From Enterprise Content Strategy to Operations

We have the green light…what’s the first step?

Part VII of this series of articles that share useful insights and practical guidance to troubleshoot underperforming self-help and learning systems

This section advocates engaging those who will do the work to draft the implementation plan and recommends an effective exercise to help contributors understand the challenges.

Best case scenario

Leadership sanctioned a new content strategy that consolidates our department-centric content development, publishing and management efforts. ROI will be determined by improvements in quality, timeliness and usefulness of content for target audiences and measured by changes in demand. Resourcing requires an implementation plan. Before the IT or Communications VP grabs the reins, a savvy board member convinces the C-level that every department must contribute to this enterprise initiative. A sponsors’ committee is formed to provide guidance, resourcing and set expectations. An operations committee comprised of those of us who will do the work is formed to draft the implementation plan.
So far…so good.

Lurking obstacles

What are the chances that keyboarders from across the organization can be thrust onto a committee and collaboratively develop a workable implementation plan? Even the least cynical among us can provide a lengthy list of landmine issues, e.g. lack of capacity, expertise, technology, enthusiasm, trust.

Moreover, there are built-in barriers to cross-departmental collaboration. Consider the following:

The marketing team’s mission is to spur enthusiasm, often by setting high expectations and glossing over limitations. The engineering team is most concerned about accuracy and usability, often resulting in dense techno-jargon. Meanwhile, legal is focused on reducing liability while customer support must prepare to solve problems as they arise. Unbeknownst to many departmentally-siloed content developers, their contributions may have a profound impact on the challenges confronting their colleagues. For example, rare is the support agent who has not borne the brunt of a customer’s frustration spurred by technically accurate, but nearly indecipherable instructions.

Nevertheless, we have our marching orders and must put forth a good-faith effort to collaboratively solve the myriad challenges we face. With the kick-off meeting looming, the most debilitating weakness we must collectively overcome is our individual ignorance of the priorities and practices of our colleagues from other disciplines and departments. From subject matter expertise to copy-editing to formatting to technology, branding and customer support, we each have to quickly develop awareness and empathy for the complexities challenging the others. A very effective way to achieve shared awareness is to grapple with a real-world problem.

Getting real

We've been tasked by leadership to develop an implementation plan for the new content strategy. This is — upon modest reflection — quite premature. We must first determine if the strategy is operationally feasible. To do that, the group brainstorms how the organization should tackle a content-development project while adhering to the tenets of the proposed strategy. The ensuing discussion will enhance understanding of the challenges, e.g. bottlenecks, gaps, scarce resources, needed skills.

Exercise scenario

Consider what must occur when HR opts to change a key benefits provider and each employee needs to make well-informed decisions by a looming deadline.

A facilitator helps the group outline the basic parameters:

1. Topic = employee benefits
2. Topic owner = HR
3. Audience = staff
4. Channel = intranet
5. Success = zero employees suffer an avoidable benefits problem due to the change of providers

Thereafter the group delves into the nuts and bolts. It’s important to realize that the details of who, what, when, where and how are unique to our organization and that we must adapt department-specific approaches into standardized processes and procedures. For example, our HR department has not yet had access to the professional-quality editing, graphic enhancement and formatting that our marketing department has developed. Nor do they have the technical publishing skills of our IT colleagues. In the past, HR made due with internal resources. In this scenario, their skills and expertise are being augmented with the very best content production and publishing resources our organization has to offer. Even so, the discussion will identify many problem areas, chief among them that there are daunting capacity issues and that the necessary workflow does not yet exist. These specific findings will help us shape priorities for the implementation plan.

Exercise baseline

Though each organization’s workflow is necessarily unique, the tasks that must be accomplished are generally consistent. To organizations with effective enterprise information management programs, the following list of tasks and activities represents business as usual.

Note: Doubtless, it will be challenging to maintain the group’s focus and foster collaboration. Though it is important to let the group derive the key steps, the facilitator may need to judiciously guide the discussion toward the baseline approach. To that end, the facilitator has a cheat sheet. :{)

Each task below includes a dozen necessary activities the group should eventually identify:

1. Assess: evaluate current knowledgebase content — manuals, FAQs, policies, training materials, etc. — and flag those items that will need to be retired, updated or certified as still valid
2. Acquire: Gather and adapt resources from new provider
3. Target & Track: Define the information needs of each group of benefit recipients (target audiences) and establish compliance tracking
4. Engage Experts: Coordinate the efforts of subject matter experts (SMEs) to edit resources and author original resources, including explicit user instructions
5. Produce: Production includes authoring, editing, formatting, enhancing, approving
6. Support: Orient the support team to the upcoming changes and arrange for their feedback on new and edited resources
7. Publish: Configure and describe new knowledgebase resources. Associate related resources for ease of use, e.g. forms, instructions, exemplars. Adjust prominence of key resources to ensure content is readily discoverable
8. Communicate: Coordinate with the communications team on announcements regarding deadlines, options and implications
9. Train: Coordinate with the training team to update curricula resources, e.g. onboarding
10. Solve: Establish escalation protocol and resources for problem solving on behalf of individual staff colleagues
11. Refine: Coordinate tweaks to knowledgebase resources in response to user feedback and support center insights
12. Commend: Recognize and acknowledge those who contributed to the success

Assessing the impact of failure

Just as it is important for the group to collaboratively problem-solve to determine feasibility, it’s also important to assess the implications of failure. Once the framework is defined, the facilitator can re-energize the discussion by shifting focus to the potential results of failing to accomplish the necessary tasks. Considering shared risks typically fosters a sense of urgency and commitment. The list below is offered as a baseline:

Each problem below includes examples the group may cite

1. Tasks overlooked: superseded resources were not flagged and retired
2. Needs unmet: important information needed by one or more types of beneficiaries is unavailable
3. Quality disparity: gaps, inconsistent depth of coverage, inaccuracies, glaring need for editing
4. Service-level failures: escalated problems left unsolved
5. Confusing guidance: clarifications needed for announcements and instructions
6. Discovery problems: intranet search surfaces conflicting information

It may be difficult at first to convince stakeholders that it is wise to engage those who will do the work to draft the implementation plan. However, it should resonate with leadership that an enterprise strategy that consolidates departmental efforts requires buy-in from every corner and that the first step should be to determine feasibility. And - when it comes to evaluating feasibility - we must engage the experts.

Note: It should be emphasized that a successful feasibility study may find that the concept is infeasible. Empowering the group with that mindset goes a long way toward building trust and credibility.

Next Topic: Managing the Expectations of Leadership

Part VIII of this series alerts the reader to the likely possibility that one or more decision-makers critical to the success of the initiative may have dangerously unrealistic expectations and offers practical insights on how to mitigate the problem before it derails the project.

Directory of All Topics

Browse this directory to discover how to troubleshoot the often thorny problem(s) preventing our self-help, intranet, training, support and/or extranet knowledge bases from being incredibly useful.