This document outlines the agenda for a workshop on managing technical communicators. The agenda includes sessions on developing management skills, providing training and feedback to employees, holding effective meetings, managing a diverse workforce, and building high-performing teams. Additional topics cover estimating documentation projects, making staffing changes, and improving organizational processes and tools. The goal is to provide managers with practical guidance and strategies for enabling excellence across their teams and organizations.

2. ➢ About Your Presenters
➢ Getting to Know You
➢ Tailoring Your Workshop
➢ Three Contexts for Enabling Excellence (EE)
➢ Manager’s Toolkit: You’ve Got to Have CHARM
➢ Management: A Sacred Trust (The Soft Skills)- CARVE!
THRIVE!
➢ Keys to Success: Training
➢ Keys to Success: Motivation, Feedback, Performance
Reviews - SLAP!
AGENDA 01
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3. ➢ Effective Meetings: Who, When, How?
➢ Awareness, Bias, Culture: You, Your Organization,
The World
➢ Team Building
➢ Improving Processes and Tools
➢ Estimating Documentation Projects
➢ Staffing: Changes, Additions - Three Contexts
➢ Bonus content!
➢ Snacks and networking session
02AGENDA
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4. • Technical communications leader
• 32 years of technical documentation
experience
• Led writing teams at 6 US companies
• Founded Saiff Solutions, Inc. in 2011
• Provides content development to
Fortune 500 companies in Japan & US
• Loves acronyms
About the Speaker: Barry Saiff 03

5. • 18 years of experience as a technical
writer and manager at Qualcomm, San
Diego & other companies
• 20 years of experience in the electronics
and aerospace industries
• Enjoys books, music, and languages
• LinkedIn: mikemcgrawqualcomm
• Email: m.mcgraw@att.net
About the Speaker: Mike McGraw 04

6. Let’s Get to Know Each Other
Please tell us your
country, city, role, and
why you are here?
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7. What are Your Interests/Experiences in
Managing Technical Writers?
Have you experienced:
• Managing a team of writers?
• Leading a team, without management authority?
• Managing outsourced or offshore writers?
• Hiring? Firing?
• Working for a good manager?
• Working for a not-so-good manager?
• What else?
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8. What Should We Focus on Today?
Some of you received these questions via email:
1. What do you most want to get out of this workshop?
3. Where do technical communicators fit in your corporate structure?
4. What is your current/past management experience?
5. Which staff changes are you least experienced in:
hiring, firing, transfers, outsourcing, other?
6. What types of training does your team participate in?
8. Is your team geographically, culturally, or linguistically diverse?
9. What is your biggest challenge with respect to processes?
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9. 10. Rank the top 5 areas you want us to cover, from 1 to 5 (1 is highest):
● Being a manager (the soft skills)
● Training
● Motivation, feedback, and performance reviews
● Effective meetings: who, when, how
● Awareness, bias, and culture: you, your organization, the world
● Team building
● Improving processes, and tools
● Estimating documentation projects
● Staffing: layoffs, transfers, firing, hiring, outsourcing
What Should We Focus on Today? 08

10. Enable excellence for:
• Your staff (local, in-sourced)
• Your expanded team (remote, outsourced)
• Your organization
How do we enable excellence
consistently across all these
dimensions?
Three Contexts for EE 09

11. When facing any difficult
situation, start with
Curiosity and Humility, proceed
with Awareness, Respect, and
Mastery
Manager’s Toolkit: CHARM 10

12. • destroy careers
• destroy jobs
• destroy morale
• destroy the enterprise
Management is a sacred trust. As a manager,
at any level, you have the power to:
11

13. • build careers
• achieve miracles
• treat people fairly
• develop lifelong
relationships of trust
Management is a sacred trust. As a manager,
at any level, you have the power to:
12

14. • turn lives around
• empower people to be more
effective and productive
• enable people to learn things
that make them more
successful
• turn the enterprise around
Management is a sacred trust. As a manager,
at any level, you have the power to:
13

16. The fundamental way of being of a manager is caring.
•A manager cares about the results.
•A manager cares about the process.
•A manager cares about the people.
•A manager cares about the enterprise.
Caring 15

17. •A manager is trusted with power, and
faces opportunities to abuse that power.
•A manager must, at times, be selfless,
and act against their own (narrowly
conceived) self-interest.
Caring: Responsibility 16

18. • A good manager is a creator of healthy administration, and an
enemy of bureaucratic corruption and inertia.
• The mission, the customers, the enterprise, the people, and
the results are more important than the rules.
• A good manager strives for continuous improvement, rational
administration, fairness, and productivity gains.
Caring: Bureaucracy 17

