May 8, 2009

Printer Friendly Version

Though tools such as Microsoft's SharePoint can contribute to more streamlined processes in the workplace, what's hard is changing employee actions and perception. Here are five tips to help your workforce adapt and accept portals as collaborative, successful ways of working.

Each organization has its own unique culture, which can become a fundamental driving force. In an optimal culture, employees' interests and the interests of the business are closely aligned, leading to a win-win situation. Collaborative portals such as SharePoint shift the way that people work -- for the better, but the culture change that occurs can be exhausting. In order to alleviate some of these challenges, SharePoint360 suggests:

1. Create compelling reasons for employees to go to the portal

How is the employee's day made easier or more productive? What action does the portal cut from multiple steps down to one? Portals that can answer these questions drive visitors and gain momentum. The ability to automate a single report /notification or recover a lost document can be big wins in the eyes of end users. Managers need to find out what works for their teams. A lot of people pride themselves on technology and technology for the sake of technology can be destructive. Find out what works and use those methods and tools. Adapt to what works best -- if a team likes discussion boards, managers should encourage their use.

2. Make the portal the "front door" to the business

Put everything an employee needs on the portal (HR docs, phone numbers, certifications, documents, benefits, project management information). If someone is not using the portal, they are not really part of the business. Use security trimming that keeps in mind the different audiences within your business (executives, managers, admins, etc.) to cut down the visual noise and insure that the experience is relevant for the employee at every click.

3. Lead by example: Executive adoption

Having management adoption and frequent use are keys to corporate culture change. Simple managerial acknowledgement goes a long way to rewarding the collaborative effort. Management needs to care and want to participate in the portal. Blog postings by the CEO and awards for content and use are just a couple ways management can show they support the company's decision to use collaborative technology.

4. Create an initial taxonomy

It is great to be flexible, but definitely have a foundation ready to go. It's important to not have too many loose files. From the outset, anyone who is organizing a shared portal should have a clear understanding of the files the company uses and how best to organize them using folder structures and metadata.

Once that structure is in place, the organizer should promote sending links as opposed to attachments. Employees should navigate to the work as opposed to pushing the work around while leveraging key SharePoint features such as check in/check out and version history. As a consequence, a whole series of great things happen. Corporate memory happens. If one person leaves, they don't take the info with them. If a new person comes on board, there is a method to the chaos -- this makes for an easier learning curve.

5. It's OK to have fun

Items such as weather updates, what's for lunch, webinars/classes, upcoming events, photos of the day, etc. alongside the business data are all great draws to the portal. It's crucial to create the attention that will pull employees towards the portal.

Printer Friendly Version