Now that we are all self-isolating (and if you aren’t yet, why not???), tips for remote workers and staying productive at home pop-up left and right. Everyone seems to be an expert on virtual classrooms and online learning these days. Side note: just because you put your materials online, it doesn’t mean that this constitutes good online learning. Make sure you check credentials of these “experts” before you trust them with your content. But I digress.
Why Should I Care?
I’m lucky that I’ve worked remotely in the past and this isn’t new to me. We use MS Teams to stay connected. Some simply use it instead of Skype, other’s have really adopted the tool. What do I mean by that? Well, here is what happened on one project team recently. I uploaded a presentation deck for a prospective customer meeting. Everyone can work collaboratively in the file, but I had one person telling everyone “oh, I’m going to download this now, work on it and will upload later again and let you all know.” NOOO! This is not how this works!! Well, it was too late, he did as he had said. And sure enough, while he worked on the file locally on his computer, someone else on the team went into the online file and made changes as well. Then teammate number 1 uploads his version, into the wrong folder….Now, we have two versions of the same file in two different locations…..it cost me 45 minutes to combine the two files again. Time I could have really used somewhere else.
Content strategy isn’t just about your content, but it’s also about the governance around your content. Who is doing what, where are files saved, how are they named, when will they be moved into your archive folder, etc. As the above example shows, that’s really where the rubber hits the road! And if you don’t have proper processes in place, guess what? After this period of remote work will come to an end, your content will be in worse shape than it has ever been before! Good luck with that.
Three Ways To Get Started
Make friends with your marketing department. First, I would certainly reach out to your marketing department. There is a very, very good chance that they already have a content strategy in place, as well as tools to help them govern these processes. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Reach out to them, learn from them, ask them questions, see if they would be willing to help you get set up, and don’t forget to ask if you can leverage some of the work they’ve already done. And content of course!!
Find like-minded people on your team. One option to possibly get people on board with a content strategy, and specifically a governance structure, is to find 2-3 people that get the idea behind a content strategy and its importance, or at least they somewhat get it. Gather them in a room and work with them on a high-level process chart. Ideally, use a current, small project. This way, it will be more tangible and you can show efficiencies after the project finished. Praise and celebrate publicly as people “do the right thing”. Speaking of efficiencies, that’s often the one that works for people. Meaning, if you can show them how much time they can save, and how it frees them up for other, more pressing things, it sometimes does the trick (see my example above of wasting 45 minutes of my life).
Hit them over the head. Another option is to really hit them over the head with a hammer. I feel we can be a bit more brave these days so just go for it! Start using new processes around content strategy and governance and tell them how it is done! “Force” people into it. Another MS Teams example. I have some teammates that simply don’t want to use it and keep on sending me emails about stuff that should be discussed in a Teams’ channel. So if I receive an email like that, I respond in Teams. It works! Again, I would use a smaller project you are currently working on and leverage that to test out a governance structure.
Once you have some processes in place, keep on expanding them, start using them for every new project you start, get more and more people involved and excited about this. I know, you hear content strategy and knowledge management and you just want to yawn. I get it, but it can be the key to success for any L&D organization, not just in crazy times like these.
About the author – Bianca Baumann:
As a Senior Learning Strategist with 10+ years of L&D experience, Bianca has spearheaded multiple projects in the marketing, financial, consulting and events industry, creating award-winning projects along the way.
Biancas focus on the crossroads of marketing and L&D (Digital Education Success) leveraging data, content strategy, and learner personas to create personal, predictive and proactive training strategies. Over time, she has developed processes and methodologies to help organizations meet their growth and revenue targets with the help of innovative L&D approaches, such as onboarding and reskilling programs.
Bianca regularly shares her experience and expertise in my blog, in webinars, as well as at global conferences, and recently published the eBook “The Little Black Book of Marketing and L&D”. Follow Bianca on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn to learn more.
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