In a face to face world, we often know where to find each other. We know that to find the team we need, we can take the elevator and walk down the appropriate corridor. Walls often display the team’s work progress, and there is usually someone around to ask a question.

In a world where people are working flexibly across different hours and locations this doesn’t work – we need other solutions.

You want people to alert you to the things you need to know!

You want people to be able to find you

When working as part of an organisation, there are going to be times your team is impacted by the work others do. You want to be aware of such changes before they happen. If who are are, and what you do is hiding in some corner of the intranet, it will be hard for people to identify you and your needs. Critical changes may take place with results varying from less that optimal solutions to devastating consequential effect.

Make an impact

With a little bit of effort, your team can begin to advertise their existence. Your team is probably part of a larger group which already has a presence on SharePoint or similar, talking vaguely about what they do.

You want to ensure that your team’s presence is loud and proud; you want others to reach out and include you when needed. 

Tap into one our your team member’s creative superpower to establish a positive online presence. Showing a little inspiration will provide others with the confidence that you know what you are doing, and it is worth engaging with you.

Tell the world who you are

Now you have someone’s attention, make the most of it. Tell them what your team does and does not do. People can then begin to frame their engagement with your team or keep looking for the right contact. Both of these will save you time. More of the right questions and less of the time-wasting ones.

It is not enough to only talk about the work you do. Organisations are groups of people and these connections make the work possible. So, tell them about yourselves.

• Who is in the team
• What are your skills – things you can help with today
• What do you want to achieve – what would you like to be doing tomorrow

Sharing who is in your team and what they can do, will help your team create useful networks, by assisting like-minded people both today and tomorrow.

Share your value

It never hurts to share success. By adding some success stories you:

• Let others see why your team exists
• Build trust that you know what you are doing
• Enhance each team member’s professional presence within the organisation

Each of these things is important for when you need to reach out to others for help. Your online presence demonstrates you value others time and will enhance communication with stakeholders, build coalitions of like minded people and other teams moving forward.