5 ways to improve information sharing in your organization from content delegation to asking for feedback.
If you’re like one of the hundreds of clients I’ve worked with who are looking for a new intranet, chances are the reason you went searching was to find a faster, more efficient way to get information out to your employees.
Email blasts? Annoying. Documents hidden beneath the depths of a shared drive? Frustrating. A static webpage with millions of links but no search functionality? Terrifying. The good news is there is a better way!
Whether you have no intranet in place or an intranet that just doesn’t cut it, a simple, out-of-the-box solution can help streamline your internal communication and information sharing to help your organization run more smoothly.
Below are 5 tips for setting up your new out-of-the-box intranet to improve information sharing in your organization:
1) Delegation is King
No matter what system you use, having one person in charge of sending all information out to your employees can lead to information bottlenecks. Especially if this is just a small part of their daily workload. Documents need to be updated, news needs to be published, knowledgebases must remain relevant, employee data needs to be filled out… and so on and so forth. It really is quite a large job.
With an out-of-the-box intranet, granular security allows you to delegate responsibility to various intranet admins. Each department site can have its own site admin, and additional content publishing admins as well. With content posting approval it makes it easy to delegate out responsibility further, while still maintaining an element of control, ensuring information sharing doesn’t get pushed to the wayside.
2) Make Searching Simple
Choose a solution that comes with Enterprise Search so that you don’t have to spend time configuring the search functionality on your intranet. If your search functionality includes full-text search capabilities along with advanced search options, your employees will find what they need.
At Intranet Connections we include Elastic Search, with full-text search functionality and display cards to display images and PDF previews, so your employees know what the file looks like prior to opening it up. No more pages and pages of links to documents to sort through – just type in a keyword and you’re on your way.
3) Create Subscriptions Based on Content Type
On your out-of-the-box intranet solution, you should be able to set up automated alerts so that every time you post a new item to your intranet employees are notified either through an email or site alert.
Rather than subscribing “all staff”, it is helpful to subscribe groups based on content specifically relevant to them and their role. For example, subscribe “HR employees” to the “HR news” so they are receiving updates and information specifically related to their own department.
In addition, the policies section allows you to choose specific employees who need to read an updated document or policy. They are alerted through the site or by email, and they need to check to confirm they have read the item. You can even set up to three auto-reminders prior to the document being due for confirmation so that you aren’t chasing down employees manually, completely streamlining information sharing.
4) Build a Knowledgebase
Searching for documents and company news on your new intranet will become second nature to your employees, as your site becomes the one-stop shop for information sharing. What about general questions though? Where do you post general information about the company? For example, your Core values and beliefs, or special programs being offered. By using your knowledge management software of course!
You can create unlimited knowledgebase applications on your company intranet for all sorts of topics, which then become easily searchable in your global site search.
Building out a knowledge base becomes especially helpful for onboarding new employees within the organization. Basic company knowledge that your current staff takes for granted, can easily be logged into the intranet knowledgebase for new employees to find.
5) Ask for Feedback
Your intranet should easily become the primary location for employees to find what they need. So, how do you tell whether or not you’ve accomplished your goal?
I always recommend building out an intranet survey and posting it front and center on your home page, or in your top menu navigation. Somewhere employees can see it right away when they log in. When you are first getting started, it is helpful to create a “new intranet feedback survey”, and an ongoing “feedback” link up at the top of the page ensures you are continuing to meet your employees’ needs.
Those are just my top 5 tips for improved information sharing, but I would love to hear yours! Please leave your feedback below.
The Executive Guide
Executive engagement is crucial for your intranet’s success. Find out how to put the right tactics in play with our guide.
