by Marian Haggard
I've recently started a new job - one for a nonprofit that has decided it needed to create a new division to handle all the internal messaging - including the newsletter from the president of the organization. This was all going to be great, I thought...but little did I know that this was not a completely thought-through division.
First, they couldn't even decide what to call us! Were we a division, a unit, a department? And even if that could be answered, what was our actual name? Was it Publications? Publishing? Production (ew)? I stepped in and suggested Creative Resources, since we'd be doing more than just working on publications. They really seemed to like that. Cool, I thought, I'm really contributing! But it's been over a month, and that name has still not gotten final approval - people were on vacation, there hadn't been time to discuss it...So, we wait, and others in the company still don't know who we are or what we do.
Next - workflow procedures...actually what this page is about, though it can be argued that to have a good workflow, one must know who/what one is working for, right? Anyhow.
The workflow for our new department is still completely stuttering along - mainly due to the fact that this company just went through a major re-organization, and one of their new management approaches seems to be "stealth management"...meaning one needs to subtly bring about changes and new workflows. And well, yes, maybe this is a good approach - done lightly. But how do you get one department to gather, organize, package, and deliver a proposal in the best way possible for another department if you don't tell them how to do it? By suggesting a step here, and a step there? That, in my mind, really doesn't seem to be the efficient way to instigate a coherent, active workflow. And without a workflow, all is chaos. Someone said to me just today "I don't know what you guys can do for us, or what we should do for you." Not good.
A good workflow designates each employee's (or each department's) job - how they should get from step A on through to step Z. It lets people know that they are making progress, or that they forgot a step, and helps keep everyone not only on target, but on time. To paraphrase one definition - a workflow is an organized and repeatable pattern of producing a specific product or service in a consistent, systematic process, which helps to streamline and enhance productivity. In other words - it really helps to get the job done! And in publishing - of any type - a good workflow is a crucial step toward profitability.
First, they couldn't even decide what to call us! Were we a division, a unit, a department? And even if that could be answered, what was our actual name? Was it Publications? Publishing? Production (ew)? I stepped in and suggested Creative Resources, since we'd be doing more than just working on publications. They really seemed to like that. Cool, I thought, I'm really contributing! But it's been over a month, and that name has still not gotten final approval - people were on vacation, there hadn't been time to discuss it...So, we wait, and others in the company still don't know who we are or what we do.
Next - workflow procedures...actually what this page is about, though it can be argued that to have a good workflow, one must know who/what one is working for, right? Anyhow.
The workflow for our new department is still completely stuttering along - mainly due to the fact that this company just went through a major re-organization, and one of their new management approaches seems to be "stealth management"...meaning one needs to subtly bring about changes and new workflows. And well, yes, maybe this is a good approach - done lightly. But how do you get one department to gather, organize, package, and deliver a proposal in the best way possible for another department if you don't tell them how to do it? By suggesting a step here, and a step there? That, in my mind, really doesn't seem to be the efficient way to instigate a coherent, active workflow. And without a workflow, all is chaos. Someone said to me just today "I don't know what you guys can do for us, or what we should do for you." Not good.
A good workflow designates each employee's (or each department's) job - how they should get from step A on through to step Z. It lets people know that they are making progress, or that they forgot a step, and helps keep everyone not only on target, but on time. To paraphrase one definition - a workflow is an organized and repeatable pattern of producing a specific product or service in a consistent, systematic process, which helps to streamline and enhance productivity. In other words - it really helps to get the job done! And in publishing - of any type - a good workflow is a crucial step toward profitability.