According to the Great Places to Work Institute, which compiles the annual list of the Best Companies to Work For, trust is \u201cthe defining principle of great workplaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
When my former company conducted a comprehensive internal survey a few years ago, the corporate intranet was ranked as the most trusted source of important information about the company.\u00a0 Other sources, including top leaders, direct supervisors, and co-workers, lagged far behind the intranet.<\/p>\n
At first, I was confused by this result.\u00a0 How could a digital environment be more trusted than face-to-face contact?<\/p>\n
I met with employees across the organization to probe further, and, together, we identified various attributes and behaviors that inspired trust in our intranet.\u00a0 Here are twelve tips:<\/p>\n
(1)\u00a0 Be respectful<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span> Or, put another way: Trust begins with trust.\u00a0 In everything you do, demonstrate your respect for all the people of your organization, regardless of their rank, function, location, or tenure. \u00a0Seek to understand the work they do, and constantly evolve to better serve them.<\/p>\n (2)\u00a0 Be accessible<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 Develop multiple points of access — from desktops, at shared kiosks, from home, and from mobile devices — to reach all the people of your organization.<\/p>\n (3)\u00a0 Load quickly<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 Your people are busy.\u00a0 Allow them to get in, find what they need, and get on with their work.\u00a0 Ensure that performance\u00a0 and page loads are snappy, even for remote workers.\u00a0 People expect immediate gratification, and will ignore your intranet if you make it intolerably slow or erect complicated login procedures.<\/p>\n (4)\u00a0 Be consistent<\/b>.<\/span> \u00a0Not only should your intranet offer a consistent experience — with consistent design, navigation, and interactive elements throughout — but it should also be consistent with your organization\u2019s strategies and values.\u00a0 People tell me that they tune in as long as we offer something of interest to them and their jobs.\u00a0 The burden is on us to remain relevant.<\/p>\n (5)\u00a0 Keep pace with consumer technology<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 Your intranet need not necessarily be a breathtaking work of art, or feature all the latest technology, but it does need to possess a professional appearance and follow emerging conventions.\u00a0 Consumer technology is setting the expectations of your people; if you can\u2019t keep pace, they\u2019ll notice that you don\u2019t seem to care about them.<\/p>\n (6)\u00a0 Pay attention to detail<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 Every word, image, link, figure, and form has the opportunity to inspire — or disappoint.\u00a0 Test early, test often, and make corrections swiftly.<\/p>\n (7)\u00a0 Be fresh and timely<\/b>.<\/span> \u00a0No one likes — or trusts — stale or obsolete information.\u00a0 Publish news and announcements as quickly as possible, and compress approval cycles.\u00a0 You can always add more details later.\u00a0 Incorporate real-time performance indicators and invite people to subscribe to alerts by e-mail or text.<\/p>\n (8)\u00a0 Bring the outside inside<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 Your employees will trust you more if you give them a complete picture, and not just the sanitized corporate announcements.\u00a0 List customer compliments and complaints, show how your organization is viewed in the public media, and share industry and economic trends.<\/p>\n (9)\u00a0 Encourage dialogue<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span> By incorporating employee sentiments, we offer a kaleidoscope of perspectives from across the organization, for all to see.\u00a0 In a sense, any company announcement goes through the crucible of public opinion, and the ebb and flow of conversation, questions and answers, and subject-matter expertise results in a reality check and enhanced credibility.<\/p>\n (10)\u00a0Welcome dissent.<\/b>\u00a0<\/span> Of course, encouraging dialogue without allowing dissent is a recipe for disaster. \u00a0It\u2019s important that you permit — and encourage — employees to disagree, and to offer alternatives, as long as they adhere to your guidelines and remain respectful.\u00a0 This dialogue and dissent can lead to policy changes if leaders are humble enough to reverse decisions in search of improved outcomes.<\/p>\n (11)\u00a0Monitor all activity<\/b>.\u00a0<\/span> Read every comment, review and optimize the most common search terms, and witness behavior across your intranet.\u00a0 By doing so, you can check for understanding, spot trends, and adjust accordingly.<\/p>\n (12)\u00a0Respond to feedback<\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0 My former intranet offered a feedback form on every page, and we committed to a response within minutes.\u00a0 Every response was appreciative, respectful, and explained how we would take any necessary action.\u00a0 I always took great delight when feedback offered a suggestion for a new feature, and I was able to explain in my response that the feature had been swiftly adopted.<\/p>\n Your people deserve an intranet they can trust.\u00a0 Follow these tips and you\u2019ll be well on your way to a trustworthy intranet… and maybe a great place to work, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" According to the Great Places to Work Institute, which compiles the annual list of the Best Companies to Work For, trust is \u201cthe defining principle of great workplaces.\u201d When my former company conducted a comprehensive internal survey a few years ago, the corporate intranet was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,80],"tags":[405,404,350,403,353,355,354],"class_list":["post-3624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internal-communication-blog","category-intranet","tag-collaboration","tag-communication","tag-employee-adoption","tag-employee-engagement","tag-executive-mentoring","tag-social-business-2","tag-social-intranet"],"yoast_head":"\n