achieve intranet success by avoiding these common mistakes
TRANSCRIPT
Sam Marshall
Director of ClearBox Consulting
15 years intranet and digital
workplace
Former global portal manager
at Unilever
Consulted on & benchmarked
over 70 intranets
Comms, KM & IT background
@sammarshall
In the beginning…
1. Disappearing
sponsor
Getting it right…
Cultivate 2-3 champions
Maintain a business case even if you’re not
asked
Measure the ‘before’ so you can show the ‘after’
@sammarshall
Who leads your intranet?
Organisation Need Intranet Flavour Sponsor
Improve communication
2-way, same message for all
Communication Comms \ Corp Affairs
Work effectively across silos Collaboration HR \ IT
Reduce operating costs Services Finance
"One Company" initiatives Communication Comms \ Corp Affairs
Improve Capability of a
Function (e.g. Marketing,
Sales, R&D)
Knowledge
Management
Head of Function
Support flexible working Digital Workplace HR
See: www.clearbox.co.uk/what-flavour-is-your-intranet/
Intranets need leaders not managers
Enthusiasm counts as much as role
They need to understand the benefit early
They can help you across the ‘delivery gulf’
They are in the right meetings to champion the
intranet as a solution
2. Over-personalizing
Things on an intranet
home page
Things people want from
an intranet
Message from
CEO
Quarterly results
Pictures of SVPs
Stock price
Mission statement
Weather
Things on an intranet
home page
Things people want from
an intranet
Message from
CEO
Quarterly results
For sale
& wanted
My own
documents
Bonus
calculation
Rumours
Expense
forms
Photos of office
party
Phone numbers
Pictures of SVPs
Stock price
Mission statement
Weather
Things on an intranet
home page
Things people want from
an intranet
Message from
CEO
Quarterly results
Lunch
menu
For sale
& wanted
My own
documents
Bonus
calculation
Rumours
Expense
forms
Photos of office
party
Phone numbers
Pictures of SVPs
Stock price
Mission statement
Weather
Home
London Paris Rome
Global
Rome
GlobalGlobal
ParisLondon
Global
Profile
Location = London
London
Global
Rome
Profile
Location = Rome
Getting it right…
Getting it right…
Getting it right…
Getting it right…
3. Carried away with design principles
All we asked for was fish and chips??
Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yandle
Some of your intranet should
look like your org chart
Intranets should reflect how an organisation works
If the company does a re-org, is it such a big deal
to change the intranet?
Employee services are the exception
If in doubt, test!
Getting it right…
Department Sites
Department
About Us for others
Info by us for others
Info by us for
us
Brochure
• What we do
• Who to contact
Services
• Raise a
purchase order
• Request a
laptop
• Hiring process
Our work
• Announcements
• Templates
• Team members
• Specialist
resources
Department Sites
Department
About Us for others
Info by us for others
Info by us for
us
Structure by task
Structure by org chart
Structure by
how we work
4. Forgetting the late-adopters
Dear Jeremy
I work for a national charity with about 4,000 employees across
a range of UK sites. The organisation has recently told all staff
they must complete a "personal profile" with headings such as,
"What's important to me" and, "How best to support me" which
will be available on the intranet to all its employees.
Team leaders and site managers know staff very well at my site,
and I can reasonably guess this is true at other sites, so the
rationale seems invalid.
A manager has said it's mandatory to complete this, but if I feel
uncomfortable doing so, can they enforce this?
I think it's a nerve for an employer to ask for this kind of thing.
Who the hell do they think they are?!
They're probably planning to get rid of some employees and are
using this to decide who to boot out. Be very careful how you
answer the questions.
When you have completed your fictional profile, with the
appropriate bullshit bingo words, do make sure to make use of
everyone else's profile, by asking them for assistance in your
work of taxidermy of parrots, banging in little metal bottle tops
on floors etc. Then make a point of contacting management on
a regular basis to tell them how helpful you have found the new
system. Try to use their profiles more than anyone else's.
Experi-
mental
Will try
because its
new
Like to feel
exclusive
Thought
leaders
Pragmatic
Want proven
benefits
Do what is
‘normal’
Risk
averse
Trend
must be
very
visible
Listen to
laggards
Focus on risk above
all else (and may be
right!)
Need to feel in control
Show off
latest
features
Pilot
access
Let them
experiment
Exclusive
preview
Showcase
their good
work
Recruit as
champions
Widespread
comms –
buzz
Leaders set
example
Help &
support
Make it
easier
(reduce
features)
low-risk
Talk to
current
adopters
Refine based on
earlier adoption
lessons
Give control over how
& when
‘No commitment’ trial
Take time to answer
objections
Next time…
Don’t rely on a business case that demands high
adoption levels everywhere
Don’t assume enthusiastic pilots scale linearly
Focus on specific communities and grow from
there
Getting it right…
5. Over-zealous governance
You only need a 100 page
governance document if you
plan to hit somebody with it as
a means of enforcement
Next time….
Governance is about changing behaviour not a set
of rules
Define the basic principles
Governance is also about encouragement,
modelling & conversation
Getting it right…
5 levers of governance
Steering
Policy
Constraints
Monitoring
Comms / Training
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