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Launching Successfully

Follow the Five Pillars of Success to launch Workplace to your organization.

The Five Pillars of Success is a methodology that was developed based on thousands of successful Workplace launches. Each of these pillars should be completed within 30 days of your planned launch to create a self-sustaining and thriving community on Workplace. Read on to find a quick overview of the Five Pillars, or skip ahead to subsequent articles using the table of contents for more detailed information on each pillar.
1. Executive engagement
1. Executive engagement
Having executives ready to lead by example and show their support in this initiative will be critical to achieve high levels of engagement and trust. Best practices include:
  1. Running an executive workshop with your C-suite to go over the goals and how to use of Workplace.
  2. Posting a CEO welcome video for all team members to see when they first login to Workplace.
  3. Scheduling your CEO to go live on Workplace the week of launch. Be sure to use all of your existing channels to promote the live event in order to encourage people to activate their Workplace profiles.
2. Technical integration
2. Technical integration
A strong technical integration ensures that your Workplace is secure (e.g. accounts are automatically enabled for new joiners and disabled for anyone who leaves your organization) and reduces administrative burden of maintaining the community. Visit the Technical Set Up Guide for all of the steps your IT team should take to set your Workplace up for success.
3. Workflows & Group Structure
3. Workflows & Group Structure
Creating a foundation of groups that mirror your organizational structure will prevent group duplication and unused groups from being created. We recommend coming up with a naming convention for your core groups as well to facilitate searching. Best practices include:
  1. Create core foundational working groups with employees added to their relevant groups
  2. Bring repetitive or common workflows into Workplace (HR/IT Helpdesk questions for example)
  3. Create announcement groups for the wider company and individual teams that are moderated to control content quality
4. Communication strategy
4. Communication strategy
Workplace shouldn't be “just another tool” your organization launches. Make the 'why' of using Workplace clear by highlighting the benefits for your employees and how Workplace aligns with your business goals. Your communication strategy should include multiple channels (online, print, Workplace, etc.) and messaging for pre-launch, launch and post-launch. Use our template Launch Communication Plan to design your own communication strategy.
5. Early champions and training
5. Early champions and training
Having early adopters and influencers supporting the change management across locations and departments guarantees that the value of Workplace is understood faster while reducing administrative work on your side. We recommend having 5%-10% of your total employee size as champions. Best practices include:
Key takeaways
Key takeaways
Following the Five Pillars of Success will ensure you have high Workplace adoption and engagement after launch
  1. Executive engagement: Make sure executives know how to model engagement on Workplace.
  2. Technical integration Set your Workplace up for success by integrating with your existing IT systems
  3. Content & group struture: Create a foundation of groups and content before inviting employees to Workplace.
  4. Communication strategy: Create an internal promotional plan for launch
  5. Early champions and training: Identfy your change management champions and equip them with the knowledge and tools to promote Workplace to ther peers.