Content teamwork: Aligning your people and process

@Team_CS_Inc | @MelissaBreker | @Kathy_CS_Inc | #collectiveconf

Enterprises fail at execution because they neglect the most powerful

drivers of effectiveness:

decision rights & information flow.

Harvard Business Review, The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution byGary L. Neilson, Karla L. Martin, Elizabeth Powers; June 2008.

We need to align people and process.

Melissa Breker

Today I help change the way people think about content through teaching, mentoring, partnering with others, and running workshops.

• Grew up body surfing in Australia

• Moved out of marketing into content strategy

• Fell in love with supporting change

• @melissabreker on Twitter

Kathy Wagner

• Grew up reading and daydreaming

• Moved through technical communications & customer experience

• Have been doing content strategy my entire life

• @Kathy_CS_Inc on Twitter

Today I help businesses reach more customers, more efficiently, by shining a light in dark corners and cleaning out content cobwebs.

Company Clients

Small Group Introductions

• Personal intro

• One thing you love

• What’s important to you about content governance and why?

We need to align people + process.

What’s up for today?

Before break

Content maturity

Content team structures

Content skill sets

Content roles & responsibility• Workshop activity

After break

Content Process• Workshop activity

Change Management

Overview

Overview

After break

Content Process• Workshop activity

Change Management

Before break

Content maturity

Content team structures

Content skill sets

Content roles & responsibility• Workshop activity

We need to align people + process.

Content maturity1

©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

What people want

What people think

What people need

How mature are your content

practices?

What are content practices?

Content strategy

Content governance

How mature are your content

practices?

3 min: Share

This is the piece we’re talking about today

We need to align people + process.

People: Team structures2

©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

Organizational content governance models

There are 4 different models:• Informal • Centralized• Decentralized• Hybrid

Advantages:• Harness the efforts of many

authors

• Costs and resources are spread throughout the organization

• Reduces content publishing bottleneck

• Easier to publish and update quickly

Disadvantages:• Editorial and quality control

checks are difficult to implement

• Global and strategic coordination is difficult

• Often, non-writers need to acquire content and CMS skills.

Advantages:• Strategic alignment

• Global consistency

• Quality content

• Content reuse and repurposing

• Simplified project management

• Skill building

• Accountability

Disadvantages:• Needs considerable staff and

resources

• Relies on process for cross-functional communication

• Can form a bottleneck if not efficient and responsive.

Centralized and decentralized content models refer to the reporting structure, not physical distribution.

In a centralized model, writers can sit within different product teams or in different locations.

Can be the best (or worst) of bothworlds.

As content specialists, we often prefer the idea of a centralized model.

It allows for maximum control over content strategy, quality, and functionality.

BUT…

It’s usually hybrid.

It’s about finding the right lines to draw between centralized and decentralized.

Let’s hear from you.

What’s worked, and what hasn’t?

Content team structure

Content teams can be effective with different structures:

• Self-managed• Cross-functional• Matrix

A SELF-MANAGED team structure is:

• Centralized• Able to make decisions• Able to implement• Responsible for the outcome

Team members need to be motivated and driven to create positive change.

Self-managed content teams are good when your primary business purpose is to produce content.

A CROSS-FUNCTIONAL team structure is:• Built from different business functions• Designed to achieve a common task • A working (rather than reporting) structure

Team members need to trust each other, work together, and share a common vision.

Cross-functionalteams are good for planning content, developing larger projects, and determining success metrics.

A MATRIXED team structure:• Formalizes cross-functional involvement• Means content team members have two (or

more) “bosses”: a content manager and functional business managers

Effective in complex and interdependent environments.

A matrixed content team enables content creators to develop deep expertise in specific business areas.

Why?

It’s easier for a writer to develop subject matter expertise than for an SME to develop content expertise.

A matrixed content team:

Factors for team success:• Strong leadership and trust

• Enough resources

• Adequate incentives

• Team composition

• Conflict management

• Team processes

Three questions. Three minutes.

Which governance model is your organization currently using? How do you know?

Which content team structures would be useful in your organization?

What changes could be made

to improve team impact

and efficiency?

We need to align people + process.

People: Skills, roles, and responsibilities

3

©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

Building your content team

Know your goals, audience, and strategy!

What we know for sure...

All teams need a strong leader.

ManagersStrategists

All teams need skilled content creators.

WritersPhotographersVideographers

All teams need skilled content organizers.

Information architectsTaxonomists

All teams need easy access and interaction with other expertise.

ResearchersAnalystsDesignersSubject matter experts

All teams need someone to keep things on track.

Project managersProducers

This is just as true if you have a team of two, or twenty, or two hundred.

Titles are not roles!

In practice, titles are often meaningless or confusing.

Ideally, titles should provide information about that person’s primary role.

How many hats do you wear?

What does the job require?

Decide and communicate

roles

Responsible

One or more people need to be responsible.

Things to think about:• If one person has many Rs, they may have more work than they

can handle. • If one deliverable or activity has many Rs, can tasks be more

streamlined so team members have more autonomy?

AccountableIdeally, only one person should be accountable.

Things to think about:• If nobody is accountable, then there is a high risk of not meeting

project or strategic goals.

• For complex situations, there may need to be more than one person accountable. This will simply take longer to move through approvals.

ConsultedSeveral people may be consulted. Ensure two-way communication.

Things to think about:• Too many Cs lead to swirl and slow down the process.

• Too few Cs can result in poor quality through lack of accuracy or strategic alignment.

Informed

Several people may be informed. Communication only goes one way.

Things to think about:• If there are a lot of Is, find ways to inform people in batches, at

logical intervals.

• Develop a system (preferably automated) to inform people.

For example:

• Organizational content RACI

• Channel-specific content RACI

• Project-specific content RACI

Example: Channel-specific content roles

Example:Simple project content roles

Learning

Exercise

In different groups of 3 or 4:

1. As a group, brainstorm some content project scenarios you could use RACIs for.

2. Choose one.

3. Create a RACI for this project. Refer to the Sample RACI Template handout

Share

Questions?Short stories?

Lunch

Take a break

We need to align people + process.

Content processes4

©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

In nature, we never see anything isolated, but everything in connection with something else.

Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

How does it all work?

What is a business process?

Process

Sub-process 1

trigger result

“A process is a collection of interrelated activities, initiated by a triggering event, which achieves a specific, discrete result.”

Sub-process 2

Sub-process 3

Sub-process 4

~ Alec Sharp, Workflow Modelling, 2008

Eg: Design & create content process

Eg: Evaluate content process

Table races1. Trigger2. Process3. Result

Trigger Process Result

Start high-level. Provide more detail as needed.

Start with common scenarios.

Define alternative or uncommon processes only as needed.

What do we hear from clients?

“We don’t really follow any organized process.”

(But they actually do!)

“Our team needs autonomy, so they don’t want process.”

Three questions. Three minutes.

What business problems can be solved by better

content processes?

Which content processes are most important in your work environment?

Which variations or sub-processes are part of these important processes?

Table-Top Workshop:Designing high-level content processes

Table-Top Workshop:1. Choose a work scenario2. Choose a content life-cycle stage3. Design a best-practice process4. If there’s time, repeat steps 2 - 4

Share

We need to align people + process.

Managing change5

©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

We need to align people + process.

Change is a process, not an event.

Build a business case

Identify and neutralize project risks

Find an internal champion

How you’ll recognize one:

Has authority and passion.

What they’ll do:

Get you on the road.Get budget, break down silos, and support progress.

Start small.

Small wins.Big voice.

Know your budget. Grow your budget.

Create a roadmap.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

Define & test-drive:

New processes &

roles

CMS workflow

Success metrics &

toolkit

Expand & refine

Goal:

Select teams &

pilot projects

Startauthoring in

CMS

Start measuring

Roll out throughoutorganization

Educate & advocate

Roadmap.

Prepare for change

http://www.octopus-hr.co.uk/hrmoz/article/the-neuroscience-of-change.aspx#sthash.9luchxSt.dpuf

Tips for communicating change• Communicate in person

• Talk about emotions

• Be as honest as you can

• Talk in plain language

• Talk from the heart

• Understand their perspective

• Be prepared for frustration

1. Implement strong content practices

2. Demonstrate positive results

3. Provide tools and resources

4. Become expert content advisors

5. Advocate and educate

No control or authority? Influence like crazy!

pic.twitter.com/yI22oiF6Si

What do we hear from clients?“People don’t want to give

up control.”

“It’s hard to make time for change.”

“We’ve tried before, but we slip back to our old ways.”

Exercise

What are you going to do?

Next week Next month In the next 3

months

Think about:

• What is your goal or desired

outcome?

• What challenges do you

expect?

• How can you overcome the

challenges?

• What can you control?

• What can you influence?

• How can you influence?

Post-workshop roadmap

We need to align people + process.

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.”

~ AMELIA EARHART

Final activity

• Take a sheet of paper

• Write your name on the paper (for a special draw!)

• Write down your top 3 insights from today

• Stand up

We need to align people + process.

Share…• The insights you put into the circle• The insights you took from the circle• One thing you’re committed to doing

next week

Questions?Short stories?

On our blog: contentstrategyinc.com/articles/

• Understanding the content maturity model

• How to use a RACI chart to define content roles

• Content RACI templates

• Best practices for archiving and deleting content

Other resources

Let’s stay in touch!Kathy Wagner and Melissa Breker

ContentStrategyInc.com

@Kathy_CS_Inc

@MelissaBreker

contentstrategyinc.com/content-teamwork/