The library is a knowledge base module: it allows you to create and gather all the internal resources and information to which your employees can refer, depending on their needs.
Implementation of the library is essential—especially when you want to unite and gather your community around precise, harmonized, and clarified processes. This help center can be continuously enriched with new resources and evolve with your organization.
In this article, you'll find our tips and best practices for setting up the Library. To learn more about the library, go here.
Thanks to the Library module, you can create a help center with freely accessible data for your employees, thereby facilitating information gathering by sharing news content without constraints of time, dates, or availability.
The library must be activated by an administrator. It consists of:
The displayed contents will be managed by managers appointed by administrators, from the administration. These managers can create, edit, delete, and update the different contents displayed on the module.
In order to allow a fine management of the various contents to be edited, the managers have several useful features. Find more information in this article.
Before you start writing your articles, identify the reason(s) why you need to turn on the module:
It's essential to answer these questions to ensure that your library is not a catch-all module that will lose your users more than it will help them in their daily lives.
If this module doesn't provide a solution to your various problems, you shouldn't include it on your platform. It would be a new section with no specific objective that would make the user lose track of where and when to look for/enter information.
We also recommend that you identify the people responsible for the module. Who will ensure that the information shared is validated, up-to-date, and official?
We recommend that you set up a follow-up of these communications using the Projects module. This will allow you to follow the progress of an article from its conception to its validation by the referent.
To clarify the place that the module will take in the daily life of users, we recommend that you clarify the themes/topics that it will address.
If this module competes with another tool you use:
Multiple sources of information are not recommended. However, if you have multiple tools for the same use, we encourage you to clarify which information can be shared/retrieved from the Library in a dedicated News Feed post.
If necessary, you can also share this same information on a dedicated page of the module—in a first presentation tab, for example. You will then accompany the user in the discovery of the module and help him understand to what extent he can refer to the library on a daily basis.
You have different information sections like the news feed, chats, the home page, and drives that allow you to communicate in a relevant way with regard to your objectives. So, don't communicate in duplicate in each section but choose instead a section adapted to each information to avoid losing users.
We therefore recommend that you think about your communication goals when transmitting information. Is it information that needs to be made available on a permanent basis, or is it of a more immediate nature? Does this information need to be highlighted? How sensitive is this information, and who does it concern?
The chat allows you to share information known as "hot" or specific information to quickly benefit from information related to a project. It allows you to launch a video conference to facilitate these quick live exchanges.
The news feed allows you to share so-called cold or official information. These are generally the result of exchanges (by chat or why not a video conference) or of a project, achievement, or event. It's an alternative to email.
The drive will allow you to start a work on the documents of your choice and if necessary to collaborate on the progress of a realization thanks to the co-edition.
The library, on the other hand, is more like the result of a work or a reflection. It will allow you to clarify processes exchanged in the news feed for example, or to display a finalized process, why not worked on via the drive.
Before you start designing an article that you will make available, we recommend that you follow the design and writing of the information from the Projects module.
This will provide the article with different perspectives but also ensure that no other library manager shares the same information about the module.
When it is agreed that you will be responsible for writing the article, also consider the audience for the article: Is the information being shared sensitive? Should it be shared with all users or just a small committee of members?
Once you have thought about this, define the audience for your article using a dedicated feature.
If the information needs to be highlighted, as it is a news item or the result of a common request, you can:
Feel free to change the display of the articles pinned on the library with the news of your structure :)
It's possible to create a table of contents page on your library module using the link to page feature.
If the contents you share on the module are numerous and need to be organized, you can create a general table of contents (for all the articles) or insert a table of contents for each theme created!
We recommend setting up a main company information page. Here you can share addresses, office information, contact points of your structure and send the resource to all your employees.
This information can be broken down into sub-pages for different geographical sites for example.
We recommend that you set up a forum for frequently asked questions (FAQ) or other resources to identify common questions for a team/department. This will allow your employees to focus on other tasks and increase productivity.
