In my last blog I suggested steps to take early in the move to SharePoint and promised tips for encouraging use once it’s up. Here they are.

Be patient. Yes, that’s a tip in the other blog. It applies here, too. Launching the site won’t likely be a “build-it-and-they-will-come” event. Employees are accustomed to their routines and processes – for example, using email to collaborate on documents. They need time to become comfortable using and navigating the site. Allow for this, and everyone will be happier and more supportive over the long run.

Enlist fans. These are the early adopters, the people who were ready to use the site when it was only a concept. Fans are essential to encouraging use throughout your organization. They already know how to navigate, have figured out workarounds to quirks and appreciate the functionality. Subsequently, they tend to coach others and help your organization through its learning curve – if you let them. Do so. And be sure to recognize them. Fans are priceless.

Make it simple to get RSS feeds. Easy to use or do is high on the list for most of us. Ask a volunteer with RSS experience to help others set up their feeds for frequently updated content. It’s time well spent because employees learn how easy it is to subscribe. And they get additional tips along the way. Another aspect of RSS: Measuring and reporting your subscription rate can help you show executive sponsors a quantitative success metric. Time and money was spent on the site, so they want to see a return on the investment. This is a way – albeit a small, simple one – to show them an early return.

Use a groundskeeper. Everyone using the site has responsibility for keeping things fresh by deleting old documents and posts and by updating links and security access. But it helps to have someone walking the grounds, so to speak, from time to time to ensure this happens. It’s especially valuable if you share a lot of documents on the site. Also use your groundskeeper to lead the purge of documents that shouldn’t be transferred to the site from their old storage ground.

Arrange content well. It should be intuitive to find content on the site. If it is, people will use it. In some organizations – especially large ones with businesses within a business – there might be a tendency to arrange content by team. Decide whether that’s best for the long-term. It can become confusing when a person on one team needs a document, for example, but can’t remember which team owns it. A good search utility can help with this, of course. But in my experience it’s best to have a foundation of intuitively arranged content.

Putting these tips into practice will help inspire people to use your site. And once they do, momentum builds and possibilities flourish to advance productivity, knowledge-sharing and employee engagement.

If you’re responsible for helping your organization move to SharePoint, attention to important early steps will help you with a strong start and long-term success.

I was a SharePoint skeptic at first, but after assessing, implementing and using it for two years in my businesses at a former employer I became a fan. It provides new channels to advance productivity, knowledge-sharing and employee engagement.

Before you build your site and move content to it, consider the following suggestions.

Determine the purpose. Be clear on what you want to accomplish and get buy-in from stakeholders. For example, reducing email volume is important for some organizations. Others want centralized project collaboration or an internal communications stream. Whatever the reason – and as with most things in life – knowing what you want will help you get it. And you will avoid sidetracks later when you’re deep into the details of building your site.

Help others become comfortable. Since most people tend to shy away from a change in routines and habits, you might have a headwind in the move to SharePoint. Generating understanding and acceptance up front will foster active users later. Share the reasons for the change along with a high-level roadmap with key steps and timing. And always be ready to happily answer questions along the way – there will be many.

Invite input. SharePoint has a number of uses, so facilitate brainstorming with co-workers on how to benefit from this. Some of the best ideas will come from them. In addition, you might get tuned into hidden organizational or operational problems the site can solve. Be sure to recap and recognize the input you receive along with the ideas you use.  

Be patient. The move to SharePoint takes time and effort, especially in the beginning. Help others understand that. And be comfortable with it yourself. Recognizing that Rome wasn’t built in a day will help you stay on course at every stage of the move.

Investing in these practices up front will pay off in the long-term. In a future blog I will share tips for organizing your site and encouraging use.

A prankster – call him Mr. Assumptions – wants to trip up even the best communicators among us.

 “You know what’s best,” he whispers in our ears while we write perfect messaging for our communications programs. “You know who they are and what they really need. They just don’t know it until you tell them.”

Uh, huh. Sure.

Obviously it’s best to avoid making assumptions, but it’s easy to do. You don’t even have to try, and the consequences are unwanted. Your communications program is off the mark and confuses your audience.

For me, an antidote to assumption-making is to remember a story a friend shared with me.

John lives in a neighborhood with a diverse cast of residents. While walking into the corner convenience store, one of his friends – a woman who is homeless – asked for a cup of coffee. John was happy to help.

Inside the store, he decided to go above and beyond and buy her a bagel, too. He said he was proud of himself for being generous and thoughtful.

Outside, John offered the coffee/bagel bonanza to his friend. She accepted the coffee and said “no thanks” to the bagel, adding, “I’m on a diet.” She wasn’t kidding.

 The experience, John said later, made him think about the assumptions he sometimes makes of others along with his solutions to their needs.

His story encouraged me to take a fresh look at my own practices. I do so regularly and have concluded it’s essential – especially for communicators – to avoid assumptions by:

• asking someone what they want or need.
• listening from their perspective, not ours. 
• resisting the temptation to fit their responses into our predetermined solutions.

Listening without assuming. It’s easy to understand the theory, but it’s not always easy to practice it.  We need to try. Goodbye, Mr. Assumptions.

Ears are underrated.

Although they are free (sorry, App Store), are always with us and require only basic maintenance, our ears often don’t get put to use. Yet they are priceless in connecting with others.

Communications professionals – or anyone who interacts with others – can benefit from using theirs to listen first and communicate second.

Listening has served me well. It has helped me write the right message, coach executives and lead teams through difficult changes. Following are three things I’ve learned and tips to consider.  

Everyone wants to be heard. I learned this best after transitioning to operations management from corporate communications. Accountable for staffs up to 200 people, I quickly discovered most people have opinions and ideas about what’s working well and what could be better. When you’re the person in charge, people want you to listen to them – especially if they haven’t been heard before. Tip: Make time to ask someone what’s on their mind, remember what they say, and repeat what you heard. Besides being the right thing to do, it builds relationships.

Relationships are how things get done. When you listen to someone, trust, respect and understanding take seed and help people connect with you and vice versa. Those alone are wonderful things, and they bloom into relationships. From there you grow an entire garden of possibilities since relationships are how things get done in most parts of our lives. Tip: Make time to listen to people every day. It can be scheduled or ad hoc. The point is to do it.

What’s in it for me? Most of us quietly ask ourselves this question when we read or listen to something, so it’s crucial for communicators and leaders to have the answer. And not the answer you think is right but rather the answer your audience told you they expect. When a metric in my operations business was sliding, I looked to data but also walked the office. What people told me gave color to the data and answered WIIFM. I used it in town-hall meetings to talk about the metric problem, what I heard from everyone, and the changes we would make. The metric improved within a week. Tip: To get the WIIFM answer, ask your audience. They appreciate it.

That’s what I’ve learned. Want to share your thoughts? I’m listening.