19. Have you ever thought
about management in
terms of caring?
Yes? No?
Caring: A New Idea? 18

20. Your people need regular access
to you, and you need access to
your management.
Have you ever had difficulties or stress at
work because your manager had no time for
you?
Yes? No?
Access 19

21. Don’t accuse. Remember CHARM.
Even if you don't think you are accusing or
blaming, if the other person thinks you are,
you are responsible for their perception.
This is particularly important in Asian
cultures.
Being Respectful 20

22. A manager knows how to manage
their emotions, without dumping them
on people in the workplace.
Understand the difference between
passion and emotion. Be responsible
for the impact of your actions.
A manager does not react. A manager
creates.
Being Respectful 21

23. Expand the realm of what you consider
yourself responsible for.
Do not accept being treated with less than
full respect.
Give yourself a break.
You will make mistakes, in fact, you must
make some mistakes in order to learn how to
improve.
BALANCE Infographics: 7 Elements of Respect
Being Respectful of yourself 22

24. Without vision, management is damaging. Be
inspired, and you will inspire others.
Keep the mission, vision, and values of the
organization alive, in everyone.
Make sure people understand how their work
forwards the whole.
Are you clear about the mission OR the vision
of your organization?
Yes?
No?
Vision 23

25. Dr. Wayne Dyer was well known for
the idea, based on extensive research,
that we create what we expect.
Be aware of your expectations.
Choose them wisely.
Expect Excellence! 24

26. Caring – Trust = Micromanagement
Trust is the currency of business success.
Without trust, nothing is possible.
You must calibrate trust for each person/situation.
What do you trust me for? Do you trust me to do my job well?
Would you trust me to protect your daughter from harm? These
are very different questions.
TRUST 25

27. Team (We are all on the same one.)
Relationships based upon
Understanding,
Sensitivity, and
Tolerance
TRUST
Calibrate your level of trust in each
person wisely. Believe in people.
26

28. Question for managers: Who am I being?
Get clear on who you are, as a manager and a
leader. For example, here is my statement:
I am an authentic, caring, challenging, dedicated
mentor.
What is yours? (Feel free to steal from mine.)
To get clear on your statement:
• Notice, ask for feedback
• Envision (Whom do you aspire to be like?)
Being 27

29. An inauthentic manager is an ineffective manager.
To increase authenticity, clarify your inauthenticities.
Everyone has inuathenticities.
Ask for help:
• What don’t you believe? How would you not trust me?
Ask yourself: What do I really care about? What don’t I?
Separate the facts from your story.
Get training: Never stop learning about yourself.
Highly recommended: http://www.landmarkworldwide.com
Being Authentic 28

31. ● Examine: How might I be the source of the problem?
● Learn from failures and successes.
● Do not cut corners (deceive, break the law, share
information prematurely or inappropriately).
● Work at least as hard, and smart, as your staff.
● Hold yourself accountable for the results of your
team,
and for your impact on their self-image &
performance.
● Model behaviors and attitudes you want to develop.
Empower Excellence: INTEGRITY 30

32. Why are promises important?
● Descriptive language vs Creative language
● Flowers
● Personal power: What is it? What is its source?
● Beyond keeping promises - Honoring your word:
○ When you cannot, pro-actively take
responsibility for mitigating the impacts on
others.
○ Calibrate your promises: Not too much, not too
little either – expect great things!
INTEGRITY: The Power of Your Word 31

33. Begin with:
Curiosity and
Humility, proceed with
Awareness,
Respect, and
Mastery
CHARM Review 32

34. Practice using open-ended
questions.
Pick a partner:
Partner A is the Manager.
Partner B is the Writer.
CHARM Exercise 33

35. What did you learn from the
CHARM exercise?
34

36. What, in your experience, are the most
difficult management issues?
35

37. Enable Excellence: Training Types
What types of training does your team need?
Consider:
● Technical communications methods
● Technical skills, aptitude, knowledge
● Writing skills: grammar, organization,
proofreading, editing, topic types, etc.
● Cultural skills: Organizational policies,
processes, methods, culture, working with
diverse others
36

38. ● Work skills: time/work management, project
management, leading meetings, leading teams,
collaboration
● Transformational training - How to:
○ Be coachable
○ Release/replace life-long habits
○ Exceed your limits
○ Increase awareness: How am I being?
○ Culture: strengths, weaknesses of?
○ Increase empathy - for self and others
Enable Excellence: Training Types 37

39. The available training methods are legion:
● Working with more experienced/differently-skilled people
● Teaching: Designing, delivering courses
● Graduated tasks, with detailed feedback
● Shadowing; being shadowed
● Self-directed learning
● Free (or paid) online courses, webinars, blogs, etc.
● Remote live training, local live training
● What others?
Enable Excellence: Training Methods 38

