This document is meant to outline and clarify the primary responsibilities of the LeadVenture Content Team Lead. All writers report to the Team Lead and the Team Lead reports to the Vice President of Digital Advertising.

Team Management

Staffing

It is the Team Lead’s responsibility to adequately staff the team. The Team Lead must keep records on workload and communicate with the VP when the team will require additional writers. 

Hiring

The Team Lead is expected to work with LeadVenture recruiters to fill any open positions on the team. While they may not perform initial screenings, they must perform their own interviews to assess the skills of potential candidates they deem qualified for the position. 

The interview should allow time for a writing exercise in order to properly evaluate the candidate's writing abilities. 

The Team Lead must then also choose which candidates they would like to offer the position to and notify the VP and the recruiter. This process may include pay negotiation.

Training

The Team Lead is expected to provide training to all new hires on the content process. This may be with assistance from the SEO Trainer, who may provide training on basic SEO practices as they pertain to content.

It is also the Team Lead’s responsibility to regularly follow up with the new hire to evaluate their initial written pieces and ensure the new hire is settling into their new role.

Note: In the event the Team Lead is not available, parts of this process can be delegated to a Senior Writer.

Timecard Approval

The Team Lead must approve timecards before they are locked by payroll, every other Monday, starting January 3, 2022, unless otherwise noted. Failure to do so will result in writers not being properly compensated until the following pay period.

This also includes any manual adjustments a writer’s timecard may need, approving PTO requests, and assessing timecards to ensure employee attendance aligns with company expectations.

If the Team Lead cannot approve timecards, it is the Team Lead’s responsibility to make arrangements so another timecard supervisor can approve the teams’ timecards. 

Goal Evaluation

Every month, the writers are expected to hit monthly goals, in way of the number of pieces completed. It is the Team Lead’s responsibility to evaluate every writer’s performance on a monthly basis to ensure writers are maintaining expectations. 

Writers who do not meet expectations--who do not have valid reasons for not hitting their goals--may be subject to disciplinary action. 

• First time offenses should only result in an informal discussion with that writer. Ask the writer if there were professional, or potentially personal, obstacles preventing them from reaching their goals and discuss how they can improve.

• Repeated offenses (as determined by the Team Lead) should result in more severe consequences. This may range from verbal or written warnings to performance improvement plans to termination. 

Setting Expectations

Expectations should be set based on what the company needs and feedback from the writers on what they can accomplish. These expectations should fluctuate as needs and ability changes, but should be given considerable thought and should be discussed with the team before any formal implementation takes place. 

Communication

The Team Lead is required to maintain good communication, both via email and Teams. Any question they cannot answer, they should redirect to the right person. 

Holding One-on-Ones

The Team Lead will meet with writers individually on a monthly basis as well as additional one-on-one meetings as needed. These should be used as an opportunity to check in with each writer on their performance, projects they’re working on, and give them a space to provide feedback to the Team Lead.

The Team Lead should also meet with the VP on a weekly basis to discuss the team’s progress, challenges they’re facing, and ways to improve the team. 

Reviews

The Team Lead is responsible for carrying out quarterly reviews for each eligible writer.

Each review should reflect upon a combination of monthly quantitative output, optional project involvement, overall engagement in the work and with the team, and any other relevant factors. Reviews should include both areas of strength and performance critiques.

Review periods are also a time to recommend promotions. Refer to HR materials for information on review deadlines.

Q4 reviews are also an opportunity to dole out merit raises. The budget should be discussed with the VP and must be approved prior to announcing them to the employees.

Every review cycle will include a submitted written form and a follow-up discussion. The Team Lead must fill out a manager’s review for each employee and plan to hold an hour-long subsequent discussion.

Disciplinary Action

Writers who are subject to disciplinary action for any reason--performance, behavioral, etc.--will answer to the Team Lead first. More severe situations may result in the VP’s involvement. The Team Lead should also involve HR on any formal disciplinary measures so the issue can be recorded. 

Performance Improvement

Any writer subject to a performance improvement plan will work directly with the Team Lead to carry out and meet expectations. The plan should be created by the Team Lead and reviewed with the writer so all parties understand what is expected. The Team Lead will continue to work directly with the writer and provide as many resources as possible to achieve the PIP goal. 

All PIPs should be filed with local HR branches.

Termination

Any writer who must be terminated will be terminated by the Team Lead. Leading up to termination, the Team Lead should provide ample opportunities and resources for improvement, as is appropriate for the situation. There may be situations, as determined by the Team Lead, in which termination will not include opportunities for improvement, though these should be rare.

Monthly Prep

The end of each month and the beginning of the next month will require certain actions be taken to prepare the team for the next month’s work and accurately report on the previous month’s work. These actions are outlined below.

