9 behavioral glasses you need to make a success out of your social intranet

Introducing a social intranet in an organization often constitutes a major change. It takes time and it's not always easy to get everyone involved. Especially if you're trying to push the change onto people from the top down. You have to listen, take obstructions away and connect user and technology. For every difficult situation, there's a pair of behavioral 'glasses' you can put on to help you understand your colleagues and move forward.

Same but different

Last week we hosted a knowledge session with Orange Otters: Adoption of a social intranet through 9 behavioral glasses. Among the attendees were several childcare organisations, government organisations and construction companies.

Worlds apart in terms of activities and type of organization, and yet they're largely experiencing the same challenges in terms of activating all employees on their social intranet. The traditional corporate culture, being on the road a lot, the level of education and the age of employees play a role in this. Organizations boasting a successful social intranet (80% or more employees active) all have in common that they went all in and chose to use Plek as their primary means of communication. Whether you're at twenty or eighty percent, you can use the below mentioned behavioral glasses to activate the remaining employees.

1 - Self image: reflecting on behavior

We feel like a lion, but we are actually a little kitten. In other words: we (unconsciously) overestimate ourselves. In the field of social intranets, you respond to this by holding up a mirror to people - tactically and not reproachfully.

For example, does the management think they are doing very well, but do you see much room for improvement as communications professional? Then talk to each other about it. Then, help them, evaluate and give constructive feedback, and gradually start showing exemplary behaviour.

2. Emotions and associations

We do not like change. In fact, we're scared of it. If people suddenly have to do something differently, they're bound to experience quite a few emotions. Especially if they have experienced traumatic incidents in the past. If, for example, a reorganization occurred 10 years ago and employees were promised no redundancies, but people got fired anyway, employees who stayed on will remember this. So try to build trust, explain how the change is supposed to benefit the organization and/or its employees, be honest, let people join the conversation and get rid of that fear.

If you're aiming to build trust, it's also important to reward people. If someone has done something in the new way, give them a compliment - even if the person didn't do it a 100% right, and continue to reward exemplary behavior.

3. Physical environment

We are heavily influenced by our physical environment. So make sure to also facilitate the required change for an online platform like Plek in the offline environment. Are there thresholds and distractions? Take them away. For example, if your colleagues are on the road a lot, make sure the social intranet is available on mobile. Use the physical environment as a helper: organize a training at people's workplace. They'll bump right into it and it will take them only a little bit of time and effort to participate.

4. Habits

We often act impulsively or out of habit. The to 'we always take' is not always the most efficient one. But since it's already there, we just use it again. Nice and easy, autopilot mode! Don't force colleagues to change - they'll just rebel or refuse. In other words: don't put up a fence to block the to everyone always takes. People will just walk around it. Ask yourself when and why people take this to.

We're addicted to email and WhatsApp (even though we really don't want to be). If you agree with each other to use the social intranet as the primary means of communication from now on, this doesn't mean you will no longer receive any emails and WhatsApp messages from colleagues. The to we always take is to simply reply via email or WhatsApp. The right way is to make an effort and transfer the conversation to the social intranet..

Behavioral change is often achieved by means of a nudge. Think of the ferry behind Amsterdam Central Station: there's a red area and a green area, without any explanation. Still, people know where to stand. A nudge in terms of the adoption of your social intranet is, for example, to use the platform as the startup page - company wide.

5. Knowledge

Sending knowledge isn't the holy grail. If we see a 100 km/h sign by the road, we know we're not allowed to drive any faster. But we do it anyway. So don't just share knowledge, also focus on the why: think about who the user is and how they can benefit. Do not use a dry business message but go for something interesting, something that appeals to emotions. Don't emphasize what's currently going wrong, but how nice it would be to do it differently: 'Look, I have already made the switch, and now I can easily find whatever I need. Don't you want that too?'.

6. Attitude: the will to change

We always want to know 'what's in it for me'. How do you motivate your colleagues, intrinsically or extrinsically, to change for the long term? Involve early adopters early in the process. They will set a good example and take others along in the process, in the role of ambassador. Let colleagues experience the benefit (and the fun factor). Later, they can help others by asking how someone in their situation could benefit from a platform like Plek, and how they can help them get there.

When implementing a social intranet, a big bang works for one organization,while another uses a phased approach. At Plek we always work with ambassadors as well as a big bang launch. This way, you involve early adopters and stimulate exemplary behavior. At the same time, you clearly indicate that Plek will become the primary means of communication.

A real-life example from last week's session: Employee Chris is responsible for sending incoming documents to the right people. Through the profiles on Plek, Chris knows which document to send to which person. That's why Chris adds the required information to his own profile and asks others to do the same. The result is useful for both Chris and colleagues: Chris knows where to send the documents to and colleagues are receive the right documents. This is how Chris acts as an ambassador.

7. Ability: can you do it?

Sometimes the problem is very simple: we want to, but we can't. Help colleagues by means of training sessions, webinars and tips & tricks. Or use a buddy system for one-on-one coaching. Don't forget to also include new colleagues during their onboarding period.

8. Support of the social environment

We all want to be a goody goody. We are social beings. We look at what people around us do. And if enough other people do the right things, we want to do the same. Formal managers can contribute to this, but don't forget about your organization's informal leaders. For example the receptionist is often able to quickly mobilize many people. Pay attention to who talks to whom, and use these existing networks.

9. Intention and perseverence

It's almost January... time for some good intentions! What do we want to achieve and how will we do it? We'll need perseverence. And perseverence requires encouragement. Boost your social intranet, for instance by organizing update training sessions and by celebrating successes. Ask for commitment: we decided to do this together and we'll stick to it. Keep monitoring and evaluating, and remind teams of their commitment in case they start slacking.

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