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?

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