Note: This article appeared in Intranet Professional, prior to its re-launch as Intranets (in 2004).

IP: What unique role does an intranet strategist play in ensuring the end user has a positive experience on the intranet?

MLK: Creating and implementing a successful intranet depends on a team of experts from a variety of disciplines. Finalizing the direction to be taken, which is exemplified in a definition of and a plan for success, is the main deliverable of an intranet strategist. This is rarely a job done alone. It requires a significant amount of input from business decision makers, end users, and the intranet team whose skills and competencies can bring the strategy to life. Rarely is there a role that is uniquely defined as intranet strategist. While this may exist in large organizations, in small to mid-sized organizations the role may be part of another job, such as product manager, group manager, or program manager.

A strategy can be as brief as four to five words, for example, "make information easily accessible," or "create a shared workspace," or "give analysts relevant research tools." The strategy is based on an understanding of critical business needs (e.g. improve customer satisfaction, increase innovation, improve decision making) and on understanding how the intranet team can make the biggest difference in addressing the critical business need. A strategist will bridge the intranet team's relationships with the business decision makers and the end users; rarely are these last two stakeholder groups composed of individuals who understand the complexity of the intranet. It is the strategist's job to ensure that the intranet's role in the organization's success is appropriately aligned and that the expected outcome is clearly understood and agreed to by the key stakeholder groups.

A strategist develops a plan for meeting the overarching strategy. The plan outlines the following:
• Goals and objectives
• Success metrics
• The relationships required across the organization—champions/influencers, partners/dependencies
• The resources (skills and competencies) required on the intranet team
• The resources required for ongoing management and support
• The communication and marketing plan

Ultimately, the strategist is accountable for successful delivery of the goals and objectives and a positive impact on the organization's overall objective.

IP: How do intranet strategists know when they have successfully accomplished their function? What methodologies may be used to determine success?

MLK: Success in this function means meeting expectations of all stakeholders. Therefore, managing expectations, leading a team through a set of agreed-to milestones, and delivering on expectations are key indicators of success. These require a well laid-out plan as noted above. Plans rarely work out as expected. A strategist must be prepared to adjust a plan, by keeping focused on the success metrics that measure the impact of achieving the goals and objectives and not closing out the myriad approaches that can get the organization what it needs.

The strategist needs to articulate the success metrics from a variety of stakeholder perspectives: the business decision makers, the target end users, the implementation team, and the ongoing intranet management/support team. The Balanced Scorecard is a great tool to use in assessing success. The Scorecard is used to indicate achievements with respect to the whole set of requirements. Ideally it is developed in hand with the various stakeholders, with each stakeholder group signing off on the agreed-to metrics and a progress review schedule. No metrics system is perfect, but if metrics means meeting stakeholder expectations, it is a productive and manageable step in the right direction.

The strategist needs to articulate the success metrics from a variety of stakeholder perspectives: the business decision makers, the target end users, the implementation team, and the ongoing intranet management/support team. The Balanced Scorecard is a great tool to use in assessing success. The Scorecard is used to indicate achievements with respect to the whole set of requirements. Ideally it is developed in hand with the various stakeholders, with each stakeholder group signing off on the agreed-to metrics and a progress review schedule. No metrics system is perfect, but if metrics means meeting stakeholder expectations, it is a productive and manageable step in the right direction.

Examples of end-user metrics include the following: user satisfaction; increased efficiency, such as time to find information; increased effectiveness, such as more trusted sources of information; and usability, such as improvements in navigation or access.

Examples of business decision-maker metrics include easier access to customer information, reuse of project information, faster turnaround in product support, and reduced costs.

Examples of implementation team metrics include team satisfaction, on-time delivery, and on-budget delivery.

Examples of intranet management/operations support metrics include reduced costs, increased supportability, and reduced time on task.

Intranet strategy success means knowing that the organization has adopted the most appropriate direction. Rarely can this happen without understanding what is occurring and what has succeeded or failed in other organizations. Any strategy has the potential of being "judged" in terms of the industry direction. Therefore it is critical that the strategy factor in, and position itself, with respect to what other organizations (specifically organizations that your organization cares about) are doing on their intranets. Where ever possible, benchmarking, peer review, and feedback are critical in establishing buy-in to the final strategy.

IP: What are the must-have skills and competencies for this role?

MLK: First and foremost an intranet strategist must have the ability to think strategically—see the big picture (bigger than the intranet)—and understand the role that the intranet can play in contributing to the organization's success. It means understanding the role of the intranet team, not as the center of influence but as part of a larger mission.

Strategic leadership is critical to turn strategic thinking into action. An individual in this role must be able to influence the business decision maker's thinking and to demonstrate how the intranet can make a difference. The individual must be able to lead a team that can see how their work contributes to the organization's success.

Two critical management competencies turn action into deliverables: clear communication and organized, thoughtful, and attentive project management. Any successful strategy requires a well-thought-out and clearly understood game plan. A strategist needs to be able to share the plan in different communication styles for the different stakeholder groups.

It is a given that a strategist will understand the new thinking, past successes, and failures of intranet design and deployment, not only for his or her organization but for the industry.

IP: Which associations, standards bodies, professional literature, communities of practice, and continuing education programs do you recommend for anyone interested in the subject of intranet strategy?

MLK: There are several worthwhile internet resources; some of these include communities. I recommend the following:

• KMWorld Knowledge Community [http://organik.km world.com/organik/orbital/home/organik_home.jsp]
• Intranets, Extranets and Portals (includes communities) [http://www.brint.com/Intranets.htm]
• CIO Magazine Research site [http://www.cio.com/re search/intranet/]

An intranet strategist is wise to participate in the associations that are significant for the larger organization, as well as some likely candidates specific to the intranet. I recommend you look at those mentioned by the other authors in this issue, plus a couple like these two:

• American Productivity Quality Center [http://www.ap qc.org/portal/apqc/site?path=root]
• Teleos [http://www.knowledgebusiness.com/home/in dex.asp]

Ultimately, growth will most likely happen through peer reviews and participation in industry events. A couple of really good networking events and best practices sharing are KMWorld/Intranets and Internet Librarian (see Upcoming Events on the last page of this newsletter for the date).

University faculties and government departments have done some very innovative projects related to the intranet. It is worthwhile checking these out for new thinking, as well as practical applications.

IP: If you could transfer key learnings from your own experience to someone just starting out, what would be the top three?

MLK: Listen. Stakeholder groups are the most significant indicators of what a strategist needs to focus on. By listening, a strategist will know which approach and which tools will make the biggest difference. Listening takes many forms: interviews, contextual inquiry, "water-cooler" discussions, and business plan reviews. Be prepared to employ the listening techniques that work best in your culture.

Understand the culture. Team behavior, definitions of success, expectations management, and communication styles all depend to a significant degree on what the organizational culture is comfortable with. It is absolutely critical to know what a culture values, how it measures performance both for groups and individuals, and how informal and formal systems work. Cultural alignment of any strategy is job number one.

Communicate in the language of the intended audience. Study the perspective and language used by the different audiences, whether it is a senior champion, a team member, an end user, a partner, or another organization. Make sure that your message can be understood and that an exchange of ideas is taking place. It is important to make the complex simple. Most stakeholders cannot, and do not want to, understand the intricacies of a successful strategy. Communicate so that the message is understood and the result is clear to all.