💡 Want to harmonize the different communication formats to share? If so, then we recommend setting up a main page listing all of your brand guidelines:
💡 You'll want to clarify your administrative processes (time off, vacations, and such): create a dedicated page.
💡 Guide your employees' exchanges with customers by providing them with:
Facilitate the training of new employees by providing them with a welcome kit (useful resources and guides).
You'll want to create a Welcome group on the newsfeed to encourage networking and team bonding.
Find out more about this in this article.
In addition to this group, we encourage you to write an informative article about the library, addressed to all your employees, presenting the values and missions of your structure.
In various sub-pages, you can detail the missions and roles of the teams: make sure that your collaborators address the right people, and make the information flow and collaboration more fluid.
We all have a mentor—the manager who made sure we got the right information at the right time in our training. Don't let this information get lost. Pass it along to other employees regardless of departures, absences, and unavailability: collect this information and best practices in a dedicated article.
This information base can be continuously improved and enriched by new collaborators.
The transparency of the information shared by the company with its employees is a factor of involvement and attachment of the employee to the structure.
With the Library module, share all the elements discussed by the representatives of an HR committee for example, and update them after each new meeting.
A good practice? Create a dedicated group on the news feed to identify your employees' needs before each meeting easily and anonymously thanks to the survey feature.
Framing and sharing rules is essential for engaging the user and encouraging them to speak up on the platform. Without a framework, they don't know what information can be shared, or in what format, and they'll simply avoid sharing it.
Thus, we recommend that you set up a tool usage policy that you post on the Library.
To accompany the user in his first steps on the platform, to clarify the place of Talkspirit in his daily life and the rules in place on the tool, share this charter of use with an employee as soon as he logs on for the first time thanks to the welcome message feature!
Use this practical sheet to build your user charter.
It is essential to always be aware of what the market is offering to ensure that you are always providing the most competitive offers and services.
Good to know: create a watch group to which you can add integrations of your choice based on keywords. All contributions on Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, and such containing these keywords will then go up in your group.
Find out how to integrate these tools here.
You will be able to centralize information and feedback from users of your products but also from those of your competitors in a dedicated Library article. This article can be updated and enriched in parallel with the market's evolutions.
An idea box can be a powerful tool for innovation: your employees can share their best practices and thus participate in the evolution of the processes in place within your structure.
If the creation of an idea box is a factor of innovation, it's also a factor of employee involvement in the processes of their structure.
Shared ideas can be voted on through the polling feature if desirable. The selected best practices may be integrated into a dedicated page of the library.
The sharing of best practices and ideas is indeed essential for your employees as this emulation generates productivity.
Indeed, when the employee encounters difficulties or obstacles within the framework of these missions, he/she has a help center enriched by the best practices of other employees on a similar subject and does not remain stuck on a realization.
By creating an article best practicesarticle, you ensure that you provide all of your employees with the keys to success that are essential to the accomplishment of their daily tasks.
You have written your articles and now want to communicate about their existence? You can promote these new contents in different ways.
So, if you have just activated this Library module, we recommend that you share the information in a dedicated section of your homepage module. This is important news to communicate in order to position the Library module as an indispensable information and resource center for your users.
You can then communicate about each new resource made available through a publication in the group adapted to this information, by sharing a link to the relevant library article.
This highlighting of new content is essential since it allows the user to better understand where to look for information and thus gain in productivity.
Good practice: In groups, for questions related to a process explained in the Library module, we recommend that you share a link to the module page as a comment. This will encourage your users to turn to this new module to find the information.
In conclusion, the library module allows you to create a complete resource center enriched by the best practices and experiences of your employees. It's a real asset in the training of newcomers but also participates in the continuous information of employees—regardless of their level of seniority.
It's important not to consider the library module as a static tool. A knowledge base is never completely finalized and evolves with your product, the market and customer/user feedback.
We therefore recommend that you survey your employees regularly and collect opinions on an ongoing basis to add new content and enhance existing resources.
Here are some ideas for surveys to share to measure user satisfaction.
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