One source of truth
Last week, I was honored to speak on the communications tech stack for PRSA's new Driving Change Through Internal Communications certificate program. We discussed the modern intranet's role and emerging tech trends for communicators. Some believe we should limit our communications stack to just a few tools. I disagree.
Our diverse workforce consumes information differently, and for our messages to be heard, we must meet our team members where they are. Thus it is imperative to have varying channels in your communications stack. However, there should be one source of truth.
Surround Sound
Think of your most recent communication as a song played in surround sound. The source of the music is your intranet, and it is amplified in different ways using varying mediums. But there is always one source of truth. A team member may receive information via email but need to remember exactly where they saw the information, or perhaps they can't find it in their inbox when they go back to read it.
If your intranet is positioned as one source of truth, employees should be able to search it and find the information they seek quickly. If you have a deskless workforce, add kiosks available in break room areas. Ultimately, the one source of information should be accessible to everyone.
All content shared, whether it surfaces as a start screen, an email, a blog, a town hall, etc, should also appear on the intranet.
One Source of Truth: The Intranet
Have people called your intranet a black hole- where information goes to die? Intranets have gotten a bad rap. I have designed at least six iterations of intranets over the past two decades, and I admit, there have been versions that did indeed turn into a black hole. With careful organization and management, the intranet can be a very powerful tool for today's modern internal communicators. The goal is to organize from the end user's perspective, use tagging, and clear away the old. Today's intranet platforms, including Sharepoint, have robust search features, making finding information much more straightforward.
What's next? AI + intranet!
I recently read an article about a professional services firm that was using AI to help find answers to employee questions. What a brilliant concept. I gathered that maybe their intranet was a black hole as the article said their team members were spending a excessive time searching for information, which could have been spent on billable hours. By building their own AI source, they created a powerful intranet tool that would scrub their intranet to find answers to questions quickly.
Building Your Source of Truth
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
Review all sites on your intranet and their usage. Delete old sites. If sites are not visited, work with site owners to either take the site down or develop relevant content.
You can organize your navigation menu by how people search or think about where information is shared rather than your company reporting structure. For example, learning may be part of HR, but the end user may look for the learning group outside the HR function.
Make sure copies of emails also surface on the intranet. For example, if your CEO sends an all-firm important email, could you include a repository for the emails so they can be found if they're looking for? This is an excellent tool for new employees- it helps them get oriented to critical information shared before their start date.
Use onboarding to orient new team members on how information is shared and where they can get information. Consider also sharing with current team members so they understand- quick reminders of where to go for information and what information is shared on what mediums will help orient people to critical company information.