Growscope

 

Project Type

Team project - Industry case study

My role

Product concept design, research

Timeline

Dec 2021 - Jan 2022

Tools

Figma, Canva

 

Review

The idea of Growscope Events was proposed by our team of six members for our industry client - Aegon. The main goal of the events is to bring awareness to employees about the importance of self-development and taking ownership. Besides that, the events are also meant to inspire and excite employees by showing them that it is a fun and connecting experience, which can increase motivation from within.

 

problem Discovery


“How can Aegon use innovative media technologies and platforms to empower employees to take ownership of their development and career and perform in a 'VUCA' world?”

Aegon, a Dutch life insurance, pensions and asset management company, states that today’s world is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA). This VUCA world - which is dominated by technologies such as robotics, automation, digital materials and big data - challenges companies to change their way of thinking concerning the management of employees. By adopting innovative media technologies Aegon hopes to inspire and motivate their staff to take ownership of their own development, career and performance.

 

Solution

After a few brainstorming sessions, our team came up with several ideas based on previous research and their own experiences. Eventually, we decided to design an annually Growscope event and set up four booths of activities with a collective goal of inspiring and motivating employees to take ownership of their career.

The goal

  • Inspire and excite Aegon employees.

  • Help Aegon employees define their development goals.

  • Set up a roadmap for employees to work on their goals.

 

The concept of Growscope

Booth - Inspirational Speaker

The speakers aim to inspire and teach about personal development, psychology at work, self-reflection, teamwork, and more. We are not born with motivation, and especially after working for a company for a couple of year it can decrease significantly. Therefore, in order to inspire and motivate Aegon’s employees, multiple inspirational speakers will be invited to speak at Growscope to share their motivations and concepts with the audience.

Booth - AR Filter Ambassador

Users can create an Augmented Reality experience with an Aegon filter and post this on their socials. For instance, employees can take a group picture with the Aegon filter, then post it on their LinkedIn or DFD network. By doing so, existing followers will learn more about the Growscope event and attract the attention of potential new future attendees.



Booth - Growcast Podcast

This podcast will be made throughout the year to discuss different development stories from Aegon employees and experts with tips on how to take ownership of your development and manage your time and interests.


Booth - Digital Friend for Development (DFD)

In order to increase the time for self-development, the Digital Friend for Development (DFD) social platform was developed for employees to work on self-development at any time, at any place.

 
 

Challenges that aegon employees are facing

We sent out a general survey to collect more information about Aegon employees’ work and learning behaviour.  Unfortunately, due to a limitation in the timeframe, we only received a general reply from Aegon. Still, we gained some valuable insights from this response. Here are some insight we found:

  • Current learning tools are not adapted by the employees as they do not focus on employees value and purpose.

  • There is currently no tech-related event to empower its employees to take ownership of their development and career.

  • Aegon employees are in the process of adapting hybrid working, hence, this might impact employees learning mindset.

 

Personas

As the information provided by Aegon states, the targeted employee is 40 years old on average and works in operational departments such as mortgages, life and non-life insurance. According to these given metrics, it was decided to make several visual personas of a potential Aegon employee who is going to use the provided media innovation product:

 

Swot

 
 

reflections

  • This project was the first case in which I worked with a real client. Despite the limited timeframe and resources, my team and I worked our best to develop this inspiring tech event. Our idea received positive feedback from our client overall, however, we were also told that we needed to collect more specific information about the expected budget and the potential number of people involved.

  • The most useful lesson I learned during this project is that good user research is essential. If I could do this project again, I would like to take more responsibility within the team to learn more about our target users, so that we could design this event to better address their specific pain points. However, after conducting the initial market research and receiving a general overview of the challenges that an Aegon employee faces, we made the decision to create an innovative media event to connect the company and its employees.