The Flow of Communication
One of the biggest issues that ministries or departments can have is an unorganized flow of communication. There isn’t a clear, visible and trackable path for communication. Most communication is done via word of mouth or email, which is ok when it comes to just general stuff. But when it comes to requests, projects, and mission critical tasks there needs to be a clear start point and a clear end goal. You also need to be able to trace backwards on major things. So when “the ball gets dropped” you can find out quickly and easily where communication failed. You don’t have to waist time investigating what went wrong. When you know the flow or process its very clear where something went wrong.
Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to utilize a project management system or some other complex process. It could be just making some easy organizational tweaks within your team. Like having one person on your team that everyone should email when initially requesting a video or graphic. Or utilize an online form for every request (you can build one cheap and easy at Wufoo.com) Once you have that start point to the process, enforce it! (this is so important) Make everyone play by the rules. So that if they email Bob the designer asking for a graphic… Bob can just say, you need to email Joe to get that process started then we can talk through specifics. You get the idea…
Another benefit to having a clear flow of communication is that there is less noise and clutter for those that don’t need to be included. (No more CCing everyone!) People can be more focused on getting their tasks done instead of worrying about who needs to be communicated with.
image by bartelme.at
