Launching with InCommon

Welcome to InCommon! We're excited to get your company onboard, building meaningful connections.

In this article, we’ll outline the steps to a successful launch, including best practices and tips to ensure your employees get the most out of InCommon.

1. Launch preparation

2. Launch

3. Ongoing engagement

1 - Launch preparation

For a smooth launch day, plan to set up integrations ahead of time, in addition to training any key champions or admins, and planning out the launch activities that will work best for your company.

• HRIS integration

  To automatically sync and maintain employee accounts, connect InCommon to your HRIS platform. This only takes a few steps but requires permission from an admin at your company.
  HRIS integration instructions
  
  

• Slack or Teams integration

  To weave InCommon’s connection data into your existing communication platform, connect InCommon to your company’s Slack or Teams account. These require permission from an admin at your company.
  Slack integration instructions
  Microsoft Teams integration instructions

  
  

• Plan launch activities

  Plan how you’d like to announce InCommon to the company. This can be done as part of a live Town Hall or All-hands, or shared through a company-wide email announcement. Setting deadlines and expectations can help increase engagement. See the Launch section for more tips and ideas.

  
  

• Train champions and admins

  Identify the people who will play a key roll in the launch and ongoing use of InCommon. You’ll want to get these people set up on the app ahead of the launch. Consider having a quick meeting to introduce InCommon, share how the company plans to leverage it, and get their accounts set up. They’ll want to explore things ahead of time and will likely have their own ideas for how to use InCommon’s data to support existing programs.

  • Admins will have access to engagement and reporting data, as well as the ability to send reminders to employees who need to take action on their account.
    
    

  • Champions will play a key roll in driving engagement with InCommon. They’re typically your HR/People team as well as team or department managers. They’ll be the ones most likely to leverage team-wide data to enhance programming and have a higher level of influence when asking employees to take specific actions—like setting up their InCommon profile.

2 - Launch

When choosing when and how to launch InCommon, consider what else is happening across the company. It only takes a few minutes for employees to set up a profile, but emphasizing the importance and value behind doing so is one of the keys to driving adoption and engagement.

• Send out invitation emails

  If you’re leveraging an HRIS integration, this can be done with one click through the admin dashboard, but you’ll want to pair the invitations with an announcement of some kind.
  Note that employees can also create their account without the invitation email so long as they use their company email address that’s in the HRIS system. InCommon will link up their account information automatically.

  
  

• Announce the launch

  This is when you’ll officially ask employees to download the InCommon app (for iOS or Android) and set up a profile. We suggest announcing the platform at a live meeting or sending a company-wide email/message.

  • Live meeting - Reserve 10-15 minutes at a Town Hall or All-hands meeting. Announce that the company is now using InCommon to help employees connect and get to know one another. Give everyone a few minutes during the meeting to download the app and fill out their profile (you might ask them ahead of time to have a profile photo handy). This ensures they take the time to do so, and will give you a chance to showcase some of the value right away. Here are a few ideas:

    • Consider doing a live read-out of top interests, pets, or locations across the company.

    • Screen share a few profiles (which will be highlighted at the top of the Network tab) and call out fun facts about various employees.

    • Challenge everyone to talk to their top three connections that day or week. Have them share something they learned in a company or team communication channel somewhere.
      
      

  • Company-wide email - Send an email out announcing that the company is now using InCommon to help employees connect and get to know one another. Provide a link to download the app, as well as context around how the company plans to leverage the app. Here are a few tips to drive engagement:

    • Announce the app on the next live call as well. Even if you don’t spend time talking about the particulars, drawing attention to the email can be helpful.

    • If you’re able to, consider sending the announcement in an email dedicated only to InCommon. The more topics in the announcement email, the more likely it is to get lost in the shuffle.

    • Be sure to share why the company has decided to use InCommon. By sharing that this is an investment in employees and company culture, you’ll be highlighting some of the value employees should expect to get out of the platform.

    • Let them know it only takes a few minutes, but the more information they include, the more connections they’ll get back.

    • Give a deadline for setting up profiles. By setting expectations, admins will have a timeframe to start to send reminders and nudges to employees who haven’t yet set up their profile.

      
      

• Send reminders and nudges

  Some employees will inevitably need reminders. Whether they were out the day of the All-hands, or they had a busy week when the announcement email was sent, you’ll always have a few people who need a nudge.

  Admins can review engagement on reporting dashboards and send reminder emails based on key actions—like setting up their account, adding a photo, or adding a minimum number of attributes to their profile. You might also consider sending company-wide reminders or updates on adoption information. Share stats by teams or departments and turn it into a fun challenge—maybe the first team with 100% profile completion gets lunch or the latest company swag.

3 - Ongoing engagement

InCommon is designed to support and enhance your existing workflows and programming. That means ongoing engagement will look different for every company. If you’d like help exploring ways InCommon can support your company, we’re here to help! Here’s a list of ideas to consider as a starting point:

• Enhance onboarding

  • Make filling out new profiles a part of day one onboarding tasks. They’ll immediately start to see connections across the company based on their unique interests and experiences.

  • Point them to the org chart and bios before any introductory meetings. This way, they have a place to start the conversation. Consider suggesting existing employees do the same before meeting with a new hire.

  • Introduce new employees in Slack or other communication channels with a custom introduction message that only takes a few clicks to create.

  • Show them the Meet & Shuffle game as a way to learn names and faces across the company.

  
  

• Support meetings or events (retreats, All-hands, team-building events, etc.)

  • Introduce speakers or presenters with a screenshot of their InCommon profile or a few fun facts.

  • Create a scavenger hunt for team-building events based on InCommon profile data

  • Have employees review and refresh their profile before company retreats. Then use that information to strategically create groups based on interests, plan interest-based activities, or design trivia games.

  • Use InCommon Cards as an icebreaker before meetings or as a team-building activity.

    
    

• Support existing or new programming (benefits, buddies, mentorship, etc.)

  • Strategically select buddies based on interests so they have a more solid starting point.

  • Use InCommon’s mentorship traits to find and pair mentors with mentees based on general interests and shared experiences.

  • Design new benefits programs around team-wide data, like offering pet or travel insurance.

    
    

Need assistance? Reach out via email to hello@incommon.com.