INTRANET TOUR | Putting Users First @ Shepley Bulfinch

Featured Guests

Jess Purcell, Design Technology Manager

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this intranet Tour of Finch, Shepley Bulfinch’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Our tour guide will be Jess Purcell, Design Technology Manager.

Finch is a hub of activity for Shepley Bulfinch employees. It is where they go to find documentation, research architectural tools + practices, learn about firmwide initiatives, and stay connected with colleagues. Jess is passionate about helping users navigate this growing knowledge base to ensure that knowledge keeps flowing, even as the stream is getting bigger.

In this Intranet Tour, Jess will share how the team is:

• Rightsizing knowledge communities for increased usability and growth

• Delivering findable and hands on training materials with Miro + Finch

• Advancing learning with user-centric (and teacher-centric) videos

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
00:00 Welcome and Speaker Introduction
01:38 Introduction to Finch
02:31 Organizing Content Around Topics
04:49 Establishing a Consistent Page Layout
05:55 Using a Search First Strategy
07:37 Designing for Community Managers and Editors
08:40 The Design Exchange Group
09:43 Establishing a Private Community for Finch Editors
11:05 Providing Learning Content: “The Birdfeeder”
14:20 Engaging Users with Embedded Miro Boards
15:57 Experimenting with Short Form Video Posts
17:12 Video Examples: 3 Ways to Use AI, Bluebeam Tips, New Finch
19:56 Surfacing Existing Content with Short Video Clips

Q+A
22:23 Q: How are you creating the short form videos?
25:57 Q: How are you coaching content editors?
28:22 Q: What are your roles?
31:19 Q: Engagement and tags for Design Exchange?
34:54 Q: How did you get momentum to get where you are today?
38:14 Q: How do you get users through the change curve?
41:39 Q: Are you considering the new Synthesis LMS in 2025?
43:54 Q: What do the Teams links lead to?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

SYNTHESIS SPOTLIGHT | Capturing Knowledge at DLR Group

Featured Guests

Stefanie Henderson, Internal Communications Leader
Colby Dietz, Knowledge Manager

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this Synthesis Spotlight on Square1, DLR Group’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Our guides will be Colby Dietz, Knowledge Manager, and Stefanie Henderson, Internal Communications Leader.

DLR Group has evolved and grown since they launched their Synthesis intranet ten years ago, and their intranet has evolved and grown along with them. This past June they introduced Synthesis 6. They looked at their preparation for implementing this new version of Synthesis as an opportunity to focus on capturing knowledge in each of their core disciplines, as well as emerging and specialty services.

In this Synthesis Spotlight, Colby and Stefanie share how DLR Group:

• Manages both firmwide and community specific communications for more than 1,400 employees in offices across the U.S. and internationally

• Shares knowledge within their four core disciplines, as well as emerging and specialty services

• Empowers Community Managers and Team Leaders to create and lead knowledge sharing

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
01:20 Firm Introduction
01:50 Introduction to Square1: Home Page
02:58 Projects Community
03:20 Integrated Practice Community
04:10 Discipline Sub-Communities
05:30 Specialty Services Guides
06:50 Enterprise Community: HR, Marketing, Technology
07:30 Culture Community

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
08:15 Internal Communications Overview
08:56 Reaffirming the Source of Information
09:46 Sharing Firmwide News in the Enterprise Community
10:38 Featured Posts Block
11:28 Promoted Posts Guardrails
13:08 Marketing EZ Requests
14:00 Targeted Communications: Featured Posts
15:50 Featured Posts Guardrails

COMMUNITY MANAGERS
16:25 The Role of the Community Manager
19:05 Community Manager Quarterly Check-ins
21:40 Community Manager Checklist

UX
22:23 Collecting and Incorporating Feedback on UX Design

Q+A
25:40 Q: How do you facilitate a collaborative relationship with your community managers? Can you offer any lessons learned?
29:20 Q: What kind of analytics are you providing to content managers in Synthesis 6?
30:05 Q: How long did it take you to develop your promoted/featured posts and community manager guidelines?
33:25 Q: How do your community managers add posts to the featured post block?
34:44 Q: How much time are you each spending on intranet work weekly?
36:24 Q: How many total communities/community managers do you have?
37:07 Q: Do you have guidelines for any roles other than community managers?
38:16 Q: As the community manager role has evolved, have more of the requests gone through community managers?
40:22 Q: Did you consider putting Professional Development into its own community versus within the discipline pages?
43:52 Q: Does your internal communications plan primarily center around the intranet?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

INTRANET TOUR | Highlights from MBH's Transition to Synthesis 6

Featured Guests

Hillary Thompson, Director of Brand Communications

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this interactive tour of Archie, MBH’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Our tour guide will be Hillary Thompson, Director of Brand Communications.

MBH launched the new Archie to all employees in August, after a six month transition process.

In this Intranet Tour, Hillary will share:

• How employees use Archie to find expertise across MBH’s US and India offices

• Inspiring examples of scaling Technical Design learning across the business

• Synthesis 6 transition strategies and lessons learned

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
00:58 Speaker Introduction
01:50 Introduction to MBH
02:55 Marketing and Knowledge Management

TOUR
04:45 Archie Overview
05:30 Activity Stream
06:07 Example Post from Mumbai Office
07:39 Employee Profiles: “Pronounce My Name”
08:38 Employee Profiles: “I Can Help With”
10:35 Need Help? Smart Employee Block on Technology Pages
11:50 #ArchieTips
12:38 Directory: Experience Under Previous Association
13:33 Intranet 101: Completing the “About Me” Section
14:16 Updating Profiles as Part of the Annual Review Process
15:10 Technical Lessons Posts
18:16 Internal University Program: “Framework”
19:40 Example Framework Post
20:18 Benefits of Framework Posts
21:26 Rethinking Intranet Navigation: Benefits
23:13 Custom Icons
24:28 Office Resources by Location

PROCESS
26:10 Transition Overview
26:58 Rethinking Navigation and Populating Content
28:48 Prioritizing Future Content Development: Studio Workspaces
30:46 Change Management and Messaging
32:50 Preparing All Staff for Launch

Q+A
34:07 Q: What is the process for creating and reviewing content?
36:45 Q: How do you leverage Archie to onboard new offices?
39:00 Q: Show us your custom Marketing Icon Library!
41:30 Q: How much was from KA’s template and how much did you customize?
42:58 Q: Can anyone comment in such a way that the posted content can be updated?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

INTRANET TOUR | Highlights from Primera's Transition to Synthesis 6

Featured Guests

Matt Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Marketing + Communications
Nick Sternowski, Director of Operations

Webinar Summary

Join us for an interactive tour of Alma, Primera’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Our tour guides will be Matt Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications, and Nick Sternowski, Director of Operations.

Primera launched Alma to all employees on June 5th, after two months of planning and design followed by four months of building.

In this Intranet Tour, Matt and Nick will share:

• Inspiring examples of intranet content and communications the Primera team built during their transition to Synthesis 6

• What Primera’s users are enjoying the most about Alma

• Synthesis 6 transition strategies and lessons learned

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
00:39 Speaker Introductions
02:04 Alma 101 Video
07:35 About Primera
09:17 Why a new intranet?

