10 indispensable tips for a

Successful Teamworks Space

Launch an appealing Space You are the host of the party. Think of inviting people over to dinner – you wouldn’t want

to welcome anyone into an unfurnished house. So don’t launch an empty space - populate

your Space with interesting content before launching. You can also ask a few colleagues

to join and post questions and content prior to the launch. Teamworks offers many

options to customize the look & feel of a space, open the Teamworks Sitemap and check

the spaces in the list of Teamworks good examples to get inspirations.

Be a role model and welcome newcomers Lead by example, upload a picture to your Teamworks profile and add relevant

information about yourself to your profile. Open your Teamworks 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 wall and encourage them to

introduce themselves. And specify what you expect from them in your space.

Set the tone Try to stay away from the typical technical jargon so often used in the development

context. How many colleagues are really going to be interested in a jargon and acronym-

filled posts? When contributing something, don’t assume prior knowledge of acronyms

and make sure your content is to the point and easy to understand even for a non-

specialist audience. Formulate your posts as friendly and authentic as possible, while of

course, staying professional. Remember, if you as a host are enjoying the interactions in

the space, then your members will as well. And people tend to trust colleagues who reveal

something personal about themselves more than those who do not. The balance between

professional and personal information will naturally depend on your audience and the aim

of the space. Discuss this with colleagues prior to launching it.

Get busy behind the scenes Think about your target audience and where they convene; online and offline. Go where

your future members are and promote your space. Teamworks will not replace e-mails, at

least not anytime soon. So use email cautiously for promotion and remind people to go

back to the site after they have joined. Also think about influential and knowledgeable

colleagues that could draw more attention and people to your space. Contact and invite

them, but be clear in communicating your objectives and expectations.

Communicate the topics and objectives clearly Busy colleagues might be put off by generic invitations such as “visit our space and share

your lessons.” When you promote your space on Teamworks, through emails, at

workshops and through other channels, state clearly what it is about and what’s in it for

the one joining. For example: “In the next 2 weeks, we will discuss the topic of biodiversity 5

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Bonus Tip Be sure that potential

contributors are not put off by the platform. A number of colleagues

have difficulties navigating the platform. Ask your members how

comfortable they are. You might not be able to provide one-on-one

training but it’s a good idea to have a list of all

Teamworks training manuals ready and to know the Teamworks

training providers in your region or office. It is also possible to add content via Email, be sure you

know how this works and you can explain this to

colleagues in low-bandwidth duty stations.

Teamworks is not a perfect platform but it is changing constantly and will further improve over

time.

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10 TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL TEAMWORKS SPACE PAGE 2

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monitoring and how we can involve local communities in the process. We are keen to

collect practical examples from past projects. At the end of the discussion, we will produce

a short summary of the key insights which will be shared with the whole community.”

Everyone has to understand: what’s in it for me?

Make participation easy If space members don’t know what they should do or 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 and in your promotion messages. For example, instead of

saying “browse this space and share your thoughts,” encourage people to perform a specific

action i.e. “do you have experience with post-earthquake reconstruction? Please think about

your experiences and identify three top insights that could be relevant for colleagues. Go to

the site and share them in the discussion forum.” It’s also important to promote low-

engagement tools such as the “Recommend” button and the cross-posting function to

engage space members who are hesitant to contribute to discussions.

Recognize contributions Everyone likes to be recognized and, ideally, rewarded; especially if the work is voluntary.

You can highlight top contributors in your space every month, for example in a dedicated

space block. Many space owners develop brief newsletters in which they highlight updates

and thank the contributors personally. Also, monitor your space and add ‘thank you for your

contributions’ comments to newly added content; provided, of course, it’s relevant.

Identify and nurture your ‘power users’ Some colleagues have an affinity for social collaboration and get involved from the start. You

should be able to spot your power users quickly. Acknowledge their contributions, also in

their other networks and Teamworks 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.

Ideally, power users do the talking on your behalf.

Lurkers need love too 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 these lurkers as vital members

of your space, provide them with timely, relevant – but most of all, engaging – content. To

engage lurkers and power users alike, create a buzz every now and then by setting up a

webinar, posting a video of an engaging speaker or creating a poll or competition. Here is a

good example for user engagement and recognition.

Engage with other Spaces and Networks Screen Teamworks for spaces similar to your topic, contact the space owner and discuss how

you can link to each other and cross-post content. There are also many online external

communities on development topics as well as development blogs. Go out and comment on

blogs and discussions of others and include links to your space (if they are open to external

users). The more you do this, the more you will receive comments to your content and your

space.

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