Ten ways to promote the use of an online forum
Knowledge Bank

A recent discussion on the Institute of Internal Communication LinkedIn group looked at the best ways to get people engaged in an online forum on their intranet. Will Foy, Internal Communications Manager at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We are looking at revamping our rather tired online intranet forum as a viable IC tool. Historically, it has been owned by IT and has been left to fester for many years.

“There are a small group of regular users who discuss social subjects such as TV, music etc - which is great, but we are looking at putting a business case together for putting some resource on it full-time to test it as a viable IC tool to encourage knowledge and social sharing"

There were many suggestions, but we've distilled them down into a 10-point list:

  1. Make sure you use a subscription base so staff get pulled back rather than having to go and check for updates. That way you can keep the dialog going.

  2. Set up sub forums with headings like "I Need Help With..." and "Who is the Person Responsible For...?". This prompts staff and helps them understand the potential to tap into the knowledge held by peers.

  3. Point news articles to the forums for further discussion. The engagement staff feel when they are helped by peers from around the business is huge.

  4. Try and get the latest threads on the home page - this will remind people to get involved.

  5. Appoint a moderator and set some ground rules. Then, if someone breaks the rules you can act.

  6. Get senior buy-in so that when a question or complaint is posed you can get it answered quickly.

  7. "Prod" the forum now and again. That is, pose questions, start up debates, ask people what they think etc. Most forums have lean times and then at others they are self perpetuating.

  8. Separate business and forum areas - but make sure a little humour on business is welcome and expected.

  9. Don't subdivide the business area too much - to be effective, people have to have a reasonable expectation that their comment/query will be seen, and the trick to that is getting to a “critical mass” of daily viewers.

  10. Take time to coach senior leaders into dropping-in to the business forum, for a minute or two every week, and help them get the hang of how conversation works there.

Steve Nichols
IoIC webmaster and forum moderator

 
 
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