Before the Next Month

Create the Next Month’s Tracker

Each monthly tracker should be prepared and ready to go before the first working day of the month.

Copy the previous month’s tracker to easily transfer the client lists of each writer, or use the Monthly Content Tracker Template 2022. Update the title of the sheet to reflect the month and year the tracker will be applied to.

There should be a tab for each writer at the bottom of the sheet, labeled with their name.

Adjust the following in each individual tracker:

• Month, year, and writer name in the top left-hand corner.

• Changes to client assignments (see below).

• Holidays that apply to each individual writer (fill the corresponding cells in the calendar with red).

• Update the dates in the calendar columns.

• If copied from a previous month’s tracker, remove all irrelevant information.

• Mark 33%, 66%, and 100% complete dates.

  • 100% days should happen on the fourth-to-last business day of the month.

  • 33% and 66% days should be adjusted for holidays, but not PTO.

The monthly tracker should also include a fresh kickback sheet and an updated open projects sheet.

The template for the kickback sheet is included in the Month Content Tracker Template 2022. If needed, update the SEO Rep in the first column.

The project tab can be copied from the previous monthly tracker. Completed projects should be removed, existing projects should be updated to reflect the current needs of the project, and new projects should be added.

Once all changes have been applied, share the tracker with the writing team, either via email or in the Content Team Announcements Chat.

Adjust Client Lists

Once the content tracker is created, each writer’s list of assigned clients will need to be adjusted. This will include adding new clients, removing clients that are no longer receiving content, and balancing assignments so there is a fair distribution of work.

Client distributions for each team are managed on the LV Content Writer Assignment Sheet. The first three tabs help distribute Dealer Spike clients and the last three tabs help distribute ARI clients.

To Add Clients

Locate unassigned clients by searching the Client Template column on the DS and ARI Staging Boards for clients that have no writer assigned to them. Confirm they aren’t assigned by checking the Assignment Sheet. If they are assigned and just not tagged, tag the writer on the template card and confirm that the dealer is in that writer’s list of assigned clients.

If the client is not assigned, add them to the list in the appropriate “Content Dist” tab (if necessary), and use the appropriate “Client Counts” tab to identify which writer should receive that client.

To Remove Clients

Use the ARI or DS Monthly planner to identify all clients who have cancelled for the month (indicated in the SEO portion in red). Notify the writer using their client list that they will no longer be filling content for that client.

Note in the Assignment Sheet that the client has cancelled and move the row to the corresponding cancellation column.

Transferring the Client List

All remaining assigned clients should be transferred from the previous monthly tracker to the current one in the appropriate columns.

Update the Seasonal Calendar

The ARI and DS Rewrite Index each have seasonal calendars. These calendars indicate both current and upcoming holidays and seasonal events.

At the start of each month, fill the previous month with the matching gray scale shade and reset the fill of the current month.

At the end of each quarter, cut and paste the previous quarter to the bottom of the calendar. Update all dates to reflect the next year’s dates (most pertinent to holidays).

After the Previous Month

Update Monthly Output Numbers

The team’s monthly statistics are logged in the Condensed and Complete Information on Content Team Workload spreadsheet. Every month, the following numbers should be added:

Workload Tracking Tab: Expected Number of Requests Per Month

Using the ARI and DS SEO Trackers, calculate the appropriate package numbers for the new month. These numbers should be entered into the corresponding cells tracking packaging numbers.

These numbers will need to be added to the Workload tab, as well as:

• The cells in the top left corner of each team’s reporting numbers in the Writing Tracking tab.

• The appropriate cells in the corresponding quarterly tab (left side, middle of the sheet).

• The Content Request Tracking sheet (note the different tabs for DS and ARI).

Workload Tracking Tab: Number of Pieces Completed

Once the total number of pieces completed for each team for the previous month is known, add that number to the appropriate cells.

This should reflect the number of pieces completed for one team, regardless of which team each writer normally writes for. Any writer who writes content for both teams should have their totals added only to the respective team’s total.

Writer Tracking Tab

This tab is used in the monthly email report sent out to the team and leadership. Add a new space for the previous month, and then add the following pieces of information:

• Update the “Total Clients” cell for each team.

• Update the “Total Pieces” cell for DS and the “Max Potential Pieces” cell for ARI (packaging numbers). This number should reflect the previous month’s packaging number.

  • Note: Some ARI packages do not guarantee a certain number of content pieces from the Content Team every month, but rather offer a maximum number of potential pieces. This number is not consistent from month to month, so the packaging number pulled for ARI is the maximum number of pieces the team could see that month. However, the functional number is likely much lower.

• Add the percentage of assigned work completed by each writer (in the quarterly tabs).

• Add the total number of pieces assigned to each writer, regardless of the clients ultimate need for content.

• Add the total number of pieces the writer completed that month (calculated in the quarterly tabs).

