best practices in internal communication using your hospital intranet

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BEST PRACTICES inInternal CommunicationUsing your Hospital Intranet

Anne La Francis

Director of Sales and Marketing

HospitalPortal.net

Angela Novak

Client Services Director

H2M


Agenda• Key tips for publishing relevant content on your Intranet

• How to better distribute and present vital information to our staff

• Ways to engage your employees with your content

• How to encourage collaboration amongst staff

• Tools for providing leadership with valuable staff feedback

• How to incorporate the above ideas and concepts into your Intranet


HospitalPortal.net & H2M share a mutual client… “We have relied on HospitalPortal.net to manage our intranet for many years. The “Central Line” as it is called is a vital tool used for internal communications with our 900 employees and 80+ medical staff at Lake Region Healthcare. Their easy-to-use interface helps us to keep intranet content fresh and relevant.”______________________________________________________________________________________________“Lake Region Healthcare has been a client of H2M since the fall of 2012 and have become an extension of our marketing department. They treat our business as if it were their own, seeking to learn and understand our industry and marketplace through in-person visits, extensive research and collaboration with our internal staff on projects from media production to graphic design and PR to content development.”

Katie N. JohnsonVP, Marketing & Communicationsand LRH FoundationLake Region HEALTHCARE

http://hospitalportal.net/


Creating an Internal Communication

Program


Why internal communication?

• Employee engagement

• Brand ambassadorship

• Work smarter, not harderFor every 2% increase in employee satisfaction,

there is a 1% increase in retention…

Your Employees Power Your Long-term ROI.


Employee engagement• Proactive transparency builds trust and

respect between the health system

and its employees.

• Regular internal communication unites

employees by breaking down the silos

and/or barriers between service lines,

departments and locations.


Brand ambassadors• Your employees are your best brand

ambassadors.

• Because your patients spend the

majority of their time interacting with

your employees, consistency and

authenticity in messaging is key.

Patients can never love your hospital until your employees love it first.


Work smarter, not harder• You are already developing strong external

content, so capture the messages in one

centralized intranet portal, making it easy

for employees to stay informed and

efficient for you to publish.


What’s the best approach?• An internal communication program that’s integrated within your overall

marketing communication department and that leverages multiple employee touchpoints.

• Tactics include:• Become your own publisher• Tell employees first• Make it a two-way street• Maintain a regular schedule• Launch a brand ambassador program


Become your own publisher• Manage all of your communication messages

across all channels with a comprehensive content calendar.

• Channels should include all communication touchpoints throughout the employee experience.


Tell employees first

• Healthcare employees are accustom to being empowered; they are on the frontlines of making vital decisions everyday.

• Healthcare employees should be the first to know…and sometimes the ONLY to know.

Daily Happenings

•Trainings

•Celebrations

•Menus

•Quality reports

•Census information

•Births

Earned Media/PR Updates

•Hospital improvements

•New facility upgrades

•Mergers or acquisitions

•Community programs

Leadership Updates

• Leadership blogs

• Leadership academy

Social Feed

• Social network updates

Crisis Communication

•Emergency preparation and response


Make it a two-way street• Successful internal communication

offers employees an opportunity to ask questions, give ideas and participate in the communication overall.

• This should happen both through your intranet and in-person.


Maintain a regular schedule• Proactive communication on a regular

schedule is key.• Offer relevant, timely content and they will

keep coming back for more.


Launch a Brand Ambassador Program• Empower though leaders and influential

employees to be your boots-on-the-ground messengers.

• Arm them with key talking points and Q&As.

• Gather what they are hearings so leadership gains frontline knowledge.


Intranets empower employees.


Why an Intranet for Internal Communications?

Nurses

OperationsVolunteers

PhysiciansEmployees

Intranet Leadership

Contract Staff

Board

CommunicationsContent

Social

Policies & ProceduresCalendars & Updates

Self-Service

Two-way communication

• They promote self-sufficiency• Connects everyone in the organization• Gives quick, real-time access to vital

information• Automates workflow and increases

productivity• Allows for standardized communication• Decentralized content management• Content is extremely easy to edit and always

up to date• IT staff is freed up to focus on other mission

critical tasks


What is the main channel your organization uses for internal communication?

Email

External-facing website

Printed newsletters/material

Intranet

No consistent internal communication

POLL QUESTION #1


Internal Communication Features of an Intranet

• Events/Announcements• Leadership Blogs• Chat Feature• Forums• Idea Bank• Hospital Wikis• Leadership Academy• Social media ambassador program• Photos/Slideshows• Community happenings• Physician and board member portals• Crisis Management


Slideshow/Image Gallery

• Make the images engaging• Front and Center• Uniform sizing & formatting• Text + Picture/Photo• Can be hyperlinked

• Uses• Engaging announcements• Feel-good stories• Commonly viewed pages• Internal Advertising

Announcements


News

• Uses• Hospital events• Training/educational classes• New available resources• Running newsletter

• Events Component• Include Pictures• Description• Uniform look• Limit quantity on initial display

Announcements


Events component features & options

• Picture • Title Field• Description Field (Brief Description)• Detailed Description• Date and Time• Links• Comments

Announcements


Scroller

Uses• Fires• Evacuations• System Outages

Features• Scheduled or on the fly• Global• Clickable links

Announcements


• Collaborate, learn, 2-way communication, etc.

• Enable comments• Archives

• Examples• Departmental

• Adding a connection• Personal• Leadership/CEO• Vlog

Blogs


Chat


Forums• Staff Forums• Departmental Forums• Project collaboration

• Examples• Classifieds/Want

Ads• Team projects• Ride sharing• Employee recipes• Q&A


Idea Bank


Hospital Wikis• Search Wiki• Hospital FAQs• Click on question to see

expanded answers• Ask HR or any department• Submit an inquiry if question

wasn’t answered• Employee Wiki - connect to

employee profiles


Leadership Academy• Calendar of Events• Collaboration center• Leadership contacts• Meeting resources/minutes• Training


Social Media Ambassador Program (SMA)• Brand standard manuals• Hospital logos• Social messages• Pre-scripted emails• Video library• Approved photos• Form to apply for the

program


Forms & Workflows


Restricted-View Pages for Specific Staff


Community Page• Photo galleries• Photo submission form• Community events and

calendar• Fundraising tracker• Donation form


Board Page• Meeting packets• Meeting notes archives• Committee lists• Board calendar• Dashboards• Voting


Physician Page• Physician forum• Physician calendar• Links to relevant resources• On call schedule(s)• News and announcements• Orders and Protocols• Onboarding resources• Market to potential

providers


Crisis Management

Intranet Features to help with

Crisis Management

Training/educational resources

Videos

Forums

Contact directories

Emergency vendor directories

Mass notifications/alerts

Chain of commands lists

Emergency codes

Dedicated pages to crisis topic

Blogs

Ticket management

Emergency scroller

Alert Employees First Keep Employees Constantly

Informed Document Crisis Management

Procedures in Place


Crisis Management Tools


Q & A


THANK YOU!

Anne La FrancisHospitalPortal.net

Director of Sales and [email protected]

Angela NovakH2M

Client Services [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]