TOUR
11:52 CEO’s Mid-Year Meeting Recap Post
13:55 Real Time Communications: Employee Survey
17:36 Financial Wellness Benefit Rollout
20:47 Codified Knowledge: Career Development Guides
22:00 Project Manager Training Guide
24:15 Who We Are Guide

Q+A
27:35 Q: How did you get the owners of content comfortable with posting?
26:40 Q: What percentage of your staff participate?
31:30 Example: Ask Alma Scavenger Hunt
32:16 Q: What are the resources needed to maintain the intranet?
33:38 Example: Biometric Screening Benefit Page
34:30 Q: How does the Important Dates section on the right work?
35:25 Q: What is a lesson learned from your transition?

TRANSITION APPROACH
37: 20 Introduction to the Transition Approach 
38:10 Preparing High Quality Essential Content
41:16 Branding and Internal Communications
45:36 Pre-Populating the Stream

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

INTRANET TOUR | Highlights from Fuscoe Engineering's Transition to Synthesis 6

Featured Guests

Brandon Norton, Multi-Media Manager, Fuscoe Engineering

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this tour of Arc, Fuscoe Engineering’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Your tour guide will be Brandon Norton, Multi-Media Manager and Intranet Champion.

Fuscoe launched the new Arc to all employees on June 5th, after serving as one of the earliest beta testers of Synthesis 6.

In this Intranet Tour, Brandon shared:

• Inspiring examples of intranet content and communications that the Fuscoe team built during their transition to Synthesis 6

• What Fuscoe users are enjoying the most about the new Arc

• Synthesis 6 transition strategies and lessons learned

For a detailed look at ARC’s information architecture, click here.

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
01:55 Fuscoe Engineering Overview
04:27 Arc Homepage
07:15 Visual Navigation System
08:07 Vision + Purpose Miniguide
09:22 Employee Ownership Guide
10:35 Employee Handbook Guide
12:00 HR + Office Community
13:17 Benefits Center Guide
14:41 Office Resource Pages
17:40 Job Description Pages
18:32 Projects + Practice Community
19:05 QA/QC Page + Resources
21:06 Project Directory
23:19 Standards + Codes Link Library/Guide
24:25 Technology Community
24:49 Office Equipment Miniguide
25:26 Software Applications Pages
27:40 Marketing Community
27:59 Style Guide
29:00 Templates + Collateral Library
29:45 Business Card Order Form
30:40 Learning Community
30:51 Technical Training Library + Courses
31:52 Lunch + Learn Recordings
32:29 Learning Video Library
33:29 Q: How do digital business cards work?
34:44 Q: Are assets in the Brand + Collateral Library brought in from OpenAsset?
35:30 Q: How many people were involved in the development of Arc before launch?
37:20 The Bubble Community

Q+A
38:50 Q: Do you experience information overload on your intranet homepage since all posts on the Aec are made there? Do you have guidelines and/or limitations on who can post and what they can post about?
40:58 Q: How has the new intranet been received by employees?
42:34 Q: How are you onboarding new content editors after launch?
44:36 Q: Can you please show a few examples of reinforcing the Fuscoe brand in Synthesis 6 without using Custom CSS or Javascript?
47:06 Q: How did you use Custom CSS to reinforce your brand in Synthesis 6?
48:45 Q: What percentage of your intranet content was migrated from Synthesis 5 versus created fresh in Synthesis 6?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

INTRANET TOUR | Highlights from Moody Nolan's Transition to Synthesis 6

Featured Guests

Brian Alting, Principal, Director of Technology, Moody Nolan
Nick Bower, Director of Design Technology, Moody Nolan

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this tour of The Mood, Moody Nolan’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Your tour guides will be Brian Alting, Principal and Directory of Technology, and Nick Bower, Director of Design Technology.

Moody Nolan launched the new Mood to all employees on May 2nd, after a roughly six month transition effort.

In this Intranet Tour, Brian and Nick share:

• Inspiring examples of intranet content and communications that Brian, Nick, and the Moody Nolan team built during their transition to Synthesis 6

• What Moody Nolan users are enjoying the most about the new Mood

• Synthesis 6 transition strategies and lessons learned

For a detailed look at The Mood’s information architecture, click here.

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
01:45 Moody Nolan Overview
02:30 The Mood Communities Overview
03:10 Office: Forms Library
04:00 Communications Community
05:08 MoodCheck Staff Meeting Guide
05:44 Practices Community
06:25 Housing Practice Pages 
07:27 Housing Onboarding & Standards
07:45 Learning Community
08:18 Professional Development Series
10:30 PD Series Video Library
11:20 Quarterly Summits
11:55 Learning Courses Guide + Moodle LMS
13:20 Learning Badges

PROCESS
14:55 Process: Transition Timeline Overview
16:22 Administrator Onboarding
18:25 Content Migration
19:40 Onboarding Content Managers
23:10 Intranet Branding and Standards
25:00 Firmwide Launch Announcement
26:35 Cut Over
27:40 Continuous Improvement

Q+A
28:50 Q: How did you connect Moodle, your LMS, to the intranet?
30:50 Q: How do people "sign-up" or gain access to the learning opportunities? Are they virtual or all in-person? If they are virtual, do you put the calendar invites on The Mood for folks to download or does that process happen outside of your intranet?
35:45 Q: How are community managers selected and what do you expect of them?
36:21 Q: How do you decide if a lift-and-shift or a redesign is right for your firm?
40:35 Q: How do you determine where content lives if it is relevant in multiple locations?
41:40 Example: Cross referencing Vantagepoint in multiple locations

WRITE IN Q+A
Q: How do you track staff AIA credits from your Professional Development Series?
A: All of the AIA credits are managed outside of the intranet. We have a few employees that manage that side of things.

Q: Who creates the PD series videos?
A: The PD Series is all done through Microsoft Teams Live Events. Those are automatically recorded, so we take the recordings and upload them to the intranet.

Q: Do you have many Community Managers? One from each office? Looking for some ideas on how many people have their hands in creating/editing content.
A: We have a lot of community managers. I would say we have upwards of 20. We have it based more on the information that person can offer. So marketing, finance, tech, etc.

Q: How do you determine if you're better off with the "lift and shift" approach or re-building from scratch?
A: The content outliner makes it easy to move things around. We went with a fairly blank framework and then just moved info to the respective location.

Q: Nick Bower mentioned the content outliner as an invaluable tool. What is that?
A: It is the primary tool you use to create, organize, and manage content in S6. This video shows the Content Outliner in action.

Q: What would you say was the longest/hardest part of the transition? How did you structure your agenda for the process?
A: Honestly, the entire process was pretty painless. There are so many great features.

Q: Who are the content managers, how are they selected, were there any challenges in having staff carve out time to develop their pages?
A: The content managers are all across the company. We basically identify the correct person who both has the information and will work on the intranet actively.

Q: Can you demonstrate building a new page? I'm interested in seeing how improved the UX is!
A: I don’t think Brian and Nick will have time to do this on the webinar, but this video shows the content creation tools in action.

