Case Study: Creation of a corporate identity concept of a spatial distributed ministerial organization

Initial Position: Creation of a corporate identity concept

The Foundation “Gustav-Werner-Stiftung zum Bruderhaus” represents a 160-year-old ministerial organization that is engaged in social welfare work for young people, disabled, elderly or unemployed persons as well as social psychiatry. A corporate identity for the organization had to be developed in order to promote its own principles more efficiently. Two attempts to develop an image of the organization were unsuccessful. Therefore, opinions on another venture remained sceptical.

Project design: Structure for a high degree of participation

In order to provide all participants and interest groups of this more or less open system with the possibility to identify with the future corporate identity, I gave priority to (opportunities for involvement and discussion. A control group with a project leader as well as a strict schedule for the one-year period of the project helped to bring together this broad discussion within the organization, so that in spite of intensive discussion, a result-oriented dynamic was created. The joint project contained four phases: (1) After an initial phase of preparation (2), there was a kick-off event (3), followed by a working-out/elaboration phase (4), which resulted in the creation and implementation of a corporate identity concept. The details of this procedure are described in the following report of the project leader.

The path to a corporate identity: A conversation with many participants

by Dorothee Schad, Project Leader and Personnell Manager of Gustav-Werner-Stiftung

Preparation: Optimum representation and effective control

All four departments, and the central services, each appointed a representative for the new central control group. In order to reach optimum representation criteria, like position, profession, age, duration of employment and sex, were applied within this process. I was in charge of the internal project management. Parallel to the representatives of each department, further “arbitrators” were entrusted with the supervision of creating a corporate identity. They were intermediary agents between the central control group and departments that were responsible for collecting feedback from their respective departments. With the means of these structures a high involvement of employees on all levels was achieved.

Kick-off event: a „future conference“

The official start of the project was initiated with a “future conference”, at which a total of 81 internal and external persons from different interest groups participated. Employees of the foundation and disabled people were invited, as well as partners from the public administration, churches and businesses. The project became well known as the “future conference” and gave the possibility to debate questions like the following: Where do we come from? What is coming in the future? Where is our organization right now? What are we proud of? What do we regret? What are our organizational goals? At the end, popular ideas became a focus of the conference. Apart from the newly shaped community feeling, the main result, which was based on a consent-oriented approach, was the collection of subjects and concerns, which were used as a basis to develop a corporate identity concept. Thus, the control group had a collection of shared formulations at hand to start with.

Elaboration of the concept:

Based on detailed discussions the central control group worked out a first draft in its regular meetings at different foundation locations. Two feedback rounds in which draft versions (of the corporate identity concept) were distributed among all departments, as well as the institutionalization of intermediary agents in the process, helped to carry the ongoing discussions to all levels, including leadership, employees and clients. It was frequently appreciated that thereby an exchange about how one was seeing one’s own work became part of the daily routine. The communication between colleagues about issues beyond their daily work, which nevertheless have an impact on the work itself, was an unintended, but essential outcome result of this process.
In addition, the employees’ representation, the conference of departments and head of departments took a close look at the first draft. External participants of the “future conference” and of the foundation committee learnt of the first draft of the corporate identity concept on the annual meeting. Thus, the central control group profited from constructive feedback.

Result: Declaration of a commonly shared text on the corporate identity after one year

One year after the process had been initiated, a third and final version was submitted to the board of the foundation. The central control group was now in charge of making suggestions for the realization of the corporate identity concept in the daily routine. Further on, all employees, clients, and all interested people received the corporate identity concept in addition to a letter from the director of the board, which reflected the result of this conversational process which had been jointly carried out during the last year.

Going on this path during this last year was only a beginning. Now, the corporate identity concept has to be integrated into daily life.

For the short version of the corporate identity concept see: http://www.gustav-werner-stiftung.de/ueberuns/leitbild.php. ( German only). The whole brochure can be downloaded at: http://www.gustav-werner-stiftung.de/ueberuns/leitbild3.php.

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