Pull vs. Push: Creating an Environment of Initiative Success

Companies naturally accumulate information as they grow, kind of like a snowball rolling down a mountain. 

Information gathers on processes, guidelines, best practices, new initiatives. You name it, and there’s probably a cache of documents that outlines how everyone is supposed to go about doing it. Usually, these documents—often numbering in the thousands—live in some centralized location. It could be a Box account or a company intranet. 

If your company has something similar, ask yourself, when did you last access it? 

Seriously, when was the last time you referenced the thousands of documents that have been painstakingly created and stored for you, and other employees, to use?

If you’re feeling a little sheepish right now, as you glance at the company intranet bookmark you haven’t clicked on in months, you’re not alone. Most companies spend enormous amounts of energy creating databases, and most employees basically ignore them. You likely got access to the resources during an onboarding process, of which 55% of organizations don’t measure success rates. Inability to follow up on how people engage with resources hampers engagement and prevents room for improvement. Gallup found that 70% of a team's engagement is influenced by managers, yet 42% of leaders struggle with unclear expectations and competing priorities. This uncertainty is often created by a lack of direction and the right tools to do their jobs properly.   

The problem often comes down to how employees are expected to engage with information. Some companies push information onto their employees, while others help people pull it for themselves. 

The difference between the two environments is night and day.

Many companies invest too much money and time into pushing information to employees.

The “push” method doesn’t work when it comes to getting people to look at information you want them to. But why?

The answer is human nature, really. Most people are focused on doing their jobs while at work. Anything that seems extraneous to what they need to get done today tends to get put off until tomorrow. And tomorrow, as we all know, is often never. 

Let me give you an example I’ve seen happen over and over:

The Acme Company wants to roll out a new initiative. So, the CEO stands up in front of everyone and talks for 45 minutes about all the wonderful things that will happen in the coming year. “By Q2, we will hit metric X. By Q3, we will hit metric Y. It’s gonna be great. Oh, and by the way, all the information you need will be shared with you by your manager and on our drive. So make sure you revisit that each quarter to stay up-to-date with the new initiative.”

What are the odds that all (or even some) of the employees at Company X are going to log into their Box account each quarter, find the info that’s pertinent to them, read it thoroughly, and then make changes in their day-to-day? Close to zero.
This is a classic “push” problem. 

A huge amount of information is dumped on employees, and leadership expects it will organically disseminate throughout the team. It’s an irrational expectation, but one that a lot of companies have. 

What actually happens is the documents gather digital dust—and no one can seem to figure out why the initiative is flopping. 

Instead, leaders have to work to develop a “pull” mindset within the company.

Pulling information is the opposite, more effective method. 

It implies agency on the person getting the information. They’re actively seeking out and pulling information from its repository. 

Getting to the point where employees are pulling information isn’t incredibly difficult. It just takes a change in the way companies present and use their reference materials.

Take the example of the CEO kickstarting an initiative. Instead of dropping all the information at once, managers can break it down into reasonable portions and emphasize each portion on a weekly basis. Each week, teams can engage with different aspects of the initiative, and managers are responsible for making sure everyone understands how these aspects affect everyone’s roles. Revisiting information is also an important aspect. 

Creating relevant content is critical for employees to stay engaged throughout an initiative. When people understand why the reference materials matter and how to apply them, they’re more likely to engage with the platform and interact with reference materials. For instance, managers can demonstrate how to pull the reference materials related to the initiative and how to use them, so employees understand their context and when they’ll be useful in the future. 

Not only will employees use the information at the start of an initiative, but they’ll come back to pull information as the initiative progresses to inform their work. It’s all about creating the right context for employees as they execute initiatives. 

Note: This doesn’t mean simply sending out an email that says, “Use this link to read about the initiative.” That’s still a passive push, and it leads to the same poor results as an information dump. 

When employees pull information themselves, companies have a better chance of executing initiatives.

The goal is to create an environment where employees ask for the information they need. Their first thought is to pull information that may be relevant to them.

When we help companies execute their initiatives using the MindStrength Initiative Platform and a dynamic company-wide reference library, we also ensure they can measure which reference materials are used most often and how many people are actually using them. And when our clients follow the steps to engage employees and help them pull information, we’ve found that over 60% (and growing) of users come back to pull info from MindStrength. That’s quite an increase in engagement, and it’s because the context is relevant to employees.  

The benefits of this mindset are exponential for an organization. 

For one thing, it opens up processes to change and improve. When employees engage with the documented process for accomplishing a task or working on an initiative, it creates a dialogue. They’ll begin to ask questions about the processes and consider how they might be improved.

It also gives an organization more confidence in a team’s ability to execute a new initiative. If you know your employees will seek out and use resources at the right time, then you know your company has what it takes to be proactive and successful. 

After all, when was the last time you logged in to your company’s resource center?

Akhil Kohli is the CEO and founder of MindStrength, the preeminent initiative execution platform for Fortune 500 and mid-size companies. MindStrength's Initiative Platform enables companies to execute against strategic initiatives at scale and with accountability at all levels of the organization.