11 mantras for intranet managers

That’s why Intranet Benchmarking Forum CEO and Founder Paul Miller joined Sharon O’Dea, senior manager of online communication at Standard Charter Bank, and John Stepper, managing director of collaboration and social media at Deutsche Bank, to list their intranet mantras on the June episode of IBF Live.

Their words of wisdom:

1. Design it for real users.

O’Dea said that intranet managers tend to listen to the loudest voices or the most powerful people, but they’re not the ones who rely on the intranet for information every day.

“What we really need to do is deliver for people so they can get their jobs done a little better,” she said.

2. Let information find you.

Many intranets at big companies are stuck in a “pre-Google, pre-Facebook” era, in which managers distribute information packets to people, Stepper asserted. Younger workers don’t take information in like that, he said. They park themselves in front of their Twitter and Facebook feeds, and they expect the important stuff to come to them. Your intranet should facilitate that, using social tools.

3. It isn’t a one-time project.