On June 8, 2016, Content Strategy Inc's Melissa Breker and Kathy Wagner presented their #CSITeamwork content strategy governance presentation at Collective Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

1. Content teamwork:
Aligning your people and process
@Team_CS_Inc | @MelissaBreker | @Kathy_CS_Inc | #collectiveconf

6. 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 by
Gary L. Neilson, Karla L. Martin, Elizabeth Powers; June 2008.

7. We need to align people
and process.

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Company Clients

11. Small Group Introductions
• Personal intro
• One thing you love
• What’s important to
you about content
governance and why?

12. We need to
align people +
process.
What’s up for today?

13. Before break
Content maturity
Content team structures
Content skill sets
Content roles & responsibility
• Workshop activity
After break
Content Process
• Workshop activity
Change Management
Overview

14. Overview
After break
Content Process
• Workshop activity
Change Management
Before break
Content maturity
Content team structures
Content skill sets
Content roles & responsibility
• Workshop activity

15. We need to
align people +
process.
Content maturity1
©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

16. What
people
want

17. What
people
think

18. What
people
need

20. How mature are
your content
practices?

21. What are content
practices?

22. Content
strategy

23. Content
governance

24. How mature are
your content
practices?
3 min: Share

26. This is the
piece we’re
talking
about today

27. We need to
align people +
process.
People: Team structures2
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28. Organizational content
governance models

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

31. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

36. Can be the best
(or worst) of both
worlds.

37. As content specialists, we often prefer the
idea of a centralized model.
It allows for maximum control over content
strategy, quality, and functionality.
BUT…

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

39. Let’s hear from you.
What’s worked, and
what hasn’t?

40. Content team
structure

41. Content teams can be effective with
different structures:
• Self-managed
• Cross-functional
• Matrix

42. 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.

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

44. 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.

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

46. 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.

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

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

49. A matrixed
content team:

50. Factors for team success:
• Strong leadership and trust
• Enough resources
• Adequate incentives
• Team composition
• Conflict management
• Team processes

51. Three
questions.
Three
minutes.

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

53. Which content
team structures
would be useful
in your
organization?

54. What changes
could be made
to improve
team impact
and efficiency?

55. We need to
align people +
process.
People: Skills, roles, and
responsibilities
3
©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

57. Building your content team

58. Know your goals, audience, and strategy!

59. What we know for sure...

60. All teams need a strong
leader.
Managers
Strategists

61. All teams need
skilled content
creators.
Writers
Photographers
Videographers

62. All teams need
skilled content
organizers.
Information architects
Taxonomists

63. All teams need easy
access and interaction
with other expertise.
Researchers
Analysts
Designers
Subject matter experts

64. All teams need
someone to keep
things on track.
Project managers
Producers

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

66. Titles are not roles!
In practice, titles are often meaningless or
confusing.
Ideally, titles should provide information
about that person’s primary role.

67. How many hats do you wear?

68. What does the
job require?

69. Decide and
communicate
roles

71. 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?

72. Accountable
Ideally, 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.

73. Consulted
Several 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.

74. 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.

75. For example:
• Organizational content RACI
• Channel-specific content RACI
• Project-specific content RACI

76. Example:
Channel-specific
content roles

77. Example:
Simple project
content roles

78. Learning
Exercise

79. 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

80. Share

81. Questions?
Short stories?

82. Lunch
Take a break

83. We need to
align people +
process.
Content processes4
©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

84. In nature, we never see
anything isolated, but
everything in connection
with something else.
Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

86. How does it all work?

88. 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

89. Eg: Design & create content process

90. Eg: Evaluate content process

91. Table races
1. Trigger
2. Process
3. Result
Trigger Process Result

92. Start high-level.
Provide more detail
as needed.

93. Start with common
scenarios.
Define alternative or uncommon
processes only as needed.

94. 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.”

95. Three
questions.
Three
minutes.

96. What business
problems can be
solved by better
content
processes?

97. Which content
processes are
most important
in your work
environment?

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

99. Table-Top Workshop:
Designing high-level
content processes

100. Table-Top Workshop:
1. Choose a work scenario
2. Choose a content life-cycle stage
3. Design a best-practice process
4. If there’s time, repeat steps 2 - 4

101. Share

102. We need to
align people +
process.
Managing change5
©2016 Content Strategy Inc ContentStrategyInc.com #CollectiveConf @Team_CS_Inc

103. We need to
align people +
process.
Change is a process, not
an event.

104. Build a business
case

105. Identify and neutralize
project risks

106. Find an internal
champion

107. How you’ll recognize
one:
Has authority and
passion.

108. What they’ll do:
Get you on the road.
Get budget, break
down silos, and
support progress.

109. Start small.

110. Small wins.
Big voice.

111. Know your budget.
Grow your budget.

112. Create a
roadmap.

113. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Define &
test-drive:
New
processes &
roles
CMS
workflow
Success
metrics &
toolkit
Expand &
refine
Goal:
Select
teams &
pilot
projects
Start
authoring in
CMS
Start
measuring
Roll out
throughout
organization
Educate & advocate
Roadmap.

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

115. 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

116. 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!

117. pic.twitter.com/yI22oiF6Si

118. 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.”

119. Exercise

120. 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

121. We need to
align people +
process.
“The most difficult thing is
the decision to act. The rest
is merely tenacity.”
~ AMELIA EARHART

122. 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

123. 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

124. Questions?
Short stories?

125. 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

126. Other resources

127. Let’s stay in touch!
Kathy Wagner and Melissa Breker
ContentStrategyInc.com
@Kathy_CS_Inc
@MelissaBreker
contentstrategyinc.com/content-teamwork/