These two statistics will strike fear into anyone who is involved in improving communication and collaboration within an organisation.
- Poor communication is costing UK businesses £2.7bn a year (by Unum).
- Only 13% of employees working for an organisation around the world are engaged with the work they’re doing
Too many organisations are relying on email to bring people together. This creates more problems than solutions though!
There are some, however, that are using intranet software to overcome the traditional barriers to communication and collaboration.
But there’s one thing launching a new intranet, but it has to contain content that truly engages your workforce.
In this blog post, we’ve created a list of great intranet content ideas that will encourage your colleagues to come back to your platform again and again.
Discussion forums
In the early days of the internet, forums were a place where people could discuss topics that interest them.
Although they have seen a relative decline in recent years, sites such as Reddit, (known as the front page of the internet,) continue to thrive. In fact, they’re one of the most visited websites in the world.
People visiting Reddit have lots of different interests. Therefore, their forums cover a wide range of topics.
And guess what? Your intranet can do this too. You can create forums for almost anything, from discussing developments in your industry or a specific project, through to where you’re going to go for your next Christmas party.
This form of social collaboration is crucial to keeping your staff engaged with your platform.
Video
Don’t be fooled into thinking your intranet should just be filled with text.
Video is also crucial. More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day, so this is clearly a good way to engage your staff on topics related to your organisation.
You could record a monthly video, talking about important business updates. Or interview staff members so people can learn about other areas of your business.
If you’re not keen to get in front of the camera, don’t worry. You could simply embed relevant videos straight from YouTube. Or cat videos if you fancy having a laugh!
Blogs
Like forums, blogs are a great way to encourage discussion and innovation within your organisation.
However, organisations are still not taking this on board. They are struggling to find effective ways to give their employees a voice.
Blogging is a simple solution. You can empower your staff to share their views on a range of subjects and show their expertise.
Subjects can be organised into categories so people can easily view the content that interests them the most.
But the real benefits come from commenting. Opening blog posts to this, gives staff an opportunity to oppose or agree with the content. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of healthy disagreement after all!
Sites such as NHS Digital’s Delen take this further by using Kahootz’s blogging function to create a mobile-friendly newsletter for their stakeholders.
Surveys
You might think this is a strange choice. Filling in surveys is something that doesn’t always appeal to people.
Usually, you get asked to complete one after calling your energy or broadband provider. Does anyone have the time or inclination to do this?!
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Surveys can be included as part of your thriving intranet.
All you have to do is consider these 5 motivational factors noted by Andrew Mayfield from Optimal Workshop:
- “This looks interesting” – Pick a topic that directly affects your staff, (e.g. whether to offer staff discount at the local gym.)
- “Show me the money” – Not highly recommended for long-term staff engagement, but if you want a quick win, you could offer vouchers as an incentive to fill it in.
- “I’d like to help out” – Truly engaged employees will complete the survey out of the kindness of their heart. Yes, really!
- “My opinion is important” – They want to feel like they’re making a real difference in your organisation.
- “I’m bored anyway, let’s kill some time” – Hopefully this isn’t applicable to your organisation!
Making a success of surveys is simple. Make them relatable to issues that directly affect your staff and you’ll notice a higher level of participation.
Calendars
As you probably already know, calendars are used to keep track of important events inside and outside of work.
You will no doubt have your own personal calendar. But this doesn’t give you any visibility of your colleagues.
Wouldn’t it be great to see what tasks they’re working on? Or whether they’re on annual leave or not? Knowing this will allow you to plan your working day more effectively.
Including a calendar in one central location as part of your intranet, makes it easier for you and your colleagues to access important dates anytime, anywhere.
But that’s not all. When used correctly, calendars can improve your productivity!
Having separate calendars for different business functions can also be useful. When you work for a large organisation, things can quickly get complicated and unmanageable.
For example, you could have a calendar that manages room bookings in your organisation and a separate one for keeping track of company events.
Now you have some content ideas to get started, you will need a tool that is secure, flexible and can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Many organisations are using online collaboration software to power their intranet. To help you pick the right tool, we have created a guide that includes 10 questions you should ask a potential supplier.
You can download this here:
