Communications folks see the world a tad differently from IT. And if men are from Mars and Women from Venus, then IT is from Pluto and Human Resources from Mercury. All very, very different individuals with greatly differing jobs. Yet all are expected to work together on the intranet and do so with effectiveness. Yeah right...

I know a lot of communicators and IT read this column, but probably a few more communicators than techies. And if you communicators want to redesign the intranet or build a better tool or get things done faster, then you need to learn how to talk the talk.

So in the spirit of cooperation and team building here are some of Catherine Elder’s recommendations for working with and talking with IT:

• Put yourself in their shoes
• Set project goals and communicate them
• Involve IT in your project
• Respect. Ask. Listen
• Be prepared and do your homework
• Become friends, or at least friendly, with your IT staff
• Build a business case
• Adjust expectations
• Keep informed and share what you know
• Appreciate

Good advice.

Read Catherine’s full article How to talk to IT staff.

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“8 of 10 hires are hired for their knowledge and technical skills,” says Edgar Papke, CEO of Living Change. “9 out of 10 fires are for poor teamwork and interpersonal skills.”

As I’ve said time and time again in the column, the biggest challenge facing intranet managers and consultants is not technical, but political. Specifically, the politics of what I call ‘competing priorities.’ IT, communications, and HR all have differing priorities and focuses, yet have to work together to build and manage an effective intranet.

Technical knowledge and skills are nice to have, management skills are a necessity for an intranet manager or intranet consultant.

When interviewing a perspective hire, here are five very telling and important questions that Papke recommends:

1. Tell me when you were part of a high performing team. How did the leader lead?
2. What was your contribution to the team?
3. Tell me when you were part of a team that didn’t /wasn’t a high-performing team?
4. What was your contribution to that team?
5. How will you contribute here?

In particular, question three is a critical one, says Papke: “If someone answers ‘no’ to question three then say ‘goodbye.” For two reasons: either they’re lying or they haven’t any experience with conflict. In short, you want to hire someone that knows how to manage conflict.

See How to hire an intranet manager

Another hiring tool to use is Ed Ryan’s MPR Competency Model. In short, the MPR model focuses on ranking three key traits required for a typical job:

T = Talent (skills to do the job)

E = Experience (job related experience)

C = Chemistry (cultural fit & personality)

The most important trait is talent, followed by chemistry. A strong trait is exemplified by a capital letter (T); a weak trait symbolized with a small case letter (t). The ideal candidate is a strong T-E-C, but a close runner up is a T-e-C (someone with talent and is a good cultural fit, but has limited experience).

The best combinations (in descending order of preference) are:

·         TEC

·         TeC

·         Tec

·         Tec

·         tEC

All of these tips and learnings are equally applicable for hiring an intranet consultant. If you’re hiring in an intranet consultant, then you’re likely benefiting from their ability to cut through some of the organization’s red tape and politics. If this is true, then having a skilled diplomat (C) is perhaps one of the most valuable traits a consultant can bring to the table.