Motivating Your Colleagues to Create Effective Content

Do you need stories, blog posts, or expert articles for your website? It can sound easy: pick a topic, get a co-worker with the expertise to agree to write it, set a deadline, and check in later. But if you've tried, you know it's not that simple.

It's difficult for staff members with urgent tasks (which is pretty much everyone at a nonprofit!) to put in focused time to write content. Fundamentally, while content writing is important, it’s hardly ever urgent, so people tend to put it off. It can be even harder if the people you're asking to write aren't in your department or report to different people. They might not share your priorities, and you might not have any official authority over what they do. 

What should you do?  Some questions to consider:

1. Can someone else write a first draft? It’s a lot easier to comment or edit than to write from scratch. Could you create a first draft yourself, even just to start the process? Could you hire a freelance journalist or technical writer to interview your colleagues and write from there? It may be easier for your coworkers to schedule a call than to write something themselves, and writers are comparatively inexpensive ($40-$50/hour).

2. Do your co-workers reasonably have time to contribute? If they're already working 60 hours a week on other things, you're likely going to be fighting a losing battle to try to get your co-workers to write a story, even if they agreed to do it. If no one has the time to write what’s been planned, that’s an issue to flag to your boss or your leadership team. The organization either needs to free up staff time to create content, or provide budget to hire someone, or reduce their expectations of how much content you’ll publish. 

3. Can you be "transparent" about who is (and isn't) getting you things on time? Consider sharing a list of who's on track and who's not. A simple spreadsheet or chart pasted into an email that shows everyone's progress (or lack of it) can encourage people to meet the schedule. Publicly making people feel uncomfortable about missed deadlines in front of their peers can be a powerful motivator. But be cautious, as this approach may not fit every work culture. 

4. Can you create a "working group"  of the people assigned the content? This group would make plans as to what to write, and meet periodically to check on how things are going. They’d then be responsible to each other to make sure content is written, rather than you being personally responsible.  

5. Are you updating your own boss? Make sure you're communicating with your own boss and leaders about problems and potential missed deadlines. A weekly status email that simply repeats the same risks and problems over and over again every week can be a powerful tool, if you’re at the limit of what you can do. If you can’t get what you need, your leadership will either need to help you or to accept that you’re not able to put up new content.

6. Or have you done all that you can? Sometimes, you just have to accept that deadlines will be missed and content won’t be optimal. Try not to feel like it's a personal failing if organizational goals don’t align perfectly with content creation.