Pilot Planner
Plan a successful 90-day Clover ERA pilot for your client
Define what success looks like before you begin.
Guidance: Start small and specific. A pilot with 3-5 teams and one clear objective always outperforms a broad rollout with vague goals. The best pilots answer one question: "Is this worth scaling?"
Choose the right teams to prove the value of ERA.
Guidance: Ideal pilot teams have a willing manager, a known challenge (turnover, low morale, recent change), and 5-15 members. Avoid teams where the manager is sceptical — you want to prove the tool works before tackling resistance.
Capture the starting point so you can prove improvement.
Guidance: Estimates are perfectly fine here. If the client does not track these numbers precisely, that is actually part of the problem ERA solves. Even rough baselines make post-pilot ROI calculations compelling.
Agree upfront on what constitutes a successful pilot.
Guidance: Set realistic targets. A 10-point improvement in any dimension within 90 days is a strong result. Avoid setting criteria so high that a clearly successful pilot gets labelled a failure. Also define what "not working" looks like so you have an honest exit ramp.
Map out the key phases of the pilot.
Guidance: The 90-day structure has four natural phases: setup (weeks 1-2), baseline (weeks 3-4), action (weeks 5-8), and assessment (weeks 9-12). Most pilots see measurable improvement by the second pulse. Build in a buffer — delays happen, and a 90-day pilot that runs 100 days still works.
Define the support structure for the pilot.
Guidance: The internal champion is the single most important success factor in any pilot. This person does not need to be senior — they need to be enthusiastic, organised, and respected by the pilot managers. Without a champion, even the best tool stalls.
Plan how you will introduce and update people on the pilot.
Guidance: Transparency builds trust. Employees who understand why they are being asked to complete a pulse survey participate at much higher rates. The key message should be honest, brief, and come from someone they trust — ideally their direct manager, not a corporate email.
Ensure there are no technical blockers before launch.
Guidance: ERA is entirely web-based — no software installation required. Employees access it through a browser on any device. The most common technical blocker is corporate email filters catching the invitation email. Identify the IT contact early and whitelist the sending domain before launch.
Anticipate what could go wrong and plan for it.
Guidance: The top three pilot risks are: (1) low employee participation due to poor communication, (2) managers not reviewing their dashboards, and (3) organisational change disrupting the pilot timeline. Address all three in your mitigation plan and you cover 90% of failure modes.
Turn this plan into action.
Guidance: The most successful pilots have a clear launch date that everyone knows about. Treat it like a project kickoff, not a quiet background experiment. Momentum matters — the first two weeks set the tone for the entire 90 days.