Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Creating and sustaining a

successful

Teamworks space

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Who should read these guidelines? You, if you are a Teamworks user and you need an online collaboration space. And colleagues working

in Knowledge Management providing Teamworks support.

Why should you read these guidelines? To avoid frustration and to receive hands-on support in creating a successful and dynamic Teamworks

space. The beauty of Teamworks - its interactive, user-centric design that allows everyone to easily

create a collaboration space - is also a risk. To date, Teamworks users have established hundreds of user

spaces and while many of them fulfill their objective, many have never created real value, resulting in:

frustration of colleagues who established spaces having high hopes for them;

frustration of colleagues and external partners who joined a space but never saw value; and

an increasingly confusing navigation experience for all Teamworks users, who come across

dozens of inactive spaces before finding those that contain interesting discussions.

These guidelines will help you to avoid the first two pitfalls.

What’s not included? These guidelines focus on the non-technical work; they do not contain any advice on how to use and

customize Teamworks. For step-by-step guidance on how to get started see the Basic User Guide. If you

decide to launch a space, you will find useful tips in the Advanced User Guide.

How to use this document? The guidelines are divided into questions (in red) and tips. Go through the questions and write down

short answers in the space provided. Some questions might not be relevant for you; just skip them.

Writing down the answers will help you deciding if you need a space; and you can use parts of your

write-up to communicate your objectives to colleagues and future space members later on.

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

What’s in this document?

Part I: Things to consider before opening a space

Defining clear objectives

Identifying demand

Specifying the topic

Identifying your audience

Agreeing on roles

Making the space attractive

Measuring success / defining indicators

Part II: Things to consider right after the launch

Creating a collaborative atmosphere

Promoting the space

Part III: Things to consider for maintaining a vibrant space

Engaging silent members

Capturing insights / documenting experiences

Dealing with conflicts

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Define clear objectives

What is the purpose of the space? Be clear about the purpose of the space, write it down in a few bullet points, share it with colleagues and ask for feedback. Here are some broad reasons for Teamworks spaces that may help you formulate your purpose more specifically:

o To coordinate a workshop, conference, event or

learning initiative

o To host substantive discussions online

o To work together on a project

o To access expertise, answer questions or provide

just-in-time problem solving

o To access information on a specific issue, share

documents, tools & other resources

o To support the daily work of your

team/section/portfolio

o To exchange ideas and experiences in certain areas

[Please enter your response here]

What outputs or process goals do you want to achieve? List 1 – 2 specific and measurable outputs that can be achieved within 3-4 weeks as a quick win and motivating factor for your audience. (You will find more guidance on defining indicators of success below.)

[Please enter your response here]

Identify demand

Did you assess the demand for the space? If yes, how? People rarely participate in online collaboration space unless they are demand-driven. Assess the need and expectations for the space through a short survey or informal interviews with potential members.

[Please enter your response here]

Part I: Things to consider before opening a space

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Specify the topic

What is your space about - what topics will be covered? Define clearly what issues will be discussed in your space. Most colleagues and external partners already belong to several online networks. Why should they spend time in yours? Outline the topic and objectives in the description of the space and in all outreach messages. Some space owners have further clarified the scope of the space in a HTML block on top of the space.

[Please enter your response here]

Did you check if other Teamworks spaces cover your topic and pursue similar objectives? The Teamworks sitemap provides a first overview of existing spaces. You can also use the search option to check if similar user spaces exist.

[Please enter your response here]

Are there external networks that may be better suited to your purpose? Visit this website for an overview of online communities on development topics.

[Please enter your response here]

Identify your audience

Who is your target audience? [Please enter your response here]

Are there subject matter specialists who you can invite to your space? If you create a space to support an event, ask the presenters / speakers / facilitators to join and introduce themselves.

[Please enter your response here]

Should the space be open or closed? We recommend that your space be open unless you need to discuss issues that cannot be shared with a wider group. The advantages of open spaces are inclusiveness and commitment to knowledge sharing. In some cases, however, closed spaces are the right choice, for example to develop documents together with a small number of people.

