One of the things that we often observe when we work with publishing teams to improve their workflows is the common ruts that workgroups can fall into.
Most typically, these are:
- We’ve always done it this way, but we don’t know why.
- Well, we used to do that, but then the people left who introduced that change, and we couldn’t really explain to newer staff why it should be done that way.
- It just seemed simpler to start doing it myself rather than having to explain to someone new how to do it.
- This is how I used to do it elsewhere, and no one here really seemed to care.
- We don’t really have any support or buy-in from management to make any changes or improvements.
Do you hear a consistent theme indicating what might be missing?
Communication? Standards? Documentation? Enforcement? Leadership? The answer is all of the above and more.
Publishing groups are in flux and are running lean, which poses an even greater challenge to an effective publishing process. The publishing landscape is changing under our feet, with shifts in the marketplace, staff, audience, and technologies, and greater competition than ever before.
Keeping an eye on a solid workflow process can be the foundation and savior to a publication in flux. It’s that nest egg investment that will pay off in the end—again and again.
Here are five basic steps that we have found to be critical to maintaining a lean, mean, content-positive workflow.
1) Assess your content process regularly. Do this at least once a year, preferably quarterly. Your process should never be set in stone; it should evolve as your publication evolves. As part of your regular assessment, evaluate what is new or has changed about the business, and be realistic. Fewer staff? New format? Smaller budget? New markets or formats? Do a walk-through of the process, from beginning to end—what’s still working, and what’s not? You’ll be surprised at what you learn that you didn’t know, and the low-hanging fruit that exists that you can do something about!
Note: Check out our recent announcement about how TFP helped The New Republic relaunch for a great example of a publishing team willing to step up to the workflow challenge.
2) Get the right players in the room. Staff will come and go. Managers will change. Knowledge needs to evolve and transition to fit the current reality. Invite all the accountable contributors, and insist that they take part in the review process. Have them invest in identifying issues and developing action items to address them—short term and long term, no matter how sticky. Make time for the conversation, bribe with food if necessary, but find a way to make it happen. And don’t let the important players off the hook.
3) Develop good meeting and action plan practices. You can meet, discuss, complain, and brainstorm as much as you want, but if you don’t have accountability and follow through to move things forward, you’ll be stuck where you are. So many groups that we work with are stuck in this groove. It’s very easy to express what’s wrong; it’s much harder to push to change it. Be sure to institute and stick to a documented, communicated follow-up plan. Show up at the next planning session with tasks accomplished. Accountability is where the results start!
4) Call out the elephant, and be adults. Every publisher has one or more: the elephant in the room. I’ll tread carefully here, but in most cases, the elephant is scared of change and intimidated in some way. Be sensitive to what that is, and help the individual to understand their impact, and look to them to be part of the solution. Baby steps are usually in order. Ask the individual what they’d be willing to try in order to meet you halfway, and what help they might need to do that. But hold that individual accountable to being part of the team, and part of the new success. You’ll be surprised at the results!
5) Get your head out of the sand. So many publishing teams work and revolve within their own stale formula, without ever lifting their heads and looking around. OK, so the pace of publishing almost certainly demands that at most points, but it’s also crucial to reach out, pay attention, and listen to what other publishers are doing and having success with. It’s inspirational and required to improve your own process. Make it a regular practice to speak with, visit, or just listen to the airwaves about what other publishers are doing—and reinvigorate your own process with that knowledge.
While oftentimes you need an outside, objective force like the TFP team to be the neutral party that shakes up and challenges the status quo, every publishing group has the ability to push this forward on their own, with a few basic best practices. Give this a try and let us know your results. Disagree? Start a conversation here! Let’s get started on reinvigorating your workflow.
Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini
