How to get team involved

Jeremy Michels

What are some ways that you are implementing Smartsheet into your company, team, etc.? I am the creator of the Smartsheet system in my company. I have found that because I have spent so much time in the sheet I have a gap between me and my team that is difficult to close. It all come down to how we get our people into the sheet and make sure they are successful in the sheet for sure. I am looking for how others are rolling this out to their team and how you are keeping them in the sheets or reports. 

Stephanie Taylor

When we were creating different sheets for different departments we put the Smartsheet up on a video screen and had everyone (or just a few depending how big the department is) in that department help build the sheet together.

 

Another way to get them involved is to assign tasks to the employees and send them a alert or a reminder to complete the task and then mark the Smartsheet that the task is complete. 

 

I hope that is helpful.

Jef Forward

Jeremy, Great question.  I was in the same boat.  I did exactly what Stepanie mentioned.  It garnered buy-in and our sheet improved becasue of it.  

 

I also suggest having them watch and example company case study video so they can undersstand a bigger picture with SS, and of course all of the training videos.  We connected with the property management case study.  

 

Since we are a small company, it's been a smooth transition.  One more example is to show them the results of their efforts and how it impacts the client and the company.  The first SS system we launched was a meeting note and task reporting system.  It took about 2 mohths before it became an automatic instinct.  Once my team saw the impact, they were 100 % in.

Joanna Foley

1. Hi Jeremy, I run three teams thru Smart Sheet, accounts receivable, sales and a team that attach documents in our software.  My experience is... subordinates will comply because it's their job, peers see the benefit and will learn because it makes their job eaiser, upper management does not want to bother with details and will usually go back to their old ways (that old saying, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks).

That being said, I've had three promotions in the past two years.  The reports exported from SS got me my last raise which nearly doubled my pay along with a bigger office which is a nice perk. I attribute it to Smart Sheet along with excel pivot tables. 

 

I'm currently the only person that uses Smart Sheet yet people wonder how I find things that are falling thru the cracks when no one else can.  The directors just ask me to fix the problem.

 

My point is, depending on the situation, Smart Sheet can work whether you have a team or not.

 

Jennifer Dewhurst

Jeremy,

 

This is a Change Management issue.  I work for a very large public utility that is second only to the military in terms of how quickly people adapt to change - a snails pace. What I had to do was change ONE process at a time.  It took a few processes and some hand-holding but once people saw how much simpler some of the processes became, they were eager to learn more.