[Please enter your response here]

Do you want to include external colleagues?

If you bring in external partners, consider potential risks of inviting them to TW such as confidentiality or reputational risks for your organizations. Discuss mitigation strategies with your colleagues. A number of spaces that targeted external partners failed shortly after their launch due to lack of clear focus and objectives, no clarity of expectations and no resources for facilitation. Keep this in mind when designing a space.

[Please enter your response here]

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Agree on tasks & roles

How should space members contribute? If space members don’t know how they can contribute, they won’t participate. Clarify what you expect from members, formulate it in an actionable way and post it at the top of the space (here is an example) and in your promotion messages. Do you want them to upload documents? Should they be tagged in a specific way? Or do you want them to contribute to discussions? Be specific and provide clear instructions visibly in your space. It’s also important to promote low-engagement tools such as the “Recommend” button and the “Cross-post” function to engage space members.

[Please enter your response here]

Who will facilitate the space?

Depending on the purpose of a space, the activities of a facilitator differ. Generally, a facilitator:

Clarifies and reinforces the purpose of a community through regular messages to space members.

Welcomes new members.

Acts as community advocate by listening, monitoring, and responding to their requests and conversations.

Works behind the scenes to get contributors involved.

Ensures that knowledge exchanges are captured and easy to find within the space and also within your organization.

Acknowledges valuable comments, reinforces points made by space members.

Facilitating also implies adapting to what participants want. Sometimes we plan and design a space according to our own ideas and views on participation but the members take it into a new direction.

[Please enter your response here]

How much time do you have to work on this space? [Please enter your response here]

Do you need to define other roles, such as resource persons? Resource persons should be individuals with substantive expertise, who are able to convey the information and encourage discussion. Being a resource person can help raise an individual’s visibility and thus provides an incentive to participate, so make sure they are regularly featured in your space.

[Please enter your response here]

Do you need a moderator?

Moderators act as knowledge brokers by feeding in relevant content, conducting background research and preparing summaries or network updates. In many cases, the role of facilitator and moderator are performed by the same person. Separating the roles is recommended if the space facilitator does not have the background or resources to provide substantive inputs.

[Please enter your response here]

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Make the space attractive

How will you create interest right from the start? Don’t launch an empty space. Customize your space, populate it with interesting content and launch it with an intriguing question that prompts engagement from members. Ask some colleagues to post contributions before you go live. Think about inviting friends over to dinner: you would not want to have guests in an unfurnished house.

[Please enter your response here]

What does your Teamworks profile look like? Be a role model. Upload a picture to your profile, introduce yourself in the discussion forum and then ask new members to do the same. Create a welcoming atmosphere. Open your Dashboard every morning and check the ‘Activity Feed’: anyone joining your space will show up there. Click on their name, leave a short welcome message on their profile page and encourage them to introduce themselves. And specify what you expect from them in your space.

[Please enter your response here]

Define indicators & measure success

What are the indicators for success? If you are creating a space that will demand a significant amount of input from you or colleagues, it is important to formulate clear success indicators and a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures. Such measures can include the perceived usefulness of the space for the individual member, sense of belonging and overall satisfaction (qualitative), number of members, number of posts or number of responses to a query or time elapsed for questions to be answered (quantitative).

If you are planning to establish a long-term community and you are serious about monitoring and evaluation, see this guide to develop a framework to measure success in an online community.

[Please enter your response here]

How will you report on the space and its achievements? Reports should be prepared for their target group. When you collect data and prepare a report, consider who it is for – you, the space members or management.

[Please enter your response here]

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Promote the space & create a collaborative atmosphere

How will your target audience know that your space exists? You will need to promote your space widely. Communicate the objectives and activities of the space to new and potential members through different channels such as related TW spaces, emails, in workshops and meetings, and informal personal networks. Prepare messages to members prior and right after the space launch.

