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This weekend sees the final content loading for one of our new online knowledge communities. Next week the site goes for stakeholder sign-off and then a week of user testing. Training is being organised for the 12 appointed content publishers. Subject to no major issues being reported the area should launch on 7th December. Nearly 20% of the community has been involved in its development, therefore we already have a core group of stakeholders eager to seed the site within the infrastructure of the community. Once the site is bedded into the stream we then look at the physical and social aspects of their knowledge networking and sharing. |
Tag: adoption
Asking the user creates the mo’ factor
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We are currently working with sub groups of a knowledge community, to get their areas prepared as part of the ongoing development of the community’s new knowledge portal. Its been tougher than anticipated, with a mixture of security and lock down issues, which means some compromise to usability and user centric best practice. What has been really encouraging is the amount of people within the community who are starting to mention the site as an important tool going forward. By good stakeholder and user input prior to the design and build stage we’ve started to create a momentum behind it. Think we are now approaching the finishing line for launch before Xmas. |
You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You.
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Just finishing off an article for our monthly intranet newsletter. Its part of our adoption approach to ensure we have an active, engaged group of intranet stakeholders – those that run and drive the strategy and activity within our knowledge communities on our intranet. Apart from the monthly e-newsletter we also produce a blog, a feature area on our intranet and, where resource permits both physical and virtual meetings with key stakeholders. Our strategy is to inform, guide and motivate through a mixture of internal news, technical updates and an drop of external best practice. Like most organisations we have a mixture of eager participants and those that go through the motion. We produce a ‘recommended’ profile of someone who would make a good stakeholder to lead an online community area. In some cases this is considered, in many cases ignored. So goes the fate of an online community. But as they say in Texas..You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You. |
Back to the survey
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Been spending the morning putting together an annual survey (using Surveymonley) for one of our top community sites. It’s nearly one year old and usage has been far greater than anticipated. When a community launches we work on adoption programme with the relevant community to ensure we avoid the ‘launch and leave’ approach that are so common. Good sponsorship, governance and adoption ensures sustainable sites. Generally we produce, in collaboration with the community, a survey 3 months after launch, followed up by yearly surveys (would recommend every 6 months by we don’t have the resource for this). Also find some face-to-face and telephone interviews ensure we have a good idea of how the site is meeting the community needs. All the material, although prepared by the intranet team, is sent by the community stakeholders to ensure maximum participation. Generally we get between 35%-45% of the community responding which I believe is fairly high. We target the whole community and individual groups (through key influencers) to ensure high response rates. |
There???s no link back to the top
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An online knowledge community, or one that is clearly from a particular department must be connected into that same department. Community members will quickly lose interest if they think that nobody is listening to and feeding back on what they are saying. They will uncover a community manager who is unable to connect them into the hierarchy or represent the firm in the community. A real connection is needed to make the most of your online community and this can often mean enacting real change in your department. If you are using it to its full potential, an online community should be a way of getting the user voice deep inside your department. You should be talking about the online community in meetings right up to, and including, the top level meeting. This is the way your users are heard in the department, and the way your department can talk to its users. One of our top Partners never addresses a meeting without mentioning his community area on our intranet. No other site on our intranet can make that claim of such top level support?. Its no surprise its the most visited area on the intranet. |
Build it and they still won’t come
| Anyone who has watched ‘Field of Dreams’ – a sentimental, modern fantasy classic with a unique depiction of Americana – will remember the phase
“If you build it, he will come.”
Many people apply the same logic to Intranet pages. If you build the site the user will visit it. Well, the truth is he/she may not even be able to find it! Just building a site is not enough.
In the film, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) also hears other ghostly, cryptic message, including “Go the distance.”
Going the distance in terms of Intranets means having a full programme of adoption to run alongside the site. This can take many forms. Below are some ideas:
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Mark Tilbury - digital workplace specialist 