Q: Being a multi-office firm, do you share your proposals and opportunities on the intranet, similar to the directory format? If so, can you show us how that is displayed?
A: Currently we do not share proposals and other things like that, but it is a conversation we are starting to have—to see what value that may bring to the intranet.

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

INTRANET TOUR | Highlights from AE2S's Transition to Synthesis 6

Featured Guests

Sue Hass, Marketing Manager at AE2S

Webinar Summary

We’re excited to share this tour of Drop, AE2S’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Your tour guide will be Sue Hass, Marketing Manager and Intranet Champion.

AE2S launched the new Drop to all employees on March 29th, after a roughly four month transition effort.

In this Intranet Tour, Sue shares:

• Inspiring examples of intranet content and communications that Sue and the AE2S team built during their transition to Synthesis 6

• What AE2S users are enjoying the most about the new Drop

• Synthesis 6 transition strategies and lessons learned

• A “cheat sheet” they created to help content editors determine the best Synthesis 6 tool for their content needs. You can download it here.

Webinar Timeline

INTRANET TOUR
01:50 Overview of Communities
02:20 Home: Drop 101, Office Locations, Company History, ESOP Guide
05:00 Practice: Instrumentation & Controls Knowledge Base Guide, I&C Posts
06:20 Project Management Manual Guide
07:23 CAD Manual Guide
08:30 Proposal Archive Document Library
10:00 Presentation Archive Document Library
10:35 Employee Directory: Licensed Professionals View
11:25 Employee Block: Certified Drone Pilots
11:55 Project Directory: Filtered Views Smart Nav Block
13:20 Project Directory: Map View
14:30 Project Directory: Filtered View Links
14:55 Search Optimization: Best Bets
15:25 Branding

TRANSITION PROCESS
16:39 Introduction to Process
17:40 Transition Timeline Overview
19:00 Navigation
20:45 Onboarding
21:30 Migrating Content
23:30 Redesign vs Lift and Shift
24:25 Which Tools to Use When
25:50 Onboarding Content Editors (Post Launch)
27:30 Managing Content During the Transition}
29:50 Employee Training (Post Launch)
30:45 Re-Launch Communications

QUESTIONS
34:30 How does your team use the Proposal Archive and Presentation Library? Are the files also saved on SharePoint?
36:20 How did you get your content managers to think about the new features and reorganize their content with them in a new way?
37:30 How many people did you have managing the site pre-transition, during transition, and now?
39:15 Which projects do you show on the intranet and who manages that information?
40:32 Do you have a sense of what project information employees are finding most valuable?
41:30 Where did the ESOP calculator come from?
42:00 Did you do any tree testing of your information architecture?
42:10 How are you using the stream and how are you managing that content?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

SYNTHESIS SPOTLIGHT | Sharing Best Practices and Process Knowledge @ Bora

Featured Guests

Corey Squire, Director of Sustainability at Bora

Webinar Summary

Knowledge management is key to unlocking success with sustainable design, but designers live in a noisy world filled with conflicting priorities. By taking the time to capture and share “what good looks like”—in other words, to separate the signal from the noise—a firm can provide its designers with a solid baseline for designing projects.

This pursuit to deliver better project outcomes led Bora’s Director of Sustainability, Corey Squire, to build and launch Chaco, the firm’s Synthesis 6 intranet. Through the sharing of best practices and process knowledge—information staff “can’t find anywhere else”—Chaco is helping Bora embrace the firm’s core design philosophies of health, climate and equity while transforming the design process.

In this Synthesis Spotlight, you’ll learn how Chaco allows Bora’s designers to:

• Find best practices for building typologies, systems, materials, construction, and specifications

• Use process knowledge ranging from pre-design, design, products + materials, client feedback, and archiving in their projects

• Ask questions and get answers from other designers around a variety of design and technical topics

• Continuously improve Bora’s knowledge base as the firm evolves and grows

Webinar Timeline

INTRODUCTION
01:12 Introduction to Bora
02:50 Knowledge Management Challenges
04:58 Broad Overview of Chaco

BEST PRACTICES
06:20 Vision → Outcome → Strategy → Documentation
08:58 The Meaning of “Best Practices” at Bora
10:55 Bora Best Practices vs Standard Best Practices
12:17 The Bora Perfect Project
14:25 Best Practices by Typology
16:33 Interior Construction / Wall Finishes
19:45 Best Practices by Division
21:05 Best Practices Posts + Hashtags

PROCESS
22:34 Process Overview
24:30 Project Start Up
26:06 Environmental Graphic Design
27:16 Contextual Research
27:45 Performance Requirements
28:40 Volta Indoor Air Quality 
30:13 Connecting Tools and Resources to Explanations
30:35 Sample Drawing Set
34:35 Construction Administration Guide
35:40 Process Posts + Hashtags
36:40 Post: Joint Sealant Question

PROJECTS
38:00 2030 Dashboard Directory View
39:34 Performance Metrics on Project Profiles
40:36 Projects by Glazing Area Directory View

QUESTIONS
41:43 How will you make sure your best practices don’t go stale?
45:18 How do you enforce best practices?
47:20 Start with the Firm Vision / Mission
49:10 How do you find the time to maintain intranet content?
51:38 How was your intranet content developed? How much time did it take?
55:55 What’s next for Chaco?

More Case Study Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

SYNTHESIS SPOTLIGHT | Fostering Community at Ballinger, LMN, and Shive-Hattery

Featured Guests

Christine Larsen, Director of Marketing at Ballinger
Kristen Riley, Employee Experience Manager at LMN Architects
Amy Anderson, Marketing Information Systems at Shive-Hattery

Webinar Summary

In this Synthesis Spotlight, you’ll hear from intranet champions who are using their Synthesis intranet to foster community in a variety of ways.

Webinar Timeline

00:09 Introductions

00:51 Christine Larsen - B-Engaged at Ballinger
01:40 About Ballinger
02:29 Main Programs: SPARK, Community Design Collaborative, Habitat for Humanity
05:46 How it Works
06:47 Promoting In-Person Events
07:41 Promoting Virtual Events
08:53 2020 Thanksgiving Cookbook
10:02 Social Responsibility + Professional Growth

11:22 Kristen Riley - DEI at LMN Architects
12:24 About LMN
13:09 DEI as a Community
14:53 Adjusting to Work from Home
16:25 Staff Engagement on Current Events
17:13 DEI Resources on the Intranet
18:24 #CommunityCaresSeries
20:21 Posts from Multiple Authors

20:56 Amy Anderson - Growth Summit at Shive-Hattery
21:47 About Shive-Hattery
22:00 Growth Summit Introduced
22:51 Shifting + Expanding into a Virtual Summit
24:14 Selecting Your Session
25:47 Session Agendas Using the Strategic Choice Cascade format
26:35 Ground Rules for Sessions
27:24 The Session Experience + Feedback
28:42 Looking Forward

