Filed under: Collaboration and social, Digital workplace, Intranets
‘Social’ is now standard in the world of intranets, yet success with social intranets isn’t quite so common. There are many pitfalls to avoid and decisions to make, so it’s not simply a matter of enabling the commenting capability on a CMS (though that’s a good start), or starting a Yammer network.
Here are six key tips for being successful with a social intranet initiative.
Align with business objectives
This may seem like a given, but a social intranet initiative must be aligned with a business’s stratgy and objectives. If a business isn’t genuinely focused on implementing and executing its strategies with the benefits of social capabilites in mind, the ‘success’ of the social intranet is immediately limited. Having social in mind means actively aiming to capitalise on the capabilities, data and intelligence that come with adding a social, collaborative layer to an intranet.
Ensure executive and manager support
Social intranets gain momentum the more that all levels of employees participate. However, while ground-up or ‘grassroots’ participation is obviously important, so too is the participation of senior executives and managers. If employees can see their managers comfortably using social features and leading by example in terms of participation, transparency, a willingness to share ideas and ask for input and feedback, they are much more likely to accept the motivations and marketing around the site and adopt the behaviours themselves.
[September article written by Alex Manchester, read the full article]