How to pitch your colleagues on breaking down content silos
Tommy Walker
I'll show you how to combine real-world market research processes with screenwriting principles to become a more resonant B2B storyteller.
"Can I talk to you about your workflow?
Like, from beginning to end. Can you show me how you go from ideas to execution to live?
What do you like about your workflow? What do you hate? What are your tools? Who's involved and at what point? What do you wish could be better?"
This, or something like it, is the conversation I have with every single person I want to be involved with building an enterprise-level content marketing operation.
The challenge, if you remember from the article linked above, is to bring everyone, from design, to social, to email, to blog, SEO and demand gen into a single unified workspace where they can share their work in real-time, while also maintaining their own autonomy.
Doing this is no easy task. On a biological level, change means rewiring neurological pathways that have been built up around habits. Even if those habits don't always yield the most efficient results, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, so the benefits of change need to be absolutely apparent from the outset.
On a surface level, people might object for the following reasons:
- Fear of the unknown
- Not being consulted
- Lack of communication
- Threat to their expertise or status
- No clear benefits or value
- Unclear on the need
- The effort required to learn
- Lack the skills to use it
- Distrust in management
- Hardwired habits
- Lack of agency
If we're going to build a new system that includes everyone, everyone needs to adopt it. For everyone to adopt it, they'll need to see how the new thing will give maximum benefits with minimal effort.
Why do we need to change our workflow, and how are we going to make it as smooth as possible?
Look again at the reasons in the previous section and you'll notice a few themes; change feels unnecessary, you don't understand how they work, and they don't feel heard.
This being the case, you need to make it feel like a collaborative effort. Ultimately, you're asking people to alter their entire day. Hence, interviews. When everyone feels heard, even if skeptical, they'll be more receptive to hearing you.
The deck above shows how I would go about it, but in case you can't see it, here's the basic outline.
The big hairy problem - Our teams don't communicate well, therefore, we're __ (wasting X amount of time, creating duplicate content, not leveraging each other.)
Who's who - Here are all of the people within each team who work on these challenges
How do we think we work vs how we actually work - How does each team hand off work to another?
Our tool stack(s), costs & inefficiencies - How many workflow tools are being used?
Where things get lost - Challenges each team has with handoff or if they're even collaborating all
How can we make it better - Demo of your new tool prototype & workflow.
In this demonstration, be sure to include the pain points every team has when collaborating not only cross-functionally but also within their own team. It doesn't hurt to also include quotes from team members when shining a spotlight on some of these pains. Everyone likes to see their name in lights, and this is a great way to endear your colleagues and at least give you a shot at fixing the problem.
Find allies before the big pitch
No big sale is made without a few testimonials, so while you're conducting your interviews, identify the people who are experiencing the most pain within each team and ask if they'd be willing to work with you on building out a prototype that keeps the best of what they're already doing, and eliminates their pain points at the same time.
While I can't embed it Linkedin, here is an example prototype I've built in AirTable to demonstrate what I would personally do to oversee the content production of multiple teams.
Adapt, iterate, and good luck
This is only a starting point. There are a number of team-specific things that can be done to adapt to the needs of each individual team that can be done in team-specific views, but this is where I would start to get everyone connected.
Selling a new workflow to break down silos within content organizations might be a daunting task, but hopefully these steps will help you in eliminating barriers and getting more done.
Implementation Project Manager
4 年I worked if a client last year on this very issue and your recommendations ring very true
Sr.Digital Marketing and SEO Manager @ MDConnect
4 年absolutely right Tommy. I have been on both sides of it, first time was as objector when you were pushing the rest of us to the promised land. Line of sight and feeling like you have input breeds buy in. Its much easier to dismiss something or someone when you don't know what they are doing and don't much care. If you want a team, person, department or company to devote time and money to content they need to feel invested.