This presentation explains how to sustain online communities on different platforms in their company. Based on my experience, I have gathered all possible ways/techniques that are used in large companies. - Pavan Mondreti

1. Sustaining online communities
To build a healthy workplace
~ Pavan Mondreti

2. Our Goal
Establish a platform to collaborate, learn, share information, save time
and reach out to experts. Let’s create a healthy and fun mixed learning
environment to our employees!
Connecting
Innovating
Collaborating
Sharing Knowledge

3. Building strategy
Classify Yammer groups
 Practice groups (Public & Private) – local offices, product, industry,
business and team related groups
 Sponsored groups – coaching & mentoring, community involvement,
health & fitness etc.
 Interest groups – singing, cricket, traveling etc.
Step 1
Step 2
Define process
 Work flow enabled approval process
 Provide easy access to all the approved groups
 Bucket the groups appropriately

4. Bulding strategy…continued
Assign roles
 Leader
 Community manager
 Moderator
 User
Step 3
Step 4
Training and Support
 Training and certification courses to community managers and
moderators
 social representation guidelines – Internally and externally
 Effective support to community managers to maintain healthy groups –
ideation & planning, building, ongoing collaboration stages

5. Sustaining the
communities

6. What’s in it for me?
Creating a community is very easy but sustaining it is the real challenge. First
question a member asks himself to continue in a group is – What’s in it for me?
Showing a carrot every time doesn’t help to sustain members in a long run.
The next few slides talks about what companies should do to overcome this
challenge.

7. Let’s keep it simple
Connect Challenge Entertain Educate
Create a platform where employees can directly interact with senior leaders.
Ensure leaders listen and respond to their employees. If anyone in a group
helps their colleagues, reward them - introduce a point system.
 Conduct Yam Jams
 Link knowledge sharing score to their performance evaluation.

8. Let’s keep it simple
Connect Challenge Entertain Educate
Keep the member’s interest levels intact by frequently challenging them.
 Think out of the box - market a waste paper
 If you were the decision maker, what will you do?
 Innovation quests
 Case study contests

9. Let’s keep it simple
Connect Challenge Entertain Educate
It’s always important to Entertain employees to keep up the energy levels. Have you
ever conducted online Tambola to more than 5000 members at a time? Online
Treasure hunt that not only nail biting but also educates employees about a
product/technology/industry throughout the process? If not – try this.
 Riddles, Puzzles
 Treasure hunt
 Tambola
 Crossword
Let winners get a chance to spend time to and have coffee with MD or their business
leader. Overwhelming participation guaranteed!

10. Let’s keep it simple
Connect Challenge Entertain Educate
Members join communities to learn, interact and get their questions
answered. Ensure that each thread sticks to its theme and knowledge
sharing happens among the members in a healthy way. This is a basic need
for a member to continue in a group.
 Focused discussions relevant to themes
 Healthy knowledge sharing
 Senior members guiding juniors

11. Yam Jams
Topic based, time framed discussion with leaders
Pre-Yam Jam
• Choose a topic
• Decide the leaders who are participating
• Finalize date and duration
During Yam Jam
• Yammer team helps leaders address questions
• Support team moderates conversations
• Leaders interacts with audience
Post-Yam Jam
• Analytics team analyzes and prepares report
• Yammer team sends report to the leaders
• Leaders take appropriate actions.