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What is the tone of your space? Is it very formal or rather informal? Think about the diverse membership of your space and different notions of respect and (in)formality. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution regarding the right tone. Your audience will enjoy being a member of your space if you as a host do so. Try to stay away from the typical technical jargon so often used in the development context. When contributing something, don’t assume prior knowledge and make sure your content is to the point and easy to understand even for a non-specialist audience.

[Please enter your response here]

How will you welcome newcomers? Welcome every new member with a short personal note on her /his Teamworks Profile. Depending on the audience, ask new members to introduce themselves to the community with some basic ice-breaker question.

[Please enter your response here]

How will you recognize contributions? Everyone likes to be recognized and rewarded. You can highlight top contributors in a dedicated space block every month or develop a newsletter where updates or contributors are acknowledged. Also, make sure you monitor your space and thank or respond to newly added content.

[Please enter your response here]

What else will you do to reinforce activities in your space? Identify and nurture a group of ‘power users’. Some colleagues have an affinity for social collaboration and are keen contributors - you should be able to spot your power users quickly. Acknowledge their contribution in your and other spaces and spotlight their profiles. Reach out to them via email, phone, Skype or in person and ask them every now and then to do specific tasks such as responding to queries, posting a new discussion or sharing a blog post.

[Please enter your response here]

Part II: Things to consider right after the launch

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Engage silent members

What can you do to engage the inactive space members? Most space members will remain silent and inactive. That’s normal, generally most online communities have 1% power users, 9% who comment, post links and participate every now and then and 90% lurkers (those who watch and learn). Treat lurkers as vital members of your space, provide them with timely, relevant – but

most of all, engaging – content.

[Please enter your response here]

How can you draw more attention to your space? Screen Teamworks for spaces related to your topic, contact the owners and discuss how you can link and cross-post content. Try to go out and comment on blogs and discussions and include links to your space. The more you do this, the more you will receive comments to your content and your space.

[Please enter your response here]

What activities could draw the attention of your space members and others? Create a buzz in your space every now and then by inviting an interesting guest speaker to a webinar or an online discussion. You can conduct a poll, host a competition or post relevant videos to the space. Many space facilitators also established a certain rhythm for their spaces, ie. a short newsletter every 4 weeks send out by email with hyperlinks to the space or a relevant article posted every Friday.

[Please enter your response here]

Capture insights & document experiences

How will you consolidate the exchanges in your space? Consolidating discussions might not be necessary in many user spaces. But it is important to think about new members and how they can find out what has already been discussed. A popular method of consolidating inputs is the FAQ method.

[Please enter your response here]

To what extent and how will you share outputs of your space with other spaces and external partners?

[Please enter your response here]

Part III: Things to consider for maintaining a vibrant space

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Deal with conflicts

What are the power dynamics in your space with some individuals dominating?

[Please enter your response here]

Will some members feel disinclined to participate because more senior colleagues are space members?

[Please enter your response here]

How do different cultural backgrounds of your space members influence the interactions in your space?

[Please enter your response here]

What can you do to ensure that the space is inclusive?

[Please enter your response here]

If there are language issues, how can you address them?

[Please enter your response here]

How can you provide feedback to this checklist?

The questions and tips here reflect the experiences of a number of UNDP colleagues who have

launched spaces. Please help us improve these guidelines - tell us what is missing, what isn’t

relevant and how we can do a better job in supporting colleagues across the globe to create

meaningful collaboration spaces. Please add your thoughts as a comment here.

Creating and sustaining a

successful Teamworks space

Annex

Guidelines on Online Facilitation:

UNDP Knowledge Networks Facilitation Manual - by UNDP’s Facilitation Team

Facilitating a Community of Practice - by Itrain

Knowledge Sharing Network / Community Design Aid – by FAO

IMark Online Facilitation Course – by IMark

One-page CoP Start-Up Guide - by Etienne Wenger

Experiences of Setting up and Running CoPs - by KM4Dev

Online Community Guidelines including facilitation tips - by Full Circle / Nancy White

Online Community Purpose Checklist - by Full Circle/Nancy White