Research Spotlight: Using Interactive Video to Enhance Onboarding and Engagement: Allianz Global Investors

The eLearning Guild’s latest Guild Insights case study describes how theL&D team at Allianz Global Investors is confronting a perfect storm ofchallenges facing the financial services and banking industry by usinginteractive video to create world-class recruitment and onboarding and toenhance employee engagement.

AllianzGIis a diversified investment management firm with 25 offices in 18 countries. The firmprovides global investment, research, and delivery of localized consultingservices. As of March 31, 2016, AllianzGI had $495 billion in combined assetsunder management for individuals, families, and institutions worldwide, and employedmore than 550 investment professionals—including portfolio managers, whoon average have more than a decade of experience with the firm.

Rough times for thefinancial sector

It is no secret that employers within the global financialservices and banking sectors have endured tough times during the past decade.Among other impacts of the downturn, employers are facing serious issues withlow morale, high turnover, and an increasing number of job candidates who nolonger view the sector as a desirable career choice. Perhaps the Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2014expresses it best:

“It has been more than six years since the collapse of LehmanBrothers, which brought the financial system to its knees and forced the bigbanks in the US and Europe to turn to their governments for help. Managementhas been focused on ‘fixing the bank’ and on meeting regulatory demands, suchas rebuilding capital. Attention is now turning to talent. The task of the banking sector has not been made any easier byscandals and fines, often for historical misdeeds, that continue to trouble it.”

Competition forbanking and investment talent

Lookingspecifically at talent in banking andthe financial services sector, findings from the Deloitte survey also reveal sobering factsabout the state of recruitment, retention, and employee engagement in thissector:

The survey finds that banking is no longer thenumber-one career choice for business school graduates—the FMCG (fast-movingconsumer goods) business sector has taken over the top spot.
Work-life balance remains important to businessgraduates, “but job security is becoming increasingly desirable,” the surveyreports. For students evaluating potential employers, “professional trainingand development” tops the list of most attractive employer attributes.
The survey also reveals: “The banking sector wasviewed by business students as lesslikely than the average employer to offer ‘secure employment,’ ‘a friendlywork environment,’ and ‘flexible working conditions.’” (Emphasis added.)

It is clear that learning and development (L&D) and humanresources (HR) practitioners who work within the banking and financial servicessectors have their work cut out for them today and in the decade to come. Thefollowing observation from Tony White, AllianzGI’s headof L&D and talent management, appropriately sets the stage for ourcase study:

“Today’s financial services sector is not seen as innovative.‘Banker bashing,’ the 2008 financial crisis, and a number of other challengeshave all left the financial industry with a tarnished reputation. It is moreimportant now than ever that we elevate the standards and ethics that underpinwhat we do and how our businesses work.”

Facing the people challenges

White and Gözde Imamoglu Vandevoorde, assistantvice president for L&D, identified a number of people challenges facing theirteam:

Recruitingnew talent. Just as attracting talent to the larger financial servicesindustry is an uphill climb, recruiting is also a substantial challenge forAllianzGI. Similar to other industry firms, AllianzGI is working to dispel widespreadnegative impressions of banking and financial services.
Broadeningthe talent pool. Everyone competes for high-potential talent, and theAllianzGI team is working to broaden its talent pool by showing qualifiedpeople—from both inside and outside the financial sector—that their skills areapplicable to the company’s culture, goals, and service delivery capabilities.As White puts it:

“The best way to accomplish that goal is to tell astory. Show that our work environment is fun, exciting, and innovative. [Directlyconfront] industry stereotypes that need to be overcome. And not just forrecruitment, but also [for] brand awareness, [promoting our] valuepropositions. [We need to tell the story and explain that] there’s a lot moreto what we do than first meets the eye.”

AddressingMillennial challenges and the generation gap. The AllianzGI teamspecifically wanted to use learning approaches and video technologies thatwould appeal to younger Millennial recruits. In so doing, the team also wantedto appeal to current employees who would find video learning approaches fun andengaging. White goes on to note:

“The tools and techniques that we used for attractingnew hires and appealing to current employees were based in the past, ratherthan current day. Using interactive video enabled us to appeal to the Millennialgeneration and also show our current employees that we are up to date withtechnology and open to innovation.”

Astrong foundation, culture, and philosophy

AllianzGI has astrong and diverse culture, and it persistently strives to communicate andtransfer the key elements of its culture to new hires as well as current employees. These elements include thevalues of excellence, integrity, passion, and respect. The firm’s culturalfoundations and organizational philosophy are sustained and embodied in thephrase “Understand. Act.”

A featured video on the company’s career website echoes its corporate philosophy:

“At Allianz GlobalInvestors, we follow a two-word philosophy: ‘Understand. Act.’ This is aspowerful as it is succinct. It describes how we look at the world and how webehave. It signals our belief that with so much information available, the bestway to gain an advantage is through understanding. To this, we add a commitmentto taking action that capitalizes on potential and drives performance.”

Looking at AllianzGI’sapproach to interactive video, one can quickly see the critical role thatorganizational culture and company philosophy play in learning design and videodevelopment.

Learning metaphor: “A day in the life”

Within the video product itself—Welcome to the Investment Factor—theprimary learning metaphor used to tell the story was that of “a day in the lifeof a portfolio manager,” where the viewer travels through the video and meetsother characters along the way. The team felt that the role of portfoliomanager (PM) was one that almost everyone—applicants, recruits, and currentemployees—would identify with. Using the PM role enabled the AllianzGI team to bettertell the story in more understandable fashion. Viewers can choose between twopaths and then be guided through the ensuing interactive journey by a helpful“onboarding buddy” (Figure 1).

