Corny name? Absolutely. Essential for sustainable user
adoption? Definitely. Call it what you want – I’ve heard “SharePoint Ninjas”
(Best Buy), SharePoint Geek Squad, SharePoint Super Heroes, Intranet All-Stars
… but, putting together a cohesive program to cultivate and reward your
organization’s SharePoint power users is key to any user adoption methodology.
Identify: Who the
heck are these people, and how to I find them?
Think Leaders. Not necessarily organization leadership, but
“leaders” in the more general sense. Individuals who, in your departments, lead
by example. Super Stars might not speak at every turn in a meeting – but when
they speak up, everyone listens.
- Technology gurus – If there’s a new gadget to be
had, this person has it (and waited in line for it at the store!).
- Mobile freaks – They do everything on their
phone and on-the-go.
- Self-motivated and self-educated – These people
love to learn, and often go above and beyond teaching themselves about anything
and everything to be better and more efficient at their job.
Find these people and invite them to join your team. It
won’t hurt to tout the great rewards they will receive for active service – see
below – but be sure to set clear expectations. Super Stars are expected to be
knowledge leaders in their departments. Know everything about SharePoint?
Hardly. Understand key SharePoint user issues and try to effect change around
those issues? Definitely. Keep up-to-date on the latest SharePoint trends and
features? Surely. And always lead by example.
Train: Ugh, more
training?!
Not necessarily … remember, Super Stars are self-motivated
and self-educated, if they have a business problem they take to Google to solve
it. As administrators of our SharePoint Super Stars program we need to provide
as much material to our Super Stars as possible – put the SharePoint world at
their finger-tips.
- Curriculum-based SharePoint training – There are
a variety of organizations who teach on every aspect of SharePoint. Many of these
organizations have specialized training to meet specific SharePoint needs. If a
potential Super Star is interested, find a way to work one of these courses
into his or her professional development program.
- Online, self-directed training – Lynda.com, anyone?
YouTube? There are hundreds of thousands of videos about how to do nearly
anything on SharePoint on the Internet. Many of these offerings are free or can
be viewed for a very nominal fee.
- Reading TechNet – TechNet is not as “techy” as
it sounds. Not only does it provide very in-depth technical details about
SharePoint, but it also helps business users understand the bigger picture when
it comes to SharePoint best practices and basic SharePoint configuration. A
must-read for any Super Star.
Reward: You mean like
a $5 Starbucks card?
Not exactly. While I am a huge proponent of the quick, easy
and cheap corporate “thank you” dujour – in this case, it ain’t gonna cut it.
SharePoint Super Stars are team members who are going above and beyond their
described job roles to act as an advocate, assistant and expert in your
SharePoint implementation. Super Stars will be asked to lead Lunch and Learn
sessions, they will be asked to maintain “office hours” for on-demand support, they
are the SharePoint team’s eyes-and-ears in the trenches. Shouldn’t we give them
more than a gift card for their support? I’ve seen Super Stars offered a small
bonus if they complete a certain number of SharePoint-based activities a year;
I’ve heard of organizations giving Super Stars an extra vacation day for their
service; Organizations have donated to a Super Star’s favorite charity on his
or her behalf in honor of their extra effort … now these are rewards with some
meaning. Super Stars generally also get a t-shirt or a mug (who doesn’t love
corporate swag?), and maybe a sign on their door or cubicle to designate their
“special” status.
Super Star programs take effort to coordinate and
administer, but they pay the SharePoint team in dividends. It’s nearly
impossible for one team to maintain and sustain high levels of customer service
when it comes to SharePoint, but a large, decentralized team of evangelists
will ease the burden on the SharePoint team leaving them to focus on more
critical issues of usability, technology and SharePoint management.
- Maggie Swearingen
User Experience Expert
-------------------------------------------------------------
Read more about User Adoption for SharePoint!
For more information tips on how you can develop your own User Adoption Strategy, consider downloading our User Adoption Whitepaper or contacting our SharePoint Training Team!