04 / Lead it, week to week
The Head of Content
Ongoing creative and strategic leadership for your content team. I set the direction, agree priorities with you, review work against the standard, work out what the numbers mean and adjust the plan. Your team keeps making the content. You stop being the person every creative decision waits on.
The difference
What changes afterwards
- Creative decisions stop waiting on you
- Your team has a senior person to go to and a standard to work towards
- Every cycle, someone reads the results closely enough to change the next decision
- The operation gets better over time rather than just busier
Fit
Who this is for
This is for you if
- You have people making content and nobody senior directing them
- Every creative decision still comes back to you, even with a team
- You need judgement and direction, not another pair of hands
- Your team is competent and the output still misses, and nobody can say why
- You have run The Content OS and want the standard held from outside
This isn’t for you if
- Nobody is producing content yet. Start with The Content OS, which builds the team and process first.
- You need content produced. This is direction, not production.
- You want someone in daily standups. This is senior oversight on an agreed schedule.
Scope
Exactly what’s included
- 01Strategic leadershipI’m responsible for the direction, the creative standard and everything agreed in the scope. Execution depends on your team and resources, so I don’t promise growth figures. I do promise clear decisions with the reasoning shown, and a plan that changes when the evidence says it should.
- 02Content directionWhat gets made, in what order, and why.
- 03Creative reviewsAn agreed number of pieces reviewed against the standard before they’re published, with written feedback your team can act on. The number per cycle is set in the scope.
- 04Performance analysisNot just what happened, but what most likely caused it, and what changes as a result.
- 05PrioritisationWhat to stop doing, so the things that matter get done properly.
- 06Team guidanceYour people get a senior person to bring creative questions to, and one consistent standard to work to.
- 07Questions between cyclesYour point of contact can send me questions through your existing tools on any working day, and gets a written or recorded answer within one. Decisions are recorded where the team can find them later.
- 08Agreed review cyclesA fixed schedule for reporting and strategy reviews.
Boundaries
What this doesn’t include
- Writing, filming, designing or editing
- Daily standups or ad hoc meetings
- Line management, HR or employment responsibility for your staff
Example
What the work looks like
Published 9 of 11. The two that slipped both waited on thumbnails.
Thumbnails now get signed off before the edit starts. Producer owns it.
Stop the Tuesday carousel. Three cycles, no traction, real cost.
Next: make more teardowns. Best format we have, and we make too few.
Written to show the format and level of detail, not taken from a client project. For the experience behind it, see About.
Timing
How it runs
Week 1
Intake, access, and a written read on where things stand.
Ongoing
Direction set, work reviewed, questions answered between cycles.
Each cycle
A written performance review and the priorities that follow from it.
Any time
One month’s notice, either way. No lock-in.
Your part
What I need from you
- An existing team or freelancers producing content
- Access to your project tool and channels
- A single point of contact who can make decisions
- Willingness to let the standard be enforced
Questions
Before you buy
Can you guarantee growth?
No. Results depend on your team, your resources, your market and things nobody controls. I’m accountable for the quality of the strategy and the decisions, for delivering what the scope says, and for telling you plainly when something isn’t working.
How much of your time do we get?
You’re buying judgement rather than hours, and the scope sets three things in writing: how many pieces I review per cycle, the reporting and strategy schedule, and the working session each cycle. If the volume outgrows the scope, we change the scope rather than letting the quality slip.
Is this a cheaper alternative to hiring someone full time?
It’s a different thing. A full-time hire gives you capacity and someone in the org chart. This gives you senior judgement from someone who sees what is working across many channels, not one. Some businesses genuinely need the employee, and when that’s true I’ll say so.
We don’t really have a team yet. Can we still do this?
Not yet. Leadership needs people to lead. The Content OS builds that first: the roles, the people and the process. Ongoing leadership can follow once there is a team.
Do you manage our staff directly?
I direct the work and hold the standard. I don’t line manage, handle employment matters or sit in your org chart. Your people keep their manager and gain a senior person to take creative decisions to.
How do we end it?
One month’s notice, in writing, either direction. No minimum term and no exit fee.
How buying works
A written price, then you decide
- 01Short scope checkThe form opposite. Five minutes, in writing.
- 02Written price and termsExactly what is covered and what it costs, usually within a working day.
- 03Accept and payIn your own time. Nothing is booked until you do.
- 04Onboarding, then we startOn the date agreed in the terms.
After payment you get a structured onboarding questionnaire that covers access, goals, context and who to speak to. It tells you exactly what happens next and when.
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