Changing User Behaviour in Sharepoint

Over the past 4 years, I've seen a lot of companies adopt MS SharePoint into their organization to improve the collaboration and communication that occurs among their employees. Like any application or technology, there are natural learning curves that need time to overcome if the tool is going to truly make an impact on people's day-to-day lives.

One area that I've seen particularly challenging with SharePoint is the change in behaviour that is required to improve communication and document management. Many people (including myself) find it difficult to change their behavior when it comes to emailing documents!

The problem is that it is faster to attach a document right into the email (by pressing 'one' button), than instead loading the document into a document library, copying the URL and then inserting the URL into your email. I know, sounds silly, but its true.

Generally anyone that struggles with a huge InBox feels the pain of email mismanagement (or poor info mgmt practices), and would in theory be ready to change their behavior - but this isn't always the case.

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced any 'user behavior adoption' challenges with SharePoint and what they've done to solve the issue. Comments encouraged!

Comments

[Steve Kwan]

Heya there Chris,

I've certainly encountered similar problems - not so much with SharePoint, but with any number of new systems introduced into an existing environment. Those meddlesome users always find a way to work around you!

But rightfully so. Usually when users are finding a way to bypass your system, that's because they've found an easier way to do their jobs. Users will always take the path of least resistance, after all.

I don't know worlds about SharePoint, so there may be limitations to what you can achieve. But I do know that if the new system seems more complicated at first, users generally don't buy the argument that it'll save them time down the road.

Any way to emulate their previous setup?