As a new employee to an organisation or industry, one of the biggest challenges you may face is the overwhelming number of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations used during a normal workday. It can be daunting to ask for help, and despite offers from existing employees, you may feel the pressure to show you can get up to speed quickly.
While onboarding processes help with knowledge transfer, there is always room for improvement. A centralised organisational Glossary is a valuable tool that can help new employees and even existing ones stay informed.
Here are some considerations:
1. Central Location vs. Terms List in every document
By having one central organisational Glossary, you reduce the amount of work needed to maintain it compared to having a list of terms in individual documents. Although in some cases, you may need to maintain an “in document” Terms List, a centralised location is more efficient for everything else.
2. No more duplication or contradiction
Having a list of terms in individual documents can lead to inconsistencies and contradictions over time. This can be problematic when you need to update a term that has been used and referenced in hundreds of documents. By centralising your Glossary, you can avoid this issue and reduce the risk of manual errors.
3. Link back to the central Glossary
Users expect hyperlinked text within web pages to provide further explanation, so why not offer the same convenience for your Glossary? With a centralised Glossary available on your intranet, you can simply reference the global location without having to manually search for a term. This also means that any updates to the Glossary can be done centrally and only once.
4. Share and publicise its existence
It’s essential to promote your Glossary and make it easily accessible to all employees. Encourage people to contribute to it and keep it up-to-date. An out-of-date or underutilised Glossary is not helpful to anyone.
Creating a Glossary for your organisation may seem like a daunting task, but the benefits far outweigh the effort required to maintain it. A well-organised and easily accessible Glossary can help new employees feel more confident and informed, and even existing employees can benefit from having a centralised reference tool.
