TeamTalk
Manager quickstartKeep this by the kettle.
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Your first 30 minutes,
and the habit that keeps it working.

No training needed. Thirty minutes, your worker list or a printed join card, and one real notice. Do these four things, in order.

Before you start
Your admin login, on a laptop, with your phone beside you to see what a worker sees.
Your people: a spreadsheet of name, mobile, language and group, or the join card printed and up.
One real notice. Not a test. Something you would have put on the noticeboard anyway.

The first 30 minutesIn order. None of it needs anyone's permission.

1

Make your groups 5 minutes

Groups stop you sending everything to everybody. Match how the site already talks about itself, not your org chart: Groundworks, Scaffolders, Night shift, Kitchen A, Drivers, Supervisors. Three to six is plenty. You can still reach everyone: a company-wide must-read ignores groups, which is what you want for a site rule or a safety alert.

2

Get people on 10 minutes

  • Import. Upload a spreadsheet of name, mobile number, language and group. Best where you already hold the list, usually your own employees. Put in the language you think each person reads; they can change it themselves in two taps.
  • Join card. Print the QR poster and put it where people wait: the canteen, the drying room, the turnstile. They scan it, type their mobile number, type the six digit code we text them, and they are in. This is how subcontractors and agency staff get on, because you need none of their details in advance.
  • Stand by the poster for one break and show the first three people on your own phone. Everyone else copies them. This one act is the difference between 40% and 80% of the site being on by Friday. While you are there, say "add it to your home screen": Share, then Add to Home Screen. Without that step, notifications never reach an iPhone.
3

Publish the first must-read 5 minutes

Mark it as a must-read so it needs a confirmation tap. Write it in English; each worker gets it in the language they chose. One thing that changed, one thing to do. If there is a photo, use it.

4

Chase the ones who have not confirmed 10 minutes

Open the reach report for that post. It hides everyone who has confirmed and leaves you the list of people who have not. That list is the job. Walk it at the next break, or hand each supervisor their own crew's names rather than a total. Chasing on day one is what teaches a site that a must-read is real; do it once properly and you will rarely have to do it again.

How to write a notice that gets confirmedWorth more than any feature on this page. Two examples overleaf.

1. Short

Under 60 words. Any longer and the confirm button falls below the fold, where people give up.

2. One action

One change, one thing to do. Two asks means half of each gets done. Send the second tomorrow.

3. A photo

The actual gate, the actual spill. It survives translation and poor reading, and ends the "which entrance?" question.
team-comms.com  ·  Every notice, every language, with a record.
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TeamTalk manager quickstartTwo notices, the weekly habit, the numbers, and the audit export
This gets ignored
Site update, week commencing MondayFollowing Thursday's meeting, a number of changes have been agreed regarding site access and welfare provision. The main gate will be affected by works during the coming period and alternative arrangements will be in place.
Why it fails: no action anyone can take, no photo, a long scroll to the confirm button, and "alternative arrangements" translates badly.
This gets confirmed
Main gate shut from Monday. Use the Bell Lane gate.From Monday 6 April the main gate is closed for the crane lift. Come in and out through the Bell Lane gate instead. It is 200 metres further down the same road. Photo below.

[photo of the Bell Lane gate, signing-in hut in shot]
Why it works: 38 words, one change, one action, a date, a photo, and the confirm button on the same screen.

The weekly habitFifteen minutes a week. Put it in the diary now, or it will not happen.

WhenWhatHow, and why it matters
Monday
5 min		Post the week's one thingThe change, the risk or the reminder that actually matters this week. Make it a must-read if you would want to prove you sent it. Two a week keeps the app on people's phones; nothing for a fortnight and they stop looking.
Wednesday
5 min		ChaseOpen Monday's reach report, take the people who have not confirmed, and walk that list at a break.
Friday
5 min		Read what came backLook at hazard reports and comments. Answer one publicly, by name. A worker who sees a report answered tells the others, and reporting rises without you asking.
Month end
5 min		Starters and leaversAdd the starters. Set leaving dates for the leavers, which locks them out on the day rather than whenever somebody remembers. Then check the four numbers below.

The four numbersCheck them at month end. If one lands in the worry range, the fix is in the same line.

Exporting the record for an auditThe reason to do any of this. Do it once now, before anyone asks.

  • Pick what to evidence. One notice across everybody, or one person across everything.
  • Print or export. Print a per-person record; export a CSV an auditor opens without a login.
  • File it with your other site records, and run one export this week while nothing is at stake.
What the record shows
  • The named person, not "the gang".
  • The notice, as it was written.
  • The language they read it in.
  • Delivery time and confirmation time.
  • Who did not confirm.
team-comms.com  ·  Your TeamTalk address:    ·  Who to ring here:  
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