29:52 Q+A
30:14 Are employees being paid for their time participating in B:Engaged events? (Christine)
31:36 How does the DEI group vet communications? (Kristen)
32:24 Was your entire event setup and conducted in Synthesis? (Amy)
32:58 Was there resistance on grounds of ‘Zoom Fatigue’? (Amy)
33:40 How large is Ballinger? (Christine)
34:02 Concern over having not enough or too many people participating in sessions? (Amy)
34:48 How was the event promoted on the intranet? (Amy)
35:26 What DEI conversations have gained the most traction? (Kristen)
36:38 How are new employees introduced to B-Engaged? (Christine)
37:13 Are there talks of evolving your ‘swarming’ events with practice groups? (Amy)
39:04 How do you mentor younger staff interested in the Community Design Collaborative? (Christine)
39:57 Is formal DEI training still happening? (Kristen)
41:03 Have you changed the way your intranet supports future events + goals based on what you’ve learned? (All)
42:49 What are your thoughts on confirmation emails w/.ics files vs. downloading an .ics file for selecting + joining events? (Amy)
45:06 Where do you see your intranets + these initiatives in 5 years time? (All)
47:15 Does your staff use the Synthesis Mobile app? (All)
48:26 What’s your advice for someone starting community building today? (All)
50:16 What’s the most fun part of community work? (All)
51:21 What did you learn about community work during the pandemic that you didn’t know coming in? (All)

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Intranet Reorganizations at Lochner and BWBR

Featured Guests

Hillary Schlehuber, Senior Associate and Marketing Communications Manager at Lochner
Stefnee Trzpuc, Principal and Operations Leader at BWBR

Webinar Summary

In this Synthesis Spotlight, you’ll hear from two intranet champions who are fundamentally reorganizing their firm’s intranet to better support business needs.

Webinar Timeline

02:12 Hillary Schlehuber - Lochner
03:04 Renovating LochNET
03:34 Background on Lochner
04:17 5 years of LochNET
04:49 Why a renovation?
05:41 Getting going and goals
06:25 Content ownership structure shift
07:04 Key Points in the Journey
07:14 … Acknowledging the baseline
09:04 … Recalibrating expectations
10:34 … Inventory + Renovation
12:11 HR Center Renovation
12:30 … Acknowledging the baseline
15:05 … Content inventory 
16:10 … A user friendly information architecture
17:47 … The new HR Center
19:15 … How we did it
19:51 Content Spotlight: Client Managers 
20:14 Content Spotlight: “For Marketers” 
20:44 How renovations were rolled out
21:50 What users are saying
23:05 Hillary’s professional growth

25:17 Stefnee Trzpuc - BWBR
26:22 BWBR’s intranet history
28:00 Redesign goals
30:06 The organizational accountability chart
30:42 … Business units
31:32 … Key components of each unit 
32:10 … Integrating the employee experience
32:50 … What happens in the business
33:18 Connecting the organizational strategy to the intranet
33:32 Rebranding: BHive
34:18 … Communicating to staff
34:45 … Restructuring communities
35:40 … Elevating Technology resources
36:17 … Reclaiming the Office community
36:40 … Communities = Colonies
37:01 … Homepage + left hand navigation
37:52 … Activity stream simplification
38:58 … Colony navigation 
39:39 … Content pages with hashtag stream links
40:13 Restructuring BHive
40:18 Styling + branding toolkit
41:50 Results
42:00 … Posts and engagement
42:30 … Content usage
42:54 Observations
45:00 The journey continues

Q+A
46:44 Q: What's the plan for keeping content current? Who's involved?
48:07 Q: What methods did you use for user feedback? Did you do any Beta Testing?
50:11 Q: What questions did you ask in user feedback and how did you make that conversation work?
53:05 Q: How did practice areas respond to the homepage-only stream + hashtags?
54:13 Q: How does governance of hashtags work for you?
56:32 Q: Can you show us the People/HR dropdown in top navigation?
57:27 Q: Are the breadcrumbs manually managed?
58:26 Q: Are people searching less because navigation is easier?
59:43 Q: What was your experience shortening the left hand navigation?
61:20 Q: Are people frustrated with the hybrid (renovated + legacy structure) intranet?
63:28 Q: What's next with your intranet renovation?

64:51 Thank you Stefnee and Hillary!

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Intranet Best Practices: Research Findings from Nielsen Norman Group and Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Kathryn Whitenton, Director of Digital Strategy at Nielsen Norman Group
Page Laubheimer, Senior User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group

Webinar Summary

In this month’s Office Hours, Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) and Knowledge Architecture share insights based on our recent study of over 120 Synthesis intranets. We discuss patterns and pitfalls of intranet navigation, share best practices for building effective and intuitive intranet navigation, and introduce you to a process for validating proposed changes to intranet navigation.

Webinar Timeline

00:18 Introductions
00:18 Common Intranet Navigation Questions from KA Clients
03:32 Introduction to the Research Project & Team

08:36 Intranet Navigation Best Practices
09:08 Introduction to NN/g
10:40 Information Architecture (IA) 101: Mental Models
12:07 Intranet IA: Most Common Problems
13:10 User-Centered Design
14:16 Example: Department vs. User Centered Intranet Design
16:00 Mental Expectations are not Logical Taxonomies
17:30 Asymmetric Structure is OK 
19:18 Polyhierarchy is OK

20:24 Overview: Navigation Best Practices
20:45 1. High Visibility for Key Categories
21:36 … Example: Common Tier 1 Categories
22:05 2. Distinct Categories
22:52 … Example: Codes vs Standards
23:44 3. Familiar, Clear Terminology
24:35 … Example: [Firmname] University
25:06 4. Short, Front-Loaded Labels
26:05 … Example: Professional Licensure vs Licensure

26:38 Tree Testing
27:30 Accordion Menu and User Tasks
29:22 The Research Process: Live Sessions & Data Collection
30:38 IA Trees Assessed
32:10 … Tree A — Broad
34:08 … Tree B — Narrow
35:24 … Tree C — Medium-Broad
36:28 … Tree D — Broad with alternate working
36:46 Video: Tree Testing Task

37:33 Answers to Key Questions
37:50 HR, Marketing & IT 
39:58 Administrative Category / Office
42:13 General Resources vs by Discipline
45:25 Filters and Cross References
46:11 Where Users Looked for Learning Content
47:30 Learning Content
49:40 First Click Data for Learning Content Task
50:46 Overlap & Over-Specificity in Tier 3
52:08 Broad vs Narrow Tier 1
54:40 Q: How broad is too broad?
57:20 Q: Was there a difference between the two broad options?

58:20 Recommendations
58:55 1. Organize content by topic
59:28 2. Call your administrative category “Office”
1:00:21 3. Clarity over brevity/cleverness for category names
1:01:38 4. Go with a broad and shallow architecture
1:02:10 5. Don’t get overly specific in lower levels
1:02:53 Recommended Default Navigation
1:01:04 … Projects & Practice Category
01:07:27 … Office, About Us, Learning
1:09:04 Label Names to Avoid
1:09:11 … Firmwide
1:10:01 … Design Technology
1:10:32 … Project Delivery
1:10:58 … Practice Groups
1:11:20 … Business Services

1:12:08 Research Protocol
1:12:38 Optimal Workshop & Treejack
1:13:04 Create User Tasks
1:14:47 Find 50+ Participants Per Task
1:15:14 11 Tasks Used by NN/g
1:15:27 Analysis of Results
1:16:09 Visualization: Overall Metrics 
1:17:06 Visualization: Pie Tree 
1:17:46 Matrix: Where Users Looked 

Q+A
1:18:55 Q: Where does “accounting” (forms, etc) fit in best?
1:21:12 Q: Any recommendations on where to put design conversations and inspiration?
1:23:44 Q: Is there a best practice with regard to how often you can/should make changes to your intranet navigation?
1:26:15 Q: Any thoughts on where programs and conversations related to professional development can be organized?