• Add the number of clients omitted from the final count when calculating percentage.

  • Note: This may include clients who cancelled, clients who did not receive content for the month, or requests stuck in the Issues column on 100% day. Requests that cannot be filled by the writers are not counted against them.

Once the information in this tab is updated, it can be used to create the monthly email report, outlined below.

Quarterly Tabs: Basic Information

In the top left corner of each quarterly tab, there are some basic stats on the team itself and its historical record. The first cells should be updated to reflect how many full-time writers there are and how many open positions need to be filled.

Below these cells are a series of pertinent resources for tracking progress, including a special set of numbers pulled on 2019 work, the record of monthly requests, and the folder containing all monthly trackers.

Below those cells is the packaging number records for both DS and ARI, to be updated every month with the packaging numbers are pulled.

Quarterly Tabs: Completed Pieces

The number of completed pieces and the total percentage of completed assigned work should be tracked according to each individual writer.

Use the Monthly Trackers to add the number of completed pieces logged according to format for both DS and ARI. Any writer who completes content for both teams should have entries for both, which should only reflect the number of pieces completed for that team.

Any freelancers and part-time workers should also be included.

The totals for each writer and across the should be calculated in the appropriate locations.

Up for Grabs pieces should be included in the final count, but should be indicated through an additional note added to the cell.

Finally, calculate the total percentage of assigned work completed. Do not use the percentage displayed in the tracker. Instead, use the following process:

1. Note the total number of assigned pieces (not clients).

2. Subtract any clients whose content could not be completed by 100% day (the number of clients omitted in the Writer Tracking tab).

3. Divide the number of pieces completed by each writer by the number of pieces the writer should have been able to complete by 100% day.

4. Multiply that number by 100.

This is the percentage of assigned work completed by that writer. Anything under 100% should be carefully considered, reflecting on previous performance and the strain it places on the rest of the team.

Create Kickback Report

Every month, the information collected in the Kickback Sheet in the monthly tab is compiled and sent to leadership. This process is detailed in Kickback Reports: Content to SEO.

Send Out Email Report

Once the monthly team stats have been calculated, they can be used to send out the monthly email report. This report should include:

• Notable performance highlights, recognizing top performers by name.

• An update on ongoing projects, as well as recognition for the writers who helped with these projects.

• Any other notable accomplishments from the team or updates on upcoming initiatives.

• Screenshots of the monthly work as reflected in the Writer Tracking tab in the Condensed and Complete on Content Team Workload sheet.

This email should be sent to all writers, as well as the VP of Digital Services, the COO (Krissy Mullins), and local management for all overseas offices.

Update Trello Automations

Trello will also need to be updated on a monthly basis to prepare for two months from the current month. This makes it so the SEO reps don’t have to wait for automations to be created before they can start their work. For example, at the beginning of September, the automations for November will need to be created. For both teams, this will involve:

• Creating a monthly work column on the Staging Board.

• Creating a monthly request column to send all requests for that month on the Writing Board.

• Creating an automation button that allows reps to send content to the Writing Board.

• Creating an automation that adds the monthly label to each request card when it’s moved to the monthly column on the Staging Board.

Quarterly Goals Update

Use the Digital Marketing Goals Sheet to add and update all quarterly goals. The spreadsheet is used to inform the Vice President of Digital Services. The team should be informed during a team meeting.

Digital Marketing Goals Sheet

Every goal should get its own row. The goal should be identified in column B.

Column C should articulate the ultimate goal and how to identify when the goal has been achieved.

Column D should detail what the historic precedent related to the goal has been and the benefit of changing this precedent.

Column E should outline the goal’s milestones, using informed statistics related to the goal.

Every month, column F should reflect the actual progress of the goal.

Adding and Removing

All new goals should either be screened by the team or be beneficial to the team beyond a shadow of a doubt. Keep in mind, the team can only handle a finite number of additional projects on top of their daily work.

Goals should not be removed until they’ve reached their final point of resolution. This should also be indicated on the Goals Sheet.

Documentation

The Content Team Lead is in charge of documenting all procedures and responsibilities. When rolling out new changes, they should be appropriately documented before the launch date. This documentation should be updated as changes are made to these same procedures and responsibilities.

All documentation should be logged in Confluence.

Growth

The Content Team Lead should always be looking for ways to help the team grow. Even as development projects are underway to improve the team, it’s essential to be considering the next potential projects and begin taking steps toward that growth.

Growth should continue even during difficult times. Even through staffing shortages, it’s important to continuously push the team forward, even in smaller increments. “Waiting for things to calm down” can last longer than the team can afford to go without improving the work and the team.

Encourage the team to be part of this growth and involve their ideas in future projects. This will both ensure that the projects are beneficial to the team and keep the team engaged.