CASE STUDY
Johns Hopkins' HopkinsOne Project
PROJECT 3 - News Distribution and Updates
A major part of getting and keeping people on board with the project involved keeping them informed about the project's status. Accomplishing this involved regular news updates disseminated through a variety of vehicles, including articles in the Johns Hopkins staff newsletter.
(Click on image to link to a sample news story.)
PROJECT 1 - Ad Campaign
Stakeholders needed to know that this disruptive project would benefit them in the end. Communicating this message involved an ad campaign that featured various logistical problems that the HopkinsOne project would help solve.
The ad campaign featured common problems across purchasing, supply chain, and other areas along with the promise that, HopkinsOne could solve these problems "online, on time and on target."
(Click on ad to enlarge.)
PROJECT 2 - Momentum Newsletter
An institution-wide newsletter featured many practical examples of the project's benefits. It also acknowledged faculty and staff concerns and addressed various issues featuring supportive messages from every dean across the institution, each with a slightly different perspective depending upon their area of expertise.
A "Learn the Lingo" section helped familiarize faculty and staff with the project's often intimidating, technological nomenclature and a section called "Real People, Real Solutions" featured role models and influencers from throughout the institution and how the new technology would ultimately benefit them.
In this issue, Blue Tiger served as the voice of Johns Hopkins' leadership from across the university and health system.
(Click on Momentum image to enlarge.)
THE SITUATION: Johns Hopkins Institutions, including the university and healthy system, required a major technological upgrade to streamline and integrate various enterprise-wide systems. This major change met resistance from Johns Hopkins faculty and staff due to its $200 million-plus price tag and major disruption of longstanding processes and procedures. Johns Hopkins needed communications help to convince stakeholders that this necessary project would reap benefits in the end. Blue Tiger's principal consultant served as the project's primary communications functional expert, writer and editor while a Johns Hopkins employee.
THE STRATEGY: Obtaining buy-in from Johns Hopkins faculty and staff required a multi-pronged approach using an ad campaign, institution-wide newsletter, informational updates via the staff newsletter and other vehicles, and consistent messaging from Johns Hopkins leadership. For example, the project's newsletter featured a column with supportive messages from every dean across the Johns Hopkins Institutions.
Additionally, the project required communications help for the technology roll-out and to translate some of the project's technical language into helpful language that non-technical people affected by the project could understand.
Resistance to the project eventually died down, the project came to completion, and Johns Hopkins began using the new and improved technology.