40. Is training necessary?
● Is breathing necessary?
● Technical communication is 90% learning. Training is motivating.
(If it isn’t, staff changes are needed.)
● What if there is no budget for training?
Enable Excellence: Training - Why? 39

41. Imagine: Your boss tells you (for the first
time) that you are failing at x, y, and z, and
you are being demoted, or fired.
Would you rather have had a chance to
improve first?
Would you rather have had some effective
training?
Enable Excellence: Training - Why? 40

43. Three Key Factors for Motivation:
1. Autonomy
2. Mastery
3. Purpose
Great 11-minute video on motivation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuF
Two Orientations of Motivation:
• Toward (things you want)
• Away from (things you don’t want)
Motivation: A, M, P, T, AF 42

44. Frequent! Accurate! Clear! Specific!
Do not fail to tell someone that they made a mistake.
Do not fail to praise someone, often.
Do not fail to provide formal
performance reviews at least annually.
Remember CHARM!
Feedback 43

45. One-on-one meetings: regularly
with all staff
One-on-one meetings: regularly
with your manager
Team meetings
Project meetings
Effective Meetings: Who? When? 44

46. Preparation is key.
• Set clear goals
• Provide an agenda with time limits
• Include everyone in the discussion
• Don’t forget your remote or offsite
members
Effective Meetings: How? 45

47. Provide an agenda to keep the meeting on track
and on time. Add a time limit to each item.
• News and announcements “from above”
• Action items from previous meetings
• Ongoing projects or situations
• New challenges to be discussed?
Have an agenda 46

48. • Teams work best when everyone
contributes their experience and
their best ideas.
• Find ways to include everyone.
• Don’t just rely on “volunteers.” Draw
out ideas to discover hidden talents.
• Make sure the quieter voices are
heard.
Include everyone 47

49. • Set a place at the table for each offsite member.
• Set up a virtual presence via Skype, etc.
• Include offsite members in introductions, reports,
and discussions.
• Don’t let offsite folks disappear into other tasks.
• Sometimes including off-site folks in a meeting
doesn’t work. Figure out another way to include
them.
Offsite but not forgotten 48

50. • A changing world = Diverse styles/contexts
• Cross-cultural teams: Aware leadership
• Each culture has strengths, and challenges
Awareness, bias, & culture 49

51. Companies market their products
internationally.
Users are diverse.
Localization of products and
supporting documentation
requires cultural awareness.
The world is changing 50

52. • between company strategy and their
employees.
• between team members who may be in many
locations.
• between past practices and future possibilities
Managers are at the interface 51

53. Three Key Success Factors:
1. Mix cultures and locations.
Having a mix of cultures in one location makes a huge difference.
2. Ensure editing, quality control, and inclusion.
Make all writers have the advantages they need to succeed.
A key success factor for Saiff Solutions: Our writers in the
Philippines work with American, Canadian, Indian, and
Filipino editors and managers (local and remote).
Our editors each have at least 10 years of technical
writing/editing experience.
Managing cross-cultural teams 52

54. 3. Embrace differences by increasing your awareness!
Understanding cultural differences – between countries, professions, departments,
companies – is crucial to your success. Consider:
• How do these people learn best?
• How do they typically handle conflict?
• What does “Yes” mean to them?
Learn to listen newly: hear what you are missing
Learn to speak newly: add what you assume and others do not
Continually expand your awareness to new levels.
You cannot succeed in this without getting to know people well.
Managing cross-cultural teams 53

55. •Management entails awesome responsibility and awesome
opportunity. Both are magnified by a mixture of cultures.
•Many Asians are socialized to defer to authority figures, and
foreigners, even those not in positions of authority. They may be
unwilling to say “no” or disagree with you, to ask questions or ask for
help, especially if you (even unknowingly) raise your voice or exhibit
frustration or anger.
•They may hide from you the impact of how you are being.
•Many Americans, Japanese, and others regularly raise their voices, or
interpret silence as a sign of agreement and support.
Managing cross-cultural teams 54

56. To be successful with people in other cultures, you need to be
sensitive. You need to be willing to change. You need to give up
the idea that your culture is better. All cultures have strengths
and weaknesses. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your
culture and other cultures.
Seek out the strengths 55

57. Your task: build and support your team
• Discover each member’s skills and work
style.
• Learn who is calmest in a storm, most
creative in a crisis, most reliable in
meeting a deadline.
• Help each person stretch their skills and
grow their experience.
Team building 56

58. Understand all the jobs expected of your team.
• What products do you support?
• What kinds of content do you create or
maintain?
• What special skills are required?
• What difficult situations or people must your
staff work with?
Understand the work 57