Read the Collaborative Notes

Members of our team and the KA Advance community took collaborative notes during this webinar using Google Docs. Collaborative note-taking helped us summarize key takeaways, collect related links, and will provide us with a quick reference when we return to this topic in the future. We've found the notes quite useful so far and hope you will as well.

Review the Session Slides

Want to take a closer look at NN/g’s presentation slides? Check them out here.

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Firmwide Learning @ Turner Fleischer

Featured Guests

Ellen Bensky, CEO of Turner Fleischer Architects

Webinar Summary

This Office Hours recording features Ellen Bensky, CEO of Turner Fleischer Architects, sharing how their intranet, Newton, supports firmwide learning through Turner Fleischer Academy. 

Six years ago, Turner Fleischer recognized it needed a way to accelerate learning in order to bridge knowledge gaps between new graduates and experienced staff.  

Three years ago, they launched Newton, their knowledge management platform.  

Today, they have a robust firm university program administered through Newton to provide ongoing training and continuing education opportunities. 

In this recorded webinar, you’ll learn how Turner Fleischer:

• Accelerates learning in a digital age 

• Supports teachers with instructor resources 

• Fosters a more collaborative and engaged workforce 

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:  

• Transition to Remote Learning (10:00)

• Using Synthesis to maintain culture and connection in WFH status (37:50)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:28 KA Connect 2020: The Art of Change
03:15 Community 2020: Sharing Ideas + Connecting People
04:36 What’s Next?
05:11 April 2020 Agenda
07:37 Spring Product Update
08:16 Call for Ideas
09:26 Introduction: Ellen Bensky @ Turner Fleischer

Firmwide Learning at Turner Fleischer
10:00 Transition to Remote Learning
10:48 Introduction to TF
11:52 Why a Culture of Learning?

TF Academy
14:05 TF Academy Learning Page
15:10 Winter 2020 Class List
16:16 Sessions Breakdown
17:02 Learning Calendar
17:20 Who is Teaching?
18:10 Supporting TF Academy Teachers
19:20 Content Preparation & Review
20:06 Scheduling
20:33 Promotion and Launch
21:05 Promoting Class Registration
21:30 Teaching and Feedback Survey
22:10 Work Shadowing
23:29 #Jeremy+1
24:23 #LessonsLearned

Q+A
26:00 Q: How has the feedback form changed over time?
27:40 Q: How did you decide on the right number of classes to offer?
28:18 Q: What is the review process for content and how long does that typically take?
29:42 Q: Do you record sessions and make them available after the fact?
30:36 Q: Do you archive lessons learned posts for later retrieval?
32:45 Q: How do you address staff hesitation for teaching or taking classes?
33:49 Q: How do you measure hours committed to learning?
35:28 Q: How do you select who gets into each class?
36:50 Q: How much time does the team commit to TF Academy administration?
37:50 Q: What ways are you using Newton to maintain culture and connection in WFH status?
43:30 Q: How do you watch a movie together remotely?
44:08 Virtual Bike Rides with Zwift

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Chris, Sarah, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Streamlining Business Processes with Online Forms at Schmidt, RCH, and ESA

Featured Guests

Libby Budack, Data Specialist at Schmidt Associates
Matt Richmond, Chief Technology Officer at RCH Studios
Eric Klotz, Principal at ESa

Webinar Summary

In this month’s Office Hours, team members from Schmidt Associates, RCH Studios, and ESa shared how they are using Synthesis to improve information flow across the firm with online forms. 

Schmidt Associates’ Libby Budack shared how they gather internal employee recognition nominations with formstack.

RCH Studios’ Matt Richmond shared how they engage employees in employee & project information maintenance with Microsoft Forms in Office 365.

ESa’s Eric Klotz shared how they use a Smartsheet form to streamline the process of starting up new projects.

In this webinar, you’ll:

• Understand several common business processes that can be automated using online forms

• Learn about a variety of online form technologies that can integrate with Synthesis

• See how forms are displayed on Synthesis

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to three highlights:  

• The Starfish Award Form (10:13)

• Office 365 Forms Tutorial (16:07)

• New Project Request Form (28:28)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:17 KA Connect 2020 Speakers Announced
01:45 Synthesis Workshop San Francisco 2020
03:20 New Support Article: Publish a Form on Synthesis

Schmidt Associates: formstack
04:30 Introduction to Schmidt Associates
05:58 Synthesis Implementation (KAL)
06:28 formstack Introduction
06:42 Pre-form Challenges
07:20 Benefits of Forms
07:50 The Starfish Award 
09:00 Award Examples
10:13 The Starfish Award Form
11:00 Automated Workflows
11:30 Other Forms

RCH Studios: Office 365 Forms + PowerAutomate
13:48 Introduction to RCH Studios
14:25 Synthesis Implementation (Loop)
14:35 Deltek Data Correction Form
16:07 Office 365 Forms Tutorial
17:35 Automate with Microsoft PowerAutomate 
19:05 Improving the Data Correction Form

ESa: Smartsheet
22:02 Introduction to ESa
22:55 Where it Started: Project Scheduling 
23:50 Smartsheet Introduction
24:50 Additional Features: Project Data Collection
25:22 Project Dashboards
26:10 Project Tracking, Meeting Notes, Team Members
27:00 Project Managers Meeting
27:23 Integrating Forms with Synthesis (SLATE)
28:28 New Project Request Form
29:12 Active Project Management Process (Workflow)
30:02 Principal Intake Request Data Review
30:55 Smartsheet Dashboards and Reports
32:28 Next Steps: Smartsheet and Deltek Data Synchronization 

Q+A
33:00 Q: Has anyone come up against the issue of validating the data that is coming in from these forms, and have there been any challenges expressed from the people that are entering that data into Deltek from the forms?
35:35 Q: Is Microsoft PowerAutomate part of Microsoft Office 365?
35:37 Q: Is Smartsheet being used as your Project Management solution?
37:19 Q: Is Smartsheet helping to create and customize those dashboards?
38:30 Q: What has the response been from staff who are receiving and processing the information from forms?
41:08 Q: Have any of you observed any hesitation on adoption?
43:05 Q: With the project initiation form, is that the only way you will accept a new project?
43:58 Q: Where do you house the emails/information generated from request forms?
46:18 Q: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about integrating forms?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Chris, Sarah, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Launching Synthesis @ RDG Planning & Design

Featured Guests

Ron Heims, Principal and IT Director at RDG Planning & Design
Susan Strom, Director of Client Success at Knowledge Architecture

Webinar Summary

Twelve years ago, RDG Planning & Design developed an intranet to help employees find firmwide standards, procedures, and company announcements. Over time, their homegrown intranet had become cumbersome to maintain and the content became outdated. As RDG evolved, they needed a knowledge-sharing solution that was more flexible and supportive of user-generated content.

