Tear Down The Walls (of the Silos) That Separate You

I have worked in large, global corporations with thousands of employees and in companies so small, we could meet in a Starbucks. Regardless of the number of employees or the global reach of a company, effective communications among employees is always a key to success (and greatness).

Isolationist thinking constrains productivity and growth - if you don't know who someone is or what they do, how can you possibly function as a team member and how can your company benefit from all the incredible ideas you have? Employees working in a vacuum have little opportunity for innovation and even less opportunity to actively participate in the growth of their company. Providing tools to improve communications should be a very high priority!

One of the ways that a good content management system (CMS) can improve internal communications is by tearing down the silos that have been created around the documents, content, and functions of each department or division in a company. If you don't know what I mean, then take a look at Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or any social media application. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE - from family members to sales people to celebrities to politicians) can :

• all be a part of the same conversation

• create and share relevant content

• get their questions answered

• present their ideas and have their opinion heard

• receive feedback

Look for a CMS that provides tools to disperse news, policies, financial statements, marketing campaigns and other relevant content to all employees regardless of their position in a company. Accessibility to information provides a common ground for collaboration and fosters creativity/innovation!

In "Bringing Social Media to Your Intranet via Personalization, Customization, & Collaboration" we discussed ways in which a company intranet could become every employee’s favorite destination for getting their job done, collaborating more effectively with co-workers, and having a little fun too (within reason and organization guidelines).

A good CMS will give employees something to talk about by providing on-demand access to documents (videos, audios, sales contracts etc.). Employees at every level and in every department of the company can now discuss the current company marketing campaign and offer suggestions for improvements. Department goals can be aligned with company goals. Your company can actually develop an internal personality that reflects the healthy sharing of content and ideas.

A good CMS will also provide a way to secure the organization’s content and documents so that access is restricted where necessary. For example, the protection of key intellectual property (IP) would be critical to a company's success.

You’ll want your CMS to provide a place to talk about things such as a Blog or a Forum. CEOs and senior management can use Blogs to create a global conversation about the direction of the company, new ideas, old rules, or day to day activities. An engineering department may want to blog about a new product under development. Your IT group will want to publish software tips and how-to's. Sales and Marketing groups can blog about past, current, and upcoming campaigns. HR departments can explain the importance/rationale of new policies and procedures.

A good forum/message board and related FAQ (for things like internal software applications) can provide "self-help" support tuned for your environment; this creates an internal knowledge base far superior to that external Google search any day! Another example would be a knowledge base for a company's products that sales and support can use when making presentations, answering client questions, performing research, etc. If the CMS does not provide a Forum/Message Board or FAQ tool, then find one that does.

Leverage your CMS to improve internal communications by soliciting feedback using a survey tool. Each department will find creative ways to use survey tools. For example, your HR department may want to know how everyone enjoyed that company picnic. You can also gauge the effectiveness of your CMS with surveys - initially, everyone will want to know:

• has the CMS increased and improved collaboration and communication internally?

• is the CMS responsible for spawning any new ideas?

• what features of the CMS work well and which ones don't?

Good internal communication breeds success. Use the collaboration tools of a CMS to improve your communications and put your company on a path to greatness!