*Disclaimer: Healthy Paws doesn't leverage Yammer a bunch yet from what we can tell, but there are a few instances where folks have been required to use Yammer-based links in order to submit info. Below is all the info we can gather on Yammer thus far. Any further needs or issues, please submit a ticket to Aon.
Yammer made its Aon debut quite some time ago, but not all colleagues are aware of the powerful communications tool they have available at their fingertips!
Yammer is a real-time social collaboration tool that enables colleagues to make connections across business units and geographies. The purpose of the tool is to encourage more team collaboration. It’s designed for firm-wide collaboration, file sharing, knowledge exchange and team efficiency.
What can you do with Yammer?
In Yammer, you can create public or private groups where you can post, share, like or comment on conversations as well as ask a question, praise a colleague, post an event or make an announcement.
You can also follow other colleagues to see what they post and expand your network. You’ll quickly see there are many ways to use Yammer; in fact, too many for us to predict and direct. That’s why we are encouraging colleagues to experiment with Yammer by creating a group and inviting colleagues to join the group.
How is Yammer different from SharePoint?
SharePoint provides robust document management, file sharing, and business process workflow functionality, while Yammer is more effective for collaboration and spontaneous content creation. Over time Yammer functionality will be integrated with other knowledge-sharing tools like Aon Avenue.
If you access Aon Avenue, you may have noticed there's a Yammer feed built right into the homepage!
How should I use Yammer?
Colleagues are encouraged to use Yammer to:
Create or join Communities dedicated to ideas and updates on a specific project or topic
Encourage open discussion on solutions to business challenges facing you, your teams and your clients
Promote techniques, strategies, tools and other best practices
Share success stories to build stronger teams and enable social learning
Start discussions to evolve Aon’s thinking on business-relevant topics
- Share documentation by pinning it to the right navigation! You can share Microsoft Office documents, videos and more!
- You are encouraged to identify your own collaboration needs and test Yammer’s functionality to see how it can help to create team efficiency.
How do I get started with Yammer?
Go to www.yammer.com/aon.com and register with your Aon email address.
Become active on Yammer by liking a post, responding to a comment, following colleagues and joining some of the 500+ groups that could make a difference in your Aon career.
Participate in discussion and / or create a group to discuss a topic that’s important to you or your team.
Encourage your team to experiment with Yammer to improve team collaboration.
Follow!
Want to follow a discussion?
If you are interested in the dialogue for just one conversation, did you know you can follow it?
When you find a conversation that you'd like to follow, click the ellipsis in the conversation's menu, then click Follow in Inbox. Responses to that conversation will appear in your Yammer Inbox, so you can easily follow it.
Just visit your Yammer Inbox anytime to view the conversation updates. This method is a great way to follow conversations without adding excess email to your Aon Outlook Inbox!
What's a YamJam?
A YamJam is similar to a “TweetJam” on Twitter or an “Ask Me Anything (AMA)” on Reddit, except it takes place on Yammer. It provides the opportunity for the community to ask questions and have a discussion with a panel of internal and external experts on a particular topic. It can be a really effective way to engage with others, especially for leaders looking to get live feedback from their teams.
In order to get the best value out of the YamJam, here is an outline of how the flow of the YamJam will go and some guidelines for etiquette.
At the scheduled kick-off time, an announcement should be made in the Yammer group notifying group members that the YamJam has started.
Remind participants to read through the different threads before posting--their question may have been already answered.
Instruct participants to be patient. The panel will try to get to every question, but some questions may go unanswered.
Remind participants to stay on topic. Discussions pertaining to other topics, products, or services belong in the appropriate group.
When the YamJam period is over, the group should remain open so people can review the content and submit additional questions, but not expect a prompt reply.
A follow-up note should be sent after the YamJam, inviting colleagues to go back and read through the discussions.
YamJam Tips:
Use the Reply function to reply to an individual comment instead of creating a new thread. This will make the conversation much easier to follow.
You can hover over the “in reply to” portion of the comment to see the context.
If you are receiving too many Yammer emails or notifications, you can change your Yammer notification options by going to Settings | Notifications.
If you are receiving too many Yammer inbox notifications, simply choose Stop Following in Inbox after clicking the discussion in your Inbox.