improving internal communications in higher education … · improving internal communications in...

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Improving Internal Communications in Higher Education OrganisationsHEAnet 2019

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Agenda

Workvivo OverviewJohn Goulding, CEO, Workvivo

Internal Communications Project - UCCMichael Tobin, Senior Technical Officer, UCC

Workvivo Rollout - CITJonathan McCarthy, Head of IT, CIT

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Workvivo OverviewJohn Goulding

An Internal Communications Platform with a difference!

• 100% designed around the research-driven key pillars of staff engagement.

• Connect staff with your organisation’s goals

• Build a strong culture of recognition

• Supercharge your internal communications

• Measure your staff engagement levels

Activity Feed

See what’s happening through the main Activity Feed which allows staff from all parts of the organisation consume, publish and interact with many different types of Update. Internal Communication is more engaging when it comes from everybody!

Organisational Goals & Values

Bring your Organisational Goals and Values alive via Updates, Articles, Events and Shout-Outs tagged to the goals and values of the organisation.

Peer Recognition

Build a culture of real-time and spontaneous peer recognition, creating a feel-good factor for everybody in the organisation.

Spaces

Collaborate through Interest Groups and Micro-Communities called Spaces. Create Groups, invite members, join groups, post content, shout-outs and ask questions in that Space.

Intranet

Workvivo gives organisations a dynamic, real-time intranet.

The App Launcher contains links to 3rd Party Systems and Documents, as well as a live stream of information appearing in the Activity Feed

News Articles

The Informative News feature allows customers to publish and share the latest articles which staff can read, like and comment. The articles appear in the Activity Feed but also has their own dedicated News Section

Events

The Events feature allows customers to post upcoming team or organisation events so your staff don’t miss out!

People Directory

Provides a smartly designed People Directory with full team and profile information allowing staff to get to know each other quickly and easily

Pulse Surveys & Analytics

Provides powerful but engaging Pulse Survey capability, allowing customers to measure and track engagement.

Workvivo’s analytics gives you key data on the survey results and also allows customers to monitor system usage

Our Customers

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Internal Communications Project - UCCMichael Tobin

Project Initiation

Staff Feedback GatheredOnline survey, focus groups and interviews highlighted staff dissatisfaction regards accessing and dissemination of information

Benchmarking & Audit UndertakenAudit of existing communication channels and benchmarking against other universities helped shape requirements - reducing All Exchange emails and identifying a secure intranet was key

Tender Process CompletedWorkvivo selected as the Internal Communications platform of choice to meet requirements

Following a Quality Review which highlighted the need to improve communications among staff, a Working Group was established to launch an internal communications strategy to be enabled through a central IT platform.

Approach Taken:

Pilot Approach

Quick integration with UCC systems and platform customised for UCC

Platform Setup

UCC Project team identified participants and planned pilot for Sep – Nov 2019

Pilot Planning

Pilot launched with 230 staff across multiple disciplines & departments following presentations & product demo

Pilot Group Onboarded

Regular communication between project team and Workvivo allows for sharing of feedback and best practices

Ongoing Engagement

Pilot Snapshot

Pilot Findings

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Desktop and mobile applications allow for different work practices

‘Spaces’ allow staff to keep in touch and engage, on and off campus

‘App Launcher’ acts as a digital gateway to UCC’s suite of applications

Staff learn of new events and activities happening across UCC

I think this is fantastic software, and it makes

interacting with our colleagues so easy, and friendly :) I would

absolutely love to see this pilot extended, and for more

staff to be invited.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the ease of use.

Strong engagement from active pilot participants

Acknowledgement that changing the way some staff communicate will take time

An effective channel for media created in-house

Next Steps

Complete Pilot in December 2019Pilot Completion

Extend Pilot to additional staff in pilot departmentsIncrease Participation

Gather and review feedbackPilot Evaluation

Produce final report and present recommendation to Senior ManagementSolution Recommendation

Workvivo RolloutJonathan McCarthy, Head of IT

“Why is it so hard to find

stuff?”

2018 Staff Intranet Survey

“It would be nice if all our FORMSwere accessible

in one place”

“I really want to see all relevant POLICIES in one

place”“Jonathan for the

love of god will you just get rid of

DISCUSS!!”Huge Maintenance Overhead for

IT

Intranet replacement

Centralised storage of all policies/forms/corporate documents

Staff to own the upload and management of content

Improved staff recognition

Heightened awareness of initiatives occurring across CIT

Move from the “place where documents go to die” to a platform which

enables…engages…highlights…recognises

Poor experience with legacy intranet due to out of date content and low staff engagement. System built on SharePoint had high IT overhead to maintain it.

Reduced email noise

PUSH rather thanPULL content….

Problem Definition and Vision

Vision

Problem Definition

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Senior Leadership Buy-In - Welcome Video by CIT President

Generate Excitement - 'Find the CIT Fugitive’ competition on campus

Spread Awareness - Displayed and distributed collateral e.g. Banners, Cups, Pens, Leaflets

Encourage Conversation - Coffee morning in staff common areas

Launching Workvivo

Drive Interactions – more competitions

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• True cloud implementation

• Heavy lifting done by Workvivo

• Technical setup very straightforward and quick

Foster conversation and collaboration between

those with shared functions and interests e.g.

Cyber Security Hub, CIT Library, Buy and Sell, Gym, Guest Lecturers, Climate

Change

Spaces CIT World What’s happening Impact on IT

Value to CIT

• All policies in one place• Forms & docs easily

uploaded• Managed and

maintained by Owners • Quick access to core

Apps & Tools

• Tie your activity to our corporate values

• Review the Weekly Diary of Activities

• See the Calendar of Events

• Get the latest news

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Best of… Workvivo@CIT

Thank You