Managing with a Green Thumb: Tools and Practices for Growing a Content Strategy Team

!Alicia Dougherty-Wold

Content Strategy Director, Facebook facebook.com/aliciadougherty

@aaliciaa | #ConfabMN

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Managing With a Green Thumb

Tools and Practices for Growing a Content Strategy Team

http://facebook.com/aliciadougherty

Welcome, nurturers of content!

Content can be better

Content can be better for peopleContent can be better

Cultivate content

Cultivate content Cultivate content strategists

Cultivate teams

Lead with a green thumb

4. Don’t make square watermelons

3. Know who will grow

2. Love the mud

1. Plan before you plant

5. Replant, repeat and multiply!

What does our team do?

“Content strategy is the practice of defining the big idea (or ideas) that drive a content initiative—any kind of content initiative.!— Melissa Rach, “Content Strategy and Its Cousins,” UX Magazine (Article No. 946: January 28, 2013).

The world’s content initiative

The world’s content initiative

!

More than 802M people More than 609M people on mobile !

More than 1.28B people More than 1.01B people on mobile !

~81.2% outside the US and Canada !

Today

Thismonth

Courtesy pdphoto.org, http://pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=8232, cropped and reversed.

Defining the big ideas

http://pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=8232

Company-wide




Company-wide

Product-specific




Company-wide

Product-specific

Feature-level





Company-wide Set guiding principles Define voice and tone Document content patterns Create naming systems Structure ideas, info, content Share lightweight processes Set workflows Share a vision for quality !

!


Product-specific Audit landscape Inventory concepts Set nomenclature Shape interactions Structure messaging Test with real people Communicate


Product-specific Audit landscape Inventory concepts Set nomenclature Shape Structure messaging Test with real people Communicate


Feature-level Partner in design Write for the interface Tie to bigger patterns Build consistency Add delight Measure Learn Make things better

Central team, holistic view

ProduProduct Team (vertical)ct Team (vertical)Content Strategy

Product Team (vertical)

Pro

du

ct T

eam

(vertica

l)

Product Team (vertical)

Pro

du

ct Team

(vertical)

Product Marketing

Brand Marketing

From 3 to 27+ strategists in 4 years

Get aligned on your approach

What kind of team do you need? How does company culture define success? How does work get done at your company? How has content been made in the past? What do stakeholders think they want? What do stakeholders need?What do people deserve? !

! Align with your landscape

Envision the ideal future state

What kind of content do you need?Sound human Offer great service Be lightweight, conversational Recede into the background Make people comfortable !

Align on vision for content quality

Create principles to guide you

What values will get you there? Share work every day Learn from each other Be constructive, collaborative Always be building… relationshipsStay flat

Align on team values

Cultivate cultural practices


Swivel


Swivel

Flash


Swivel

Flash

PET

2. Love the mud

Magic of content strategy

T. Voekler, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg, cropped.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg

Magic of content strategy

Plan Create Learn Improve

T. Voekler, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg, cropped and desaturated.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg

Mud of content strategy

Mud of content strategy

PlanCre

ateLearn

Impro

ve

Create

LearnIm

prove Plan

Say Yes, AND…

“Yes, AND means…whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.” !— Tina Fey, Bossy Pants (New York: Reagan Arthur, 2011), 83-84.

Say Yes, AND…

How does Yes, AND work for content strategists? !

Be strategic—whether stakeholders ask or not. !

Offer a Why with every What

Yes

And…

Future

Concern

Influence

Control

Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Electronic Edition: Rosetta Books, 2013), 89.

Concern

Influence

Control

Plant here!


Concern

Influence

Control Too muddy (now)

Plant here!


Tactical YES + a strategic AND


Stakeholder:

“Can you help with copy?”


Content Strategist:

“Yes, AND…”Stakeholder:

“Can you help with copy?”

Control

Influence

Concern

Organizational climates vary


Company A Bias towards action Make decisions, move on Move fast and make things Ship, learn, iterate Done is better than perfect Solve problems in person See a problem? Fix it. Make an impact Build relationships



Company B Everything reviewed Stakeholders approve Stakeholders solve problems Hierarchies matter Communicate ideas through

email and presentations Don’t ship until perfect Org charts reflect decisions Build processes

Who thrives in your terrain?

Past behavior = future success

Hire for the right behaviors


Interview for being… Curious Entrepreneurial Proactive problem solver Near perfect, quickly Diplomatic Thrives on bringing order Creates structure as needed Strong sense of agency Assumes the best of people !

What behaviors lead to success?

Interview for being… Patient Methodical Comfortable with hierarchy Sees projects through long timeframes Diplomatic Detail-oriented Prefers planning Prefers external structure !

What behaviors lead to success?

Company B Everything reviewed Stakeholders approve Stakeholders solve problems Hierarchies matter Communicate ideas through email and presentations Don’t ship until perfect Org charts reflect decisions Build processes

Success Factor Behaviors Questions

Proactive Sees a problem and takes action

What would you do if you ran into a difficult problem involving a stakeholder?

Comfortable with ambiguity

Works independently without direction

If you had to work with several product teams, what would you do?

Entrepreneurial Creates processes where none existed

Let’s say you were going to create a process for giving context to the translation

team. How would you do it?Before: future-focused



What would you do if you ran into a difficult problem involving a stakeholder?



If you had to work with several product teams, what would you do?


Let’s say you were going to create a process for giving context to the translation

team. How would you do it?



Tell me about a time you addressed a difficult problem at work. How did you go

about doing this?



Tell me about a time you had to set your own priorities. How did you decide what

was important and what not to do?


Tell me about a time when you created a process from scratch. How did it go? What

did you learn? After: uncover real behaviors



Tell me about a time you addressed a difficult problem at work. How did you go

about doing this?



Tell me about a time you had to set your own priorities. How did you decide what

was important and what not to do?


Tell me about a time when you created a process from scratch. How did it go? What

did you learn?

Interview to build teams

Interview for… Curiosity Entrepreneurialism Proactive problem solving Near perfect, quickly Diplomacy Thriving on bringing order Creating structure as needed Strong sense of agency Assuming the best of people

Interview for… Patience Methodical approach Comfort with hierarchy Seeing projects through long

timeframes Diplomacy Attention to detail Preferring planning Preferring external structure

Make better hiring decisions

Build a successful team

Laughlin Elkind, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Square_watermelon.jpg, cropped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Square_watermelon.jpg

Focus on strengths instead

What is a strength? You show “consistent, near perfect performance…” and you “can fathom yourself doing it repeatedly, happily, and successfully…You will excel by maximizing your strengths, never by fixing your weaknesses.” !— Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths (Electronic Edition: Gallup, Inc.), 25-26.

Strengthening work energizes you

“At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?” 38% more likely to be highly productive 44% more likely to earn high customer satisfaction 50% more likely to have high employee retention

Strengths energize your team

Source: The Marcus Buckingham Company http://www.tmbc.com/assets/tmbc_business_case_for_strengths.pdf?x2

http://www.tmbc.com/assets/tmbc_business_case_for_strengths.pdf?x2

5. Replant, repeat, multiply!

Re-align as you grow

Re-envision the future

Plant new processes as needed

Multiply and repeat what worked

2. Love the mud




2. Love the mud


5. Replant, repeat and multiply!

Go out and be a green thumb!

Thank you!

Managing with a Green Thumb: Tools and Practices for Growing a Content Strategy Team

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