So we’ve got a great content management system: Now how do I get employees to use it?
Written July 18th, 2007 by Kerry OttoJuly 2007 marks two years since the re-launch of our website with a brand new design and an elegant new custom content management system built for us by a small, boutique web development company here in Chicago. The CMS, whose four managing editors review content before it goes “live,” is easy to learn and easy to use. And the company is constantly improving it - usually based on our requests but sometimes when the firm anticipates our needs. Fabulous.
Since that time, we have trained more than 120 employees throughout the hospital on the system; it rarely fails that someone comments at the end of the one-hour training session how easy the CMS is to use! Again, terrific.
And off they go, enthusiastic about keeping their section of the site up to date. So far, so good.
But you knew this was coming. Days, weeks, months pass, and when I browse through the site, I see pages with old, outdated information — on the very pages of CMS users trained not long ago!
I’ve tried a lot of things:
- Presentations of the site and its needs to virtually every group that exists within the hospital - top leadership, administrators, clinical managers, top doctors, board of family advisors, etc.
- Several one-on-one meetings with the hospital’s chief operations officer, who is a strong supporter of the site and very aware of its needs for constant “care and feeding.
- A periodic light and breezy push e-mail to all CMS uses (cleverly named the “Handy-dandy tips for CMS users”) with reminders and tips
- A formal “process improvement” initiative currently in process
I get good, appreciative comments after each presentation, and everyone seems to be on board. Good support from the COO and a slowly growing appreciation for the value of the website. Occasional “thank you” notes from CMS users on the e-mail tips, etc.
But except for a few star users — who faithfully update time-sensitive pages and add excellent new clinical content as the need emerges - few employees update their pages.
Planning for a new hospital is front and center in everyone’s minds, so clearly everyone is VERY busy. But the way I see it, that’s all the more reason to keep our site as up to date as humanly possible.
One ray of hope is on the horizon. What seems to be emerging as a major “fail point” in the process improvement initiative is this: keeping the website up to date is not in anyone’s job description. So maybe that’s the key! (Note: I deliberately invited a Human Resources staff member to join the process improvement team to begin planting that seed where it may count!)
Has anyone found a silver bullet for this problem? Or is it just a matter of constantly slugging away at it? (just to mix some metaphors…)
I’d sure to love to hear your experiences on this issue…..
July 18th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
I’m curious, Kerry, why the decision was made to allow that number of potential ‘updaters’?
This is for the commercial site, not your intranet, correct?
Are there various graphical standards and grammatical rules, ie how to refer to the hospital, its’ centers of excellence, that are all followed?
July 18th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Kerry,
Are the four managing editors dedicated full-time to your website?
Ed
July 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Yes, this is for the external site — not the Intranet. The number of different content areas (divisions, departments, etc) suggests that we need that many “content experts.”
Marketing, Public Affairs and the Foundation (our fund-raising arm) have an agreed-upon set of style rules, which we distribute along with the CMS “training manual” whenever we train a new person on the system. And if people forget the rules, we (the managing editors) can fix them ourselves before making the page “live” or we can send the page back to the submitter for corrections.
The CMS itself allows only a limited variation in graphical standards, so that’s not a problem.
How many “updaters” do you have at your hospital?
July 18th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
No, Ed, I’m the only one of the managing editors who is full-time on the Web site.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:37 am
We have the same problem. One thing we are looking to do, though, is hold a CMS user luncheon. We’ll invite all of the editors to come to the luncheon and see a short presentation about the CMS and why it’s important to update articles. If you do that each quarter or at the beginning and middle of each year, it will keep their interest and knowledge up.
July 25th, 2007 at 8:13 am
We found that even our communications team has a problem with spelling, formatting, etc., even within the context of a CMS. So we review most of the items that they are allowed to post. As for getting entities to use the tools, if they don’t use them, their material isn’t on the web site. Sometimes it takes a little tough love to get the job done1
July 27th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Only the people on my team have access to the external site. For the internal site though, we’ve trained more than 200 people. And I’ll tell you that the usage varies wildly. Some, like the HR and Purchasing people, are on all day, every day. Some come to training and never log in again. I think it goes to having their bosses hold them accountable for this. Some departments appoint a person and hold the person accountable for having fresh content. Some say they do, but really don’t.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
I can attest from prior experience that the key to having people use the CMS or any tool is get buy-in from upper-management, including HR from the onset. One technique I used in the past, is to make sure that people understand that keeping the website updated correlates to the strategic plan/initiative. This way their use of the CMS can be tied to the to their performance improvement plan/goals. No one can say that updating the site is not their job, because now its tied to their performance improvement plan and annual bonus. Its also important that their boss or supervisor makes sure that this is one of their goals for that user.
Thanks
Rob
September 25th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
To follow up, we held a luncheon with 25 or so Web authors. We went through a basic how to edit/how to create a page, and also how they impact the Web site and where we view the Web site in the coming months and years. They also all got to meet me for the first time even though I’ve been here for almost a year.
Initial reaction was one of applause. They said it was a nice refresher, and it was nice that a few editors spoke up and gave me a public pat on the back for helping them, haha. Immediately there were a few updates to Web pages that hadn’t been changed in months if not years. But since then it’s back to the same people with occasional updates.
I do see this as being successful, though, as we got some face time and told them how important they are. There’s no doubt that when the time comes, they will make updates. But, as Rob said, it would be much, much more efficient to tie it into their performance appraisals. But whether that ever happens or not.. well.. it’s slim to nil.