Last year, RDG partnered with Knowledge Architecture to reboot their intranet technology, governance, and team. The result is their new Synthesis intranet, “The Know.” 

Today, 100% of employees visit “The Know” monthly, 95% of employees access essential standards and guides monthly, and 80 - 95% of employees open news and announcement posts weekly.

In this webinar Ron and Susan share RDG’s story along with current best practices for launching an awesome intranet, including:

• What makes an awesome intranet?

• Who makes an awesome intranet?

• How to launch your intranet awesomely.

We wrap up with a brief tour of RDG’s awesome intranet!

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to three highlights:  

• Great Intranet Teams (19:04)

• Kübler-Ross Change Curve (29:24)

• Brief Tour of RDG’s Awesome Intranet (38:48)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
00:52 KA Connect 2020 Registration Open
02:14 Synthesis Workshop San Francisco 2020
03:53 Introduction: Ron @ RDG Planning

Launching an Awesome Intranet!
05:00 Introduction to RDG
06:10 Supporting a Remote Workforce
08:24 RDG Business Strategies
09:53 RDG’s Existing Intranet: The Know
11:04 Introduction to Knowledge Architecture
12:04 Why Get a New Intranet?
13:50 Roadmap Outline

What Makes an Awesome Intranet?
14:25 Intranet Maturity Model
16:25 RDG Intranet Survey
17:30 RDG’s Year 1 Priorities

Who Makes an Awesome Intranet?
18:12 Who Do You Involve in Organizational Change?
19:04 Great Intranet Teams
20:20 Core Team vs Content Team
21:27 Core Team Responsibilities
22:06 Content Team Responsibilities
22:37 Core Team Roles
24:04 Content Team Roles
24:43 Stakeholder Analysis: Essential Content
26:22 RDG Intranet Team

Launching Your Intranet Awesomely
28:10 Behavior Change Process: Transition Patterns
29:24 Kübler-Ross Change Curve
34:50 Common Stages of Change
37:07 Change Leadership Strategies

Brief Tour of RDG’s Awesome Intranet
38:48 Home Page
40:10 Project Directory/Profiles
41:25 Office 
42:12 Employee Directory/Profiles
43:13 Technology
44:02 Integrating Custom Data
44:38 Search Capabilities
45:30 Search Optimization
46:58 Mobile App

Post Launch
47:38 Increased Posts and Engagement
48:36 Quarterly Reviews with KA
49:20 Lessons Learned
50:06 Supporting RDG Business Strategies
51:20 Takeaways

Q+A
51:36 Q: It appears that the team is top down and admin heavy, have you involved people from the front lines?
52:35 Q: How do you engage the rest of your community?
53:30 Q: What is the reception when you share underperforming search term data?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Employee Onboarding @ Parkhill, Smith & Cooper

Featured Guests

Dawn Moore, Corporate Director of HR at PSC

Webinar Summary

Using their firm’s recent growth as a catalyst for change, Parkhill, Smith & Cooper (PSC) revamped their employee onboarding experience to be more efficient and to connect more deeply with each new team member. 

The new employee onboarding process starts with in-person storytelling on key topics such as firm culture and strategy and continues with just-in-time digital resources hosted on their intranet, RED, throughout the first year.  PSC has successfully onboarded 70+ employees in the new program and is seeing improvements to new employee engagement on and off the intranet.

In this office hours, Dawn Moore, Corporate Director of HR at PSC, takes you behind the scenes of their revamped employee onboarding program. 

You’ll learn how PSC:

• Kicks off employee onboarding with an interactive session using the intranet

• Orients new employees into firm culture and builds community from day one

• Collects feedback from new employees and integrates this into the onboarding process

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:

• Onboarding After Red (11:33)

• myPSC Community (17:07)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:20 Synthesis Workshop: Chicago Program 
06:10 KA Connect 2020 Registration Open
06:38 Q: Do we need to have a laptop for the whole program or just the intranet tours?
07:40 Speaker Introduction

Orientation and Onboarding @ PSC
08:25 Introduction to PSC
09:08 Launch of Synthesis
09:36 Orientation and Onboarding Process
09:52 Onboarding Before RED
10:51 New Employee Orientation Presentation
11:33 Onboarding After Red

Orientation Slides
12:44 Our Mission: Building Community
13:58 Disciplines & Sectors
14:26 PSC Leadership
14:45 Rules & Legal Requirements
15:19 Office Expectations
15:44 Benefits

Intranet Tour
16:05 Home Page
16:23 RED 101
16:53 Purpose and Strategy?
17:07 myPSC Community
17:50 Employee Handbook
18:12 Q: Do new employees enroll in benefits online on their own?19:16 Accounting Resources
19:40 IT Support
20:07 PSC Apparel
20:25 Building Community Investment
21:34 Team PSC Awards
22:02 Volunteering
22:25 PSC University
22:58 Employee Directory
23:49 Personal Profile
24:17 Office Directory
24:43 Project Directory
25:25 Design Community

Post-Orientation
26:11 Post-Orientation Follow Up
26:53 Outcomes
27:43 Summary

Q+A
28:25 Q: As an HR person, what made you want to get more involved in the intranet?
29:48 Q: What types of survey questions do you ask in your follow-up?
30:24 Q: Do you have employees sign to show that they’ve received the employee manual?
31:07 Q: What is the role of supervisors and managers in the onboarding process?
32:06 Q: How has leadership embraced the use of your intranet?
32:43 Q: Are you onboarding any employees remotely?
34:12 Q: Are you seeing any trends in the kinds of questions employees ask during onboarding?
35:01 Q: How has the process changed since you started this onboarding program?
36:03 Q: How do you share feedback and make improvements with other HR team members?
36:45 Q: Do you have any advice for IT or Marketing intranet champions who would like to involve their HR leaders?
38:26 Q: Is there anything you’ve stopped doing since you started this process?
39:22 Q: What advice would Dawn today give Dawn a year ago?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Elevating Design Conversations @ Diamond Schmitt and Turner Fleischer

Featured Guests

Michael Leckman, Principal, Diamond Schmitt
Sam Horton, Administrative Assistant to the Principals, Diamond Schmitt

Ellen Bensky, Principal, CEO, CFO, Turner Fleischer
Peter Frost, Manager - Marketing + Communications, Turner Fleischer 
Marco Marcoccia, Senior Designer/Technologist, Turner Fleischer  

Webinar Summary

This Office Hours featured team members from Diamond Schmitt and Turner Fleischer sharing how they engage their firms in design conversations on their intranets.  