59. Members of a team:
• Know each other’s strengths...and weaknesses.
• Combine their abilities to be more effective
than they can be as individuals.
• Together, tackle new challenges.
Build your team 58

60. • Communication
• Creativity
• Accountability
• Efficiency
• Flexibility
• Leadership
Encourage these qualities 59

61. Use varied activities to build strong, diverse team
relationships:
• Off-site as well as on-site; indoor & outdoor.
• Work-related as well as social.
• Find out what team members want to do -- don’t focus
only on your ideas.
• Encourage the use of varied senses and abilities.
• Don’t forget training/education: those activities can also
build teams.
• Have fun!
Team-building activities 60

62. Are you using the best processes and tools?
Ask yourself three questions:
1. What is your purpose?
2. Who is your customer?
3. Is your customer happy?
(http://www.squawkpoint.com/tutorials/process-improvement/)
Improve processes & tools 61

63. • What’s wrong with the existing
method?
• Search for better solutions.
• Rank your choices.
• What’s the experience of other
companies that are using the
new method or tool?
Find a better process/tool 62

64. • Clearly understand the workflow that uses the
problem process/tool.
• Who owns the process/tool? Any stakeholders?
• Who would a change impact?
• How would the new process/tool help your
customers?
Do your homework 63

65. Changing a process or a tool can be expensive.
Present your management with a business case
that supports your proposed change:
• Short and long term benefits to customers.
• Impact to existing products or processes.
• Cost (time, licenses, training, etc.)
• Return on the investment (payback time, cost
savings.)
Speak management’s language 64

66. How do you create project estimates?
• Focus on estimating goal-oriented tasks (writing a topic) vs.
minutiae (interviewing 3 SMEs)
• Count what can be counted (UI elements)
• Develop and use historical data
• OR, use industry-standard numbers: 4 hours/page for user
documentation (JoAnn Hackos)
• Consider process maturity
• Adjust your estimates, using humility
Estimating Documentation Projects 65

67. • Do your homework: Follow processes, document
• Has the person received specific, actionable feedback? Have
they been given a chance to improve? Have you considered
various viewpoints?
• Is the person a negative influence? A bad cultural fit? Or
someone different who contributes something valuable?
• Not being able to fire people can destroy an organization.
• Firing the wrong people can destroy morale.
• Once you decide, act with authority.
Staff Changes - Firing 66

68. Transfers into your team:
• Orientation, inclusion
• Team cohesion, team building
• Are they a good fit? What are their
career goals?
Transfers out of your team:
• Understand their goals
• Support their ambitions
• Make it work for your team
Staff Changes - Transfers 67

69. • Hire for attitude (89%) and skills (11%)
• Know your culture, seek a good fit
• Value and encourage diversity
• More heads are better
• When needed, test
• After hiring: orientation, team-building, inclusion
• What if you cannot get hiring authority/budget?
• Can you outsource/offshore while maintaining/improving
quality?
Staff Changes - Hiring 68

70. Enable excellence for:
• Your staff (local, in-sourced)
• Your expanded team (remote, outsourced)
• Your organization
How do we enable excellence consistently across
all these dimensions?
What have we learned?
Three Contexts for EE 69

71. I could benefit from a conversation
about…?
What management challenge are
you facing now?
70

72. • BALANCE Infographics: 7 Elements of Respect
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Technical Writers
• Global Content Creation – Making it Work
• A Motivating SLAP
• 2016 New Years Free Gifts
• What do good technical writers do? Why do we need them?
• You can find all of the above at:
http://saiffsolutions.com/home/category/blog
• Great 11-minute video on motivation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
BONUS: Resources 71

73. Email: barrysaiff@saiffsolutions.com
Skype: SaiffSolutions
Contact: +1 415 350 2959
+63 917 872 0929
Web: www.saiffsolutions.com
#LavaCon #SaiffSolutions #techcomm
ALL QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME 72

74. BONUS: Creativity in the Face of Stress
A good manager creates and protects a healthy culture.
Culture lives in the details -- in every moment, every action and
interaction.
Think about how you deal with stress. You are a role model for
your team. Your stress level impacts them.
Successful managers rely on the 4 Cs:
• Curiosity, Caring, Competence, and Creativity
73

75. Supplement Your Excellence!
• Attend our breakout session CARVE and
SLAP Your Way to THRIVE as a MANAGER.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016, 1:45PM – 2:45PM PST
• Visit our Saiff Solutions booth to pick up
organization-transforming freebies and
have a candid conversation with us on your
content challenges.
• After workshop snack and networking event
• Visit www.SaiffSolutions.com for tech comm
empowerment!
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