreat to the incoming design and development firm, who used our project documentation as the basis for a successful new website.
(Image below: An artifact from one of the collaborative exercises—sticky note wireframing to establish what content the staff thought should be shown on important page types in the website. These early concepts were later refined and tested with actual site users.)
