How to encourage team collaboration on Workplace
Looking for a way to boost your Workplace adoption? Help your people managers migrate their teams into Workplace. Below are three tips to help get them excited about Workplace.
One of the best ways to make sure someone uses Workplace regularly is to make sure that their manager uses it regularly. That means your #1 priority as a Workplace admin is to show your people managers how Workplace can make managing their teams easier.
Wondering how to do that? Don’t worry - we’ve got your back.
Here are 3 tips to help you as an admin get your people managers and their teams using Workplace
Learn from your own team first
If you want to convince managers to move their team communication into Workplace, you’ll need some experience with it yourself. Make sure your team is a shining example of how to work together in Workplace so you not only have Workplace credibility but also real world tips to share on how teams can collaborate in Workplace based off your own personal experience.
Start with having you and your team take the Be the Best Boss They Ever Had class to make sure everyone has those basic best practices.
Then, interview people on your team about their collaboration pain points (in and out of Workplace), who they work with and how, what they like most about Workplace and what they like least. Practice honing your questions and then making recommendations based on the answers (because you’ll be doing a lot of that later).
Create a Workplace tips and tricks group to crowdsource great ideas you can share with managers:
- Make it a Default group if you can
- Once a week ask the group to post their best tips and tricks around different parts of Workplace (focus on team collaboration at first)
- Choose one or two “winners” each week and make an achievement post. Tag their managers
- Share Workplace training from the Academy and Customer Resource Center
Start working with a few (strategically chosen) managers
The managers you work with are going to need individual attention to help them figure out how to move their team’s work into Workplace. Since you can’t be everywhere at once, the trick is prioritizing teams big enough to make a difference and familiar enough with Workplace to get you some early wins:
What you're looking for:
Teams with a high number of activated users who have relatively high monthly use and low weekly use. That usually means the people on the team are familiar with Workplace but don’t see it as a place to do their day-to-day (team) work.
You could also ask for volunteers from your new Workplace Tips & Tricks group instead.
Use Insights to prioritize teams:
- If you’re in a smaller organization, start with your biggest teams first so you get bigger results faster
- If you’re unsure where to start, use the Insights section of the Admin Panel to help you find teams to work with
- Make sure you fill in the manager profile field for your users
- Then use the People tab of Insights to break your usage stats by manager
Be ready to answer “What’s in it for me?”
If a manager hasn’t moved their team into Workplace at this point, it means they don’t see the benefit for them and their team. Your job is to run the teams you choose through the same process you practiced with your own team earlier until you can answer the “What’s in it for me?” question to their satisfaction.
Insider advice:
Every team has different needs, and it’s your job to help uncover them. But there are a few classic pain points you should be on the lookout for and some simple ways that Workplace can address them.
Virtual teams feeling disconnected
- Team chat for those instant sharing moments. Even a lighthearted GIF showing how your day is going helps ease that feeling of being disconnected
- Team group where each team member can share regular weekly updates. A simple top of mind post works here, highlighting progress from last week, priorities this week and any problems you may need help with
Deskless teams with shift work
Chat, go Live or post to everyone at once, not just the people working a shift while you’re around
High team turnover
- Introduce new people to the team and keep them connected from day one
- Celebrate regular wins with the whole team at once to keep them motivated
Resources are hard to find or make
- Keep resources organized in learning guides, group files tabs, or even with Knowledge Library
Not enough team visibility
- Share information on big team wins in front of important people outside of the team. (Tag those people)
Once you get these teams working in Workplace, they’ll become your success stories to share. Get your success story managers to give intros during company all hands, write posts in your company-wide groups (to get people onto Workplace, this can be sent via email too) and speak at other team meetings to help you evangelize Workplace to other teams.
Take advantage of your resources
Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing tips for managers in your organization that will cover topics intended to help make your managers better at their jobs and also better at using Workplace. You can find all these resources in our People Manager Resource Hub.