Diamond Schmitt's Michael Leckman and Sam Horton shared how they:

• Brought offline design conversations online  

• Achieved 20% growth in Open and Engagement rates within 6 months

• Use positive reinforcement to mitigate employee fears about this type of sharing  

Turner Fleischer’s Ellen Bensky, Peter Frost, and Marco Marcoccia discussed how they:

• Integrated a new Design Director into the firm

• Changed the conversation to bring design back to the forefront of their work

• Build transparency and understanding through design discussions during a period of change

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:

• #DesignMatters Within the Office (14:27)

• Sharing Design Intent (29:18)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:13 Synthesis Workshop: Chicago 
03:10 KA Connect 2020 Registration Open
04:25 Speaker Introduction

INSPIRING A DESIGN CONVERSATION ONLINE @ DIAMOND SCHMITT
06:06 Introduction
07:32 Why We Started This Initiative
09:12 How We Developed This Approach
10:18 #DesignMatters Initiative
11:06 Engagement & Encouragement
12:38 Engagement Back-Channels: Instagram
13:33 #DesignMatters Outside the Office
14:27 #DesignMatters Within the Office
15:20 Example pdf
16:11 Make it Repeatable
16:55 Analytics
17:50 Evolution: Increased Engagement and Momentum
19:36 Engagement by Level
20:45 Next Steps

DESIGN CONVERSATIONS ON NEWTON @ TURNER FLEISCHER
Design Director + #DesignDesign (Ellen Bensky)
22:47 Design Director + #DesignDesign
23:11 Design Director Position
24:04 PIN UP: Design Concept Post
25:38 Design Director Activity
26:36 Live Monthly Pin Up 
27:12 #DesignDesign Initiative
27:47 #DesignDesign Post (Example)
28:28 #DesignDesign Wiki Page

Enhancing Design Conversations (Peter Frost)
29:18 Sharing Design Intent (Example)
31:08 #design+inspiration (Example)

Design Analytics (Marco Marcoccia)
33:25 #design+inspiration
33:58 #pinup

Q+A
35:14 Q: What is Diamond Schmitt’s process for creating the #DesignMatters pdfs?
38:19 Q: What kind of support and onboarding did the Design Director need to create content?
41:00 Q: What have you learned about creating a comfortable space that fosters engagement?
44:53 Q: How do you encourage leadership to contribute and engage?
50:39 Q: How has the online design conversation impacted offline design conversations?
53:55 Q: How has internal online design conversation impacted external design conversations?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Essential Content Reviews @ GRAEF and GMB

Featured Guests

Tony Balistreri, Knowledge Manager, GRAEF 
Shelly VandeWege, Marketing, GMB
Stephanie Eiler, Marketing, GMB

Webinar Summary

This Office Hours features short case studies from GRAEF and GMB, two firms that participated in our Essential Content Review (ECR) Beta program.

Keeping intranet content accurate and current can feel like a daunting task. Following a short introduction of the ECR process by Knowledge Architecture, you will hear how GRAEF’s Knowledge Manager, Tony Balistreri, and GMB’s Intranet Champions, Shelly VandeWege & Stephanie Eiler, adapted this process to meet their needs and create value for their organizations.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how each firm:

• Tactically implemented a regular cadence of ECRs 

• Adjusted Knowledge Architecture’s ECR process to meet their firm’s needs

• Identified gaps and launched intranet improvement projects to meet those gaps

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to three highlights:

• ECRs Then and Now (18:00)

• Discipline Wiki Pages (30:28)

• Q: Do you have any advice for other firms to get started? (46:20)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
00:58 Synthesis Workshop: Chicago 
01:31 KA Connect 2019 Talks Now Available
02:00 KA Connect 2020 Registration Open
02:41 Spring 2019 Product Update
02:55 Idea Lab for Synthesis 6 Pages
03:52 Synthesis Workshop Chicago: Synthesis 6 Demo Day 2

Introduction to ECR Process
04:42 Definition and Importance of Essential Content
06:14 Talk: A Sustainable Approach to Technical Content Management
07:01 Article: Planning for Essential Content Maintenance
07:20 The Five Step Process
08:00 Beta Testing the ECR Process
08:37 Introduction: Tony Balistreri, Shelly VandeWege, and Stephanie Eiler

ECRs @ GRAEF
09:50 About GRAEF
11:12 Launching “The Vine”
11:47 Initial Challenges
13:45 Areas for Improvement
14:25 The (Too) Big Improvement Project
14:58 Roadblocks to Improvement
15:56 ECR Process Reboot
18:00 ECRs Then and Now
19:06 Emerging Communities
19:49 Current ECR Status
20:34 Outcomes
21:00 Q: What are some examples of smaller “bite-size” milestones?

ECRs @ GMB
22:40 About GMB
23:04 Launching “DORP”
23:56 Site Layout & Communities
24:12 Culture ECR
25:04 Practice ECR: Managing a Complex Community
27:30 Discipline-Specific Documents and Links
28:35 Shifting to User Centered Design
30:28 Discipline Wiki Pages
30:44 Example: Electrical Engineering Wiki Page
32:21 Tailoring the ECR Process
33:28 Tracking the ECR Process
34:18 What’s Next?

Q+A
34:58 Q: How were community managers selected?
37:08 Q: Do you feel like there’s a finish line?
38:07 Q: How do you use analytics in your meetings?
42:10 Q: How do you manage your time and energy with ECRs?
45:13 Q: How do you keep track of the process?
46:20 Q: Do you have any advice for other firms to get started?
48:32 Q: Do you provide guidance for content managers to help gather the initial content, if so how do they mine for their teams information?
51:30 Added Benefit of ECRs: Learning about your firm through immersion in the essential content.

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Elevating Leadership Communications @ Dewberry

Featured Guests

Kimberly McVicker, Communications Manager

Webinar Summary

We all know that firm leaders have unique and valuable insights to share with the rest of the organization. This is exactly the kind of content you want to see on your intranet! Yet many leaders are not confident about what to share, how much to share, or where to share.

Last year, Dewberry set out to change the way firm leaders communicate on their intranet, ID. Over the course of 9 months, they increased the number of firm leaders who post on ID by 33% and realized several unplanned benefits along the way.  

In this webinar, you’ll learn how Dewberry:

• Planned their approach

• Delivered sustainable 1:1 coaching

• Used analytics to reinforce behavior change

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:  

• Prep: Provide Common Topics, Examples, Potential Posts (09:21)

• Lessons Learned and Tips (17:05)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:00 KA Connect 2019: Elevating the Employee Experience
01:35 Knowledge Week
03:50 Synthesis Workshop: Chicago
05:05 Speaker Introduction

Elevating Leadership Communications @ Dewberry
06:10 Dewberry and Launching ID
07:12 Goal: Increase Leadership Engagement
08:22 Theory: Manager Posts Would Increase Engagement
08:51 Plan: 1:1 Training for Business Unit Managers
09:21 Prep: Provide Common Topics, Examples, Potential Posts
11:13 Q: The example posts are pretty short, was that intentional?
12:00 30-Minute Agenda for Meeting 1:1
13:51 Q: Did some of the reasons you provided resonate more than others?
14:31 Example Post
15:12 Making it Stick: Quarterly Post Analytics
16:25 Q: Is the audience all of Dewberry or a subset?
17:05 Lessons Learned and Tips
18:26 Q: When you went from 60 minute to 30 minute meetings, what did you cut?

