Cultivating an environment where employees are encouraged to try new approaches – where it’s ok to fail – takes time and a concerted effort. That’s why the Product Development team at a global pharmaceutical company developed a program called the “Rethink Development” awards and sent out a call for smart, risk-taking, innovative teams to submit their work.

But instituting the recognition program wasn’t enough. The team needed to share the nominees’ successes and lessons learned with a broader global audience in a concise, yet meaningful way. That’s where Brilliant Ink came in.

We started by diving into the key behaviors nominated employees should embody, e.g., focusing on the right work, collaborating and building networks and so on. Once we began speaking to teams, we quickly discovered they often suffered a series of failures that ultimately led to new, more successful practices.

Knowing this background, we set out to accomplish two things:

• Highlight the behaviors the individuals exhibited just as much as the successful outcome, and
• Condense very complex information into a succinct, compelling story

To accomplish both goals, we developed visual stories that illustrate the challenges the team faced, their actions and what it means for the company as a whole. Even if an employee only glances at the infographic, s/he will see memorable takeaways they can incorporate in their next project or initiative. Since publishing the visual stories on the company’s intranet, they continue to receive hundreds of clicks, comments and likes.