I often think about all the different things an intranet can help with within an organization. Not just the “techy” things, but how it helps with productivity, efficiency, employee engagement, collaboration and even employee retention. But another, perhaps less thought of way to utilize an intranet is with change management, which is critical in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing business world.

Change is in the Air

Whether we embrace it or avoid it, change is inevitable. Especially in today’s workplace with how quickly technology improves. And often when organizations introduce change, employees don’t have a say even though the slightest change can have a huge impact on everyone within the organization. Change can affect many different elements such as:

• Business processes
• Business systems
• Organizational structure
• Employee roles & responsibilities

Change Management on Your Intranet

Luckily, your intranet can be used as a tool to manage change and the impact it has on your employees in order to achieve a desired business goal. Here are the top three ways your intranet can help facilitate change management:

1. Inform & Engage

As a business owner, it is important for me that my employees are well-informed so they have the information they need to make the best decisions in their roles on behalf of IC Thrive.

I am more comfortable expressing in the written word versus conducting tons of meetings, so for me I really like sharing my decisions, strategy and execution tasks on our own intranet, such as: posting information on our Company News application, sharing decisions and strategy through Executive Blogging, and collaborating with employees for ideas and feedback with our Discussion Forums particularly on new/upcoming changes. We also have sites on our intranet dedicated to the Sales, Marketing, Support and Development Teams where decisions are documented, explained and resources supplied for proper execution. Keeping employees on the same page and up to speed in an ever evolving round of information during change is critical.

Having engaged and informed employees helps them ease into change and adopt it faster. In addition to informing employees of upcoming changes, your intranet is also a great tool to promote changes and to get employees excited about the change. You can create a buzz by organizing events with Event Sites, running change management contests using the Employee Recognition application and starting change management conversations using Employee Message Boards. Adding areas on the intranet that explain top level strategic decisions also benefits as change is scary to many, but knowledge reduces that fear.

2. Involvement & Discussion

An organization’s success is a direct reflection of the team; the employees on the ground working day-to-day. Part of our corporate culture is to foster collaboration and everyone has a voice, so for me it is important that I involve my team and inform them during decision making processes every step of the way. I feel this contributes to our success and keeps us grounded in our core company values and in working towards goals.

Change shouldn’t be any different. Companies implement change to achieve a goal that will ultimately benefit the organization. As leaders, it is our job to make sure all of us are working towards strategic and customer facing goals, benefiting the company, its employees, but most of all, the customers.

Utilizing your intranet you can involve employees in the change making process in order to achieve these goals with Quick Polls, Online Surveys and Discussion Forums. In my experience, I have found this to be a great way for employees to take ownership and embrace change instead of dictating change and forcing compliance.

3. Track & Evaluate

Similar to involving employees in the implementation of change, you can use your intranet to evaluate the progress of change management. An easy way to evaluate your change management strategy is to ask your employees with an Online Survey or Online Feedback Form that collates data at various points in the change process, and stores employees opinions and feedback relating to the implemented changes.

The Power of Change Management on Your Intranet

Because I was an end-user before I began my IC Thrive journey, I know how important it is for your intranet to be about people and communication management. When a company is in flux, management changes occur, employee turnover takes place, new strategies and direction need to be implemented, and all of this change can produce anxiety for the whole organization.

Change management is serious business with wide reaching consequences if not handled well. Use your intranet as the gateway for communication and as a way for employees to embrace change instead of fearing it.

If you have an example of how you used your intranet to manage change, I would love to hear about it! Please comment your stories below.

HR Intranet Guide

Discover how the HR Guide to an Employee-Based Intranet ebook can help you with change management.