Overview

Introduction

Effective communication is very essential to success of smartPeople. If your employees are not aware of the new tool, which you are launching, and they are lacking information and knowledge about it, it prevents them from making full use of smartPeople. Therefore, we give you an overview as well as best practices on communication essentials.

Why to communicate?

• People should know about smartPeople.
• Concerns of people should be addressed.

What to communicate?

The following matters should be considered:

• Is data kept safe from unauthorized access?
• Is personal information used for the performance evaluation?
• Can a user profile be viewed by anybody in the system?
• How to keep a profile private?
• How is smartPeople connected to IT-systems being used alongside?
• Is smartPeople a replacement for a similar system?
• How is smartPeople connected to other systems (e.g.: recruiting is still done via another system)?
• Who is a contact person for any questions, concerns or suggestions about smartPeople?
• Does any hotline exist?
• Are there smartPeople ambassadors within the department?
• Are there role models / leaders already using smartPeople?

How to communicate?

The following are possible communication channels:

• Microsoft Teams / Slack
• Intranet
• Printed posters (e.g.: factory staff)
• Internal employee magazine
• Email
• Documentation page (e.g.: a wiki-page for your teams to get all relevant information)

You can also use articles of the Help Center as a resource for tips, guides, and troubleshooting about smartPeople.

Communication plan

The rolling out phase includes your internal communications about smartPeople within your company. So you can spread the word about smartPeople via any communication channel you use in your company and inform your colleagues step by step about smartPeople functions. There are dedicated people, so-called smartPeople ambassadors, who are trained to support others within their departments.

• Pre-launch communication. For the pre-launch phase, we recommend to reach people with the pre-launch cards via your company’s messenger. In addition, you can introduce smartPeople by creating a PowerPoint presentation.
• Launch communication. For the launch phase, you can use email or intranet in your company. The launch communication cards can be sent via email or posted to your company intranet. In addition, to know the platform better and explore it deeper, it is possible to play around with its functionalities. One of the most effective ways to improve adoption is also a product walkthrough (in-app onboarding).
• Continuous communication. During the continuous communication phase, you can showcase customer experiences via stories mailing them to your colleagues. It is also possible to use communication cards as well as in-app onboarding.

Follow the next step to get details and find examples of communication deliverables for every phase.