Figure 1: “Onboardingbuddy”

Source: Allianz Global Investors, 2016

Partnership approach

AllianzGI partnered with two design andtechnology firms to design, create, and deploy its interactive video content.

The first of these partners was Casual Films, acreative design and video production company that focuses on helping clientscreate high-performance cultures and enhance recruitment and employeedevelopment. Founded in 2006, Casual Films uses a core team, split betweenLondon and New York, to design interactive videos including fully interactive“choose your own adventure” films. Casual Films has created award-winning recruitment videos,and several of its films have been entered into the British Film InstituteNational Archive.

The second partnerwas Boulder, Colorado-based Rapt Media. Founded in 2011, Rapt Media provides a cloud-based, interactive storytelling technology that combines personalized narrative with data integration. Youcan use its HTML5 mobile-native video platform to navigate a large number ofindividual videos. The website CrunchBase notes that RaptMedia “also offers solutions in the areas of creative services, branching, linkouts, site pairing, and strategy aspects. The videos are available on browsers,tablets, and handheld devices.”

The AllianzGI teamand its two partners used the following division of labor to accomplish theirproject objectives:

The AllianzGI team created paper-based designs for learningcontent and navigation paths, and also provided project leadership andcoordination for all aspects of the partnering initiative.
Casual Films designed the user experience (in conjunction andcollaboration with AllianzGI), shot and produced the content, and built theproject on the Rapt Media platform.
Using theRapt Media Composer, a cloud-basedcreative tool and editing suite, Rapt Media ensured the functionality of thegame-based scoring component through custom development and implementation.

Lessonslearned

Whiteand Vandevoorde identified a number of lessons that they and their team learnedfrom this experience:

Allowsufficient time to find the right partners. This process was morecomplicated, and a steeper learning curve, than the team had originallyanticipated. They had to find partners who had the industry knowledge andtechnical expertise to help them create scenarios that were both realistic to currentemployees and understandable to external recruits.
Invite the partners to visit yourorganization.Let them spend a day with you in order for them to learn a bit more about theorganization and experience the company culture. After they have met withpeople in your organization and better understand the cultural setting, havethe partner(s) select the actors. (More on this to follow.)
Plan fora substantial editing effort. The amount of editing that was required onthe decision trees, scripts, and individual scenarios was more than originallyanticipated. The team faced the frustrating challenge of thinking their productwas finished, only to find that it still required numerous last-minute tweaks. Involve more stakeholders earlier in thedesign process to speed up and reduce editing efforts later on.
Plan fora global audience. Simplify and focus the language you use in yourvideo script. Avoid using idioms (language that is specific to one community,geographic, or cultural setting), because your video may also be viewed by aglobal audience.
Build amarketing plan. Develop a written marketing and distribution plan thatdescribes how future interactive video rollouts will continually amplify andkeep each product moving. Take responsibility for identifying and acquiringviewers, and remember this warning: “Just because you build it, it doesn’t meanthat they will come.” Create a detailed plan that defines and describes thefollowing:
- Howyou will distribute and promote your video.
- Thespecific “choice points” that you will use. (Note: According to Creative Company, a “choice point” describes “where andhow your target audiences take action to move forward” in a purchasingtransaction, information discovery, or learning process—for example, a pointwhen the viewer can choose to “inquire, refer, call, join, download, clickthrough, sign up, or buy.”)
- Thespecific audience(s) that you are targeting.
- Thespecific purposes or outcomes you intend to achieve (e.g., drive onboarding,appeal to Millennials, or engage current employees).
- Togetherwith choice points, additional elements of the video that will drive viewer“conversion behavior” and incentivize the viewer to take action. (Note: This widelyused technique to increase conversion rates is called “behavioral targeting.”)
Beprepared to work with media professionals. One of the team’s challenges wasthat team members were L&D professionals, working in a corporate world, whohad not been exposed to actors and “creative types.” White observes:

“It was fun reviewing audition tapes andchoosing actors. But we weren’t casting professionals. Several times, weselected an individual who auditioned well but ultimately didn’t work out forthe actual video. This created the need for additional time and effort inreshooting that segment. Next time, we might invite media productionprofessionals from within our own company to help us. [But, as we learned,] youcan only do the best you can do at the time.”

Useactors, not employees, for your video. Don’t use executives or internalemployees in your video for explaining corporate philosophy and values; keeplongevity of the video foremost. For example, viewers could be confused ifsomeone appeared in the video who had since left the company.
Make sureyou clearly understand the contract. Ensure that your team and learningleaders fully understand all of the technical terms within all partnercontracts. Work with partners to clarify and simplify contract language.

Results

AllianzGI’s interactive video solution hasproven highly successful in its appeal to the firm’s recruits, new hires, andcurrent employees of the firm. Furthermore, the interactive videosolution has fully delivered on the business case that AllianzGI learningleaders had made to company executives. White explains:“The business trusted me that this [interactive video] was the rightthing to do. We operated within our overall investment philosophy [by asking]:‘Why should I invest in your product?’ Why would it be any different [forlearning initiatives originating] in L&D?”

Lookingahead

The AllianzGI team and learning leaders arefocusing on a number of changes and activities as they build on their currentsuccess and work to make future interactive learning videos even moresuccessful.

For example, learning leaders want toinvolve a wider group of employees in content creation. This means enabling AllianzGIemployees to create videos that solve their own problems. White calls this “learningat the point of need.” These employee-produced videos can be linear; they don’tneed to be interactive.

In addition, the AllianzGI team plans tobetter define what they call their “learning journey.” This includes answeringquestions such as: “How do we use other mediums, such as augmented reality?”and “How do we better use gamified-learning concepts?”