Outcomes
19:32 Increased Leadership Posts
19:58 Leadership Advocates Created
22:27 Q: Do these kinds of posts roll up to the home page?
22:48 Q: Do you talk about promoting posts in these trainings?
23:37 Increased Post Quality (example)

Q+A
25:20 Q: Can you give a sense of how much time you invest in the training program?
26:57 Q: Do you continue to research new stories and pitch ideas?
27:33 Q: How do you help leadership overcome the hurdle of “a perfect post?”
28:21 Q: How many people take you up on the offer to review their posts?
28:44 Q: In your training meetings are there any common questions that come up?
29:50 Q: What’s different about coaching to write for internal vs external communications?
30:40 Q: What is your advice for working with a targeted group to increase sharing?
31:38 Q: Do you plan to work with all business unit managers eventually?
32:18 Q: What has been the most rewarding part of your work with the business unit managers?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Synthesis Spotlight: Using Video for Business, Technical, and Cultural Communications at Dewberry, Diamond Schmitt Architects, and KTGY

Featured Guests

Kimberly McVicker from Dewberry
Emre Goktay from Diamond Schmitt Architects
Donovan Helminiak from KTGY

Webinar Summary

This Office Hours webinar features short case studies with three firms who are using Synthesis Native Video to tell their firm’s story, albeit in very different ways.

Kimberly McVicker from Dewberry, Emre Goktay from Diamond Schmitt Architects, and Donovan Helminiak from KTGY each picked a high-performing video from their Synthesis intranet and took us behind the scenes.

You will learn:

• What types of video content these firms produce

• How a high-performing video is produced and shared

• What each firm considers “high-performing” when it comes to video

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to one or all of our three featured stories:

• Pancake House @ KTGY (06:23)

• Rendering Time Lapse @ Diamond Schmitt (14:30)

• 7-Minute Speed Talks @ Dewberry (25:00)

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:15 KA Connect 2019: Elevating the Employee Experience
02:45 Knowledge Week
05:21 Introduction: Using Video for Business, Technical, and Cultural Communications

Pancake House @ KTGY
06:23 Donovan Helminiak, Knowledge Manager
07:34 Culture Posts with Video
08:06 Video: Principals Pancake House
09:00 Purpose(s) for Posting Pancake House
10:28 Performance & Outcome
13:20 Q: Is there anything you would do differently for the next Pancake House post?

Rendering Time Lapse @ Diamond Schmitt
14:30 Emre Goktay, Architectural Staff
15:24 Visualization Department at Diamond Schmitt
16:04 Video: Time Lapse for Render
16:43 Behind the scenes:
17:14 ...screen recording
18:02 ...image editing
18:30 ...video editing
19:13 ...publishing on DSX
20:00 Q: What were your thoughts behind not including narration?
20:55 Visualization Team Video Goals
21:55 Performance & Outcome
23:04 Q: Is there anything you would do differently for the next visualization team post?
23:55 Q: Why did you choose to keep it so short?
24:30 Q for Donovan: Did you edit your videos before posting?

7-Minute Speed Talks @ Dewberry
25:00 Kimberly McVicker, Communications Manager
25:35 Growth Initiatives
26:00 Video: Energy Infrastructure Initiative
26:40 How: Shooting, Editing, and Posting
27:22 Aligning Posts with a Broader Video Campaign
28:40 Performance & Outcome: Generic Video Library Post vs Embedded Video
29:38 Q: Is your videographer a full time staff member at Dewberry?
30:08 Q: Is your videographer working on any other initiatives for ID?
31:48 Q: Is there anything you would do differently for video posts next year?

Q+A
32:35 Q: What are your thoughts about video length?
34:18 Q: What are your long term goals for using video on Synthesis? What do you think is attainable and what are your aspirations?
36:24 Q: How do you put parameters around cultural sharing to keep it from becoming a free-for-all?

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar

Building a Firmwide Q+A Program @ Boulder Associates

Featured Guests

Todd Henderson, Principal at Boulder Associates

Webinar Summary

In Spring of 2016, Todd Henderson attended his first KA Connect conference where he heard a talk given by Jim Martin of Shepley Bulfinch on Shepley’s firmwide Q+A program, #AskFinch.  

Todd realized that a Q+A Program on Boulder’s intranet, BiscuitNet, was just the knowledge sharing solution his firm needed.  With support from Knowledge Architecture and an idea from the community, Todd and his colleagues successfully implemented a firmwide Q+A program, #AskBA.  

Today, Boulder Associates has an average of 8 posts per month to the #AskBA hashtag.  

In this recorded webinar, you’ll learn how Boulder Associates:

• Established its firmwide Q+A program

• Engaged top subject matter experts in knowledge sharing

• Adapted a best practice to fit their culture  

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:

• Establishing a Firmwide Q+A Program (15:25)

• Year One Results (24:39).
  

Webinar Timeline

Announcements
01:00 KA Connect 2019: Elevating the Employee Experience
01:42 Announcing our Speaker Lineup
02:32 Knowledge Week
03:35 KA Advance LinkedIn Group Highlight: How does your firm handle searching for technical staff based on their skills?

Introductions
04:50 Todd Henderson, Principal
05:45 Boulder Associates
06:50 Todd’s Profile & KM Role

Intranet Show & Tell: BiscuitNet
08:20 Communities & Essential Content: A Work in Progress
10:20 Posts: A Rich Stream of Content
11:00 Post Analytics

#askBA Preparation & Rollout
12:21 Discovering Knowledge Management at KA Connect
14:25 An Allegory: We Tried Baseball and it Didn’t Work
15:25 “Establishing a Firmwide Q+A Program Using Synthesis” Blog Post
16:10 9 Step Plan / What We Did
20:00 First Responders: A Firm Cross-Section
20:55 Presentation to the Firm: BiscuitNet’s #askBA Goals
22:15 Question Guidelines
23:30 Question Example Breakdown
24:39 Year One Results
26:48 ...Technical Knowledge Questions
27:20 ...Specific Expertise Questions
28:00 ...Finding a Resource Questions
28:20 ...Other Questions
29:18 Deeper Data Analysis: Is There a Pattern?
30:22 When Do We Ask and Answer Questions?
32:25 Unanswered Questions
35:50 Polling Questions
37:21 Feedback: A Method for Showing What You Know
38:44 Feedback: One Question Askers

What’s Next
39:30 Stabilize and Maintain
41:00 Refocus, Go Deeper, Identify Themes

Q+A
43:15 Q: Did you establish rules of engagement for answers?
44:50 Q: What impact has #askBA had on information exchange at Boulder?
47:41 Q: How did you sell the idea of being a first responder?
49:15 Q: Has your list of first responders changed in the past year?
51:08 Q: Did your personal brand / being a Principal have any impact on the initiative’s success?
52:42 Q: What has been the most rewarding part of the #askBA journey?
54:33 Thank you Todd...

About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, Zucu, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

More Office Hours Webinars

Register for our next Office Hours Webinar