Top 10 Lessons Learned from Launching an Engaging Social Intranet

On January 16th, the Federal Communicators Network gathered at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The topic of the day was Driving Employee Engagement through a Social Intranet, and Kelly Osborn, NARA’s community manager for the Internal Collaboration Network (ICN) was the expert speaker. Kelly has been the driving force behind the project from the very beginning and gave a talk full of helpful tips, best practices, and insightful anecdotes on setting up the intranet at NARA. If you missed the presentation, we’ve compiled this TOP 10 list of moments from Kelly’s presentation.

10. Connect your colleagues- across the office and across the country.

9. Communication. Both ways.

8. Ok, so the name isn’t the coolest, but it’s what’s inside that counts!

7. Encourage people to participate in whatever way is most useful to them.

6. Having someone in management who believes in the project and trusts you is crucial.

5. Make your biggest critics into early adopters.

4. Encourage users to write compelling content and to involve colleagues who can contribute to a topic.

3. Don’t forget to consult the bell curve of early adoption.

2. Do everything you can to make employees feel comfortable using your social intranet.

1. Social intranets allow staff to connect with people they would not normally talk to- and the result is “fasten-ating” content (we promise the clip is worth the bad pun!).

If you missed the presentation, you can hear it in full on Digitalgov’s YouTube channel, and Kelly’s slides are available on Slideshare.