Train your team to run First Six
This is the capstone for an admin bringing colleagues onto First Six. The aim is not to have everyone know everything. It is to have each person fluent in the small slice of the console their job actually uses, and to know where to look when they hit something new. A good training session leaves people with a routine they can repeat, not a tour they will forget by Friday.
The structure that works: map the three roles to your people, point each person at the few guides that matter for their role, run a short live walkthrough, and give every feature an owner so questions have somewhere to go. Then refresh it before each new intake, because the rhythm fades between cohorts.
Most people are a responder or a content editor, and each only needs their own corner. Trying to teach the entire console at once is the fastest way to leave everyone underwater. Narrow first, deepen later.
Walk through it
- Map the three roles to your people
First Six has three built-in roles, plus custom roles you can define: institution admin (runs the institution: settings, the team, the audit trail, every cohort), content editor (builds the student experience for their scope), and support responder (works the inbox and the cohort pulse for their scope). Assign each colleague a role and a scope. See roles and access for what each can do and how scope limits which students a person sees.
- Point each person at the guides that matter for their role
Do not hand everyone the whole library. Use the role map below so each person starts with the three or four guides that apply to their job and skips the rest until they need it.
- Run a 30-minute walkthrough
Get people into the live console, not a slide deck. Have each person do the one thing they will do most: a responder acknowledges and works a test ticket, a content editor drafts and publishes a block, an admin reads Insights and opens the team area. Doing beats watching.
- Give each feature an owner
Name a person who owns each area (the inbox, authoring, crisis setup, Insights) and who answers questions about it. This stops every query routing back to you and gives the team a clear "ask this person" map.
- Schedule a refresher before each new intake
The routine fades between cohorts. Put a short refresher on the calendar before each new intake so people re-anchor on the daily loop, and so new starters since last time get the same walkthrough.
Guide map by role
| Role | Start with these guides |
|---|---|
| Content editor | Build a week of events · authoring and targeting the right students for their scope |
| Support responder | Respond to a help request · Set up your cohort's safety net (read the crisis branch) |
| Institution admin | Get your cohort ready · Roll your cohort over · Make sense of Insights |
| Everyone new | Your first week on First Six · Your first week in the console |
Quick checklist
Common questions
How much does a new responder actually need to learn?
Less than you think. A responder needs the daily inbox loop: triage and respond to a help request, including the crisis branch, and not much else at first. Authoring and cohort setup belong to other roles. Narrow scope is what lets them feel fluent fast.
Can I create a custom role for someone who does a bit of everything?
Yes. Admins can build custom roles under Settings → Roles, combining permissions to fit the job. Team and role management (and authorising First Six access) stay with admins and can never be delegated to a custom role. One current gap to know about: staff on a custom role don't yet see the in-console Guides & Articles page content, so point them at this knowledge base instead.
What should a refresher cover if nothing has changed?
Re-anchor the daily loop and re-walk the crisis path, even on a quiet term. People forget the steps they rarely use, and the crisis branch is exactly the one you want familiar before it is needed, not during. Add anything new since last intake and any change to your institution's crisis protocol.
Related
The fastest answer is usually one question away.