A knowledge and networking portal for Telstra’s leadership team, providing opportunties to develop connections and leadership capabilities at every level in the organisation.
The Challenge
With strategic direction from CEO, David Thodey, and the senior leadership team, create an online resource that empowers members of the 3,000 strong Telstra national leadership team to be more effective leaders, advance their own skills and expertise, and enjoy their work more. The leadership portal aims to provide knowledge resources and networking tools that enable leaders to connect with o ther leaders as well as project, career, and training opportunities.
The Solution
DDSN worked closely with partners Pinpoint HRM to define the information architecture of the leadership portal, design the website, and carefully manage contributions from a diverse collection of individuals in the project team. Since the project connects to many different business areas within the behemoth company Telstra, various department leaders were also directly involved as stakeholders in the rapid development and delivery process.
An ambitious launch target date was set for the project - and achieved, thanks to the diligent and dedicated input of all members of the project team.
The website is built atop cm3 Acora CMS. The pre-existing availability of advanced technologies for user authentication, content syndication and publishing, and social networking tools contributed directly to the successful launch of the project on such a short timeline.
As you can imagine, the leadership team of the country's largest telecommunications provider has high expectations for its own online service. So a site like this demands lightning fast performance and rock solid reliability. To ensure both of those things, the website is hosted and supported by the DDSN.net advanced hosting service.
Highlighted Features
Worthy of particular note, the site includes an advanced user profiling and opportunities database that actively connects leaders to other leaders, and to available project, career, and training programs.
A leader seeking staff for a new project can search for people with the relevant skills, expertise, and motivations. On the other side, career, training, networking, and project opportunities are matched to a user's profile when they log in and presented for review.
Participants in the website can opt in or out of either side of the opportunities management system, making it the perfect tool for connecting leaders who are looking for new challenges to the relevant available connections.
Other noteworthy features of the site are:
- Streaming video presentations from senior Telstra leaders, including CEO, David Thodey
- Rich library of knowledge resources, served partly by automatically syndicated content from various online sources including SkillSoft and Bridge to Know
- Integration of user authentication on this externally hosted extranet website with Telstra's intranet database
- Connection at relevant points to other Telstra HR resources such as the Learn.Archive training system
- Forums / discussion boards to promote open communication about projects, ideas, and leadership issues