Internal communication with Digital Workplace
Launching a collaborative platform is an excellent lever to work differently. Why is the implementation of a Digital Workplace also a great opportunity to develop internal communication?
To summarize the main points that I have observed in internal communication professionals, I would say that managing paradoxes is one of the first problems. Or how to make the widening gap between long-term strategic issues (HR vision, management action plan) and very short-term business issues, often accompanied by a crisis context. To best serve the interests of all when your mission is transversal by nature, it is to face the afflictions of internal politics. The role of internal communicator is made even more difficult when it comes to "doing more with less".
Some organizations have dropped out and continue to waste resources to maintain tools that no longer meet the expectations of employees or the state of the art in collaborative tools. Others have embarked on the path of internal digital transformation in order to develop their business, as have all professionals who train and upgrade their skills to keep up with the changing uses and practices of their time and their "customers".
Why Communication has all the legitimacy to carry out an internal digital transformation project
Who better than internal communication (or HR if necessary) as a cross-functional support service, knows the corporate culture and is able to manage its complexity? Who has the mission of putting to music action programs that will affect diverse populations and trades? And who already has the habit of networking in order to effectively implement a communication system by collaborating with local correspondents?
This transverse logic falls under the title of Bertrand Duperrin's entry "Digital is neither a department nor a discipline".
This path of change in which you plan to embark on by adopting a new Digital Workplace is a great opportunity for internal communication to evolve and redefine the contours of its business.
Everything changes nothing.
This phrase made famous by the film Le Guépard by Luchino Visconti,"it is necessary to change everything so that nothing changes", translates the current situation well: managers and employees seem unanimous on the need for a profound (re)evolution of the communication model. And also agree on the modalities of this transformation: smoothly, i. e. in opposition to the theory of the Queen Big Bang in other times. In the end, your value proposition for those of you who want to set up a new digital work environment or Digital Workplace is to make the employee experience simpler, smoother and more enjoyable in everyday collaboration. Adopting a pilot approach and finding the right relays and ambassadors to embody it are the conditions for success.
You will have all the legitimacy if you follow a logic of transformation by applying these principles of change management to yourself:
- Identify where you start from, analyze the situation via questions (WHAT change is for) and associated impacts (WHAT to change)
- Good practices (you will answer HOW TO HOW)
- Risks: identify them, your
- Brainstorming
Good practices: POSITIVER!
Internal communication 2.0 is the one that:
- Focus on relevance of existing content (why reinvent the wheel)
- Systematically promotes collaboration, mutual aid or conversation
- Encourages independent and informal on-site training workshops (near coffee machines and other places of life)
- Created actions directly on the collaborative and social platform
- Helps and facilitates support for community leaders and ambassadors
It can also take advantage of crowdsourcing: the community project promotes the collective resolution of difficulties.
- Highlighting the experts
- Contributions dans des espaces de discussion, commentaires Use of expertise to create or modify documents
- Managers encourage brainstorming and participatory collaboration
Brainstorming: Questions to ask yourself before defining your new governance model
How do you move from editor-in-chief to moderator and content aggregator?
Is the Com' interne ready to take on the role of information relay, culture... (Top-Down Vs. Bottom up)?
How to manage comments and questions directly asked by users? Are you ready to become a mediator and accompany community leaders?
