We can be more than Microsoft

Imagine you’ve never used Microsoft products before. Too hard? Then, think of your most technophobic relative. For me, it’s my Dad, who used to scream and shout at our Windows 95 PC, “The screen’s gone f*****g black, again!” On starting the machine, before the whirring cloudy background, a little prompt said, “Press F5 to enter MS-DOS mode.” My dad assumed any command required his action, and he’d use his “typing finger” to press F5: cue, black screen.

Microsoft survives despite being a pretty awful product by any standards of intuitive tech. Try aligning things on your average Word template or creating anything approximating the design and formatting functionality in the Sustainability Tactics document (see 👇) I drafted using Canva.

Much risk and compliance content has followed the Microsoft maxim – you need to do it, so suck it up. Employees are expected to sign contracts they don’t understand, attend training irrelevant to them, and complete processes (expenses, approvals, supplier onboarding) that even British bureaucrats might consider “clunky.” When people dare grumble, they’re told it’s “mandatory.”

Contrast this with your average (popular) app or device. You pick it up and go. It’s intuitive. It might even ask some questions about you at the start to customise the experience. With AI, technological developments (microlearning to questionnaire design), and behavioural thinking, all of this is within our grasp.

But it requires upfront work: thinking. Changing a few dates and statistics on the dreaded “Compliance Induction Training” PPT requires little effort. But also has increasingly little utility.

Thanks to your feedback, I’ll start compiling videos, content, and tutorials on the how-bit related to the Venn Diagram below. This will include hard-won engagement, communication, and training lessons (more on the updated web page here).

These lessons weren’t a result of getting it right. I started running training sessions (back in 2003) more at the Microsoft end, lecturing people about terrorist capability and intent. A few anonymous feedback forms later, I realised the problem. I’ll never forget the person who wrote, “I’d rather have attended a funeral.” So, there is hope wherever you’re starting – seasoned engagement guru or newbie. Just imagine your audience is full or your most grumpy and change-phobic relative(s); don’t let them press F5.