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Because many organizations have gone remote, editorial teams have had to become creative with their strategies to keep their members productive, to keep their workflows running smoothly, and ensure that they’re meeting goals. This has resulted in teams utilizing more digital tools than ever before to streamline demands so that their workflows aren’t affected by the lack of in-person communication.
Remote work isn’t leaving anytime soon and if your team is having trouble keeping up, it’s important for you to start implementing changes now. Once you know the workflow strategies that other teams have used and find the weaknesses in your processes, you can make the proper changes and start working towards a more results-driven future.
How Workflows Have Changed for Editorial Teams
1. Communication Tools
Communication tools such as video calls, chats, and email services have become necessary for every distributed editorial team’s workflow. The tools have given teams more variety with their interactions and have allowed them to make their conversations more agile and precise depending on projects’ needs.
For example, editorial teams have found that video chat platforms work best for kickoff calls with new clients, and for discussing more in-depth changes with other team members. In many cases, these face-to-face chats are just as good as in-person communication!
On the other end, teams utilizing chat-focused platforms have discovered that they can always stay connected with their team, no matter where they are or what time it is. This has been especially useful for teams that use programs like WordPress for their business and need to make sure that their members are on the same page about all the changes.
2. Task Management Tools
Task management tools quickly became indispensable for both larger and smaller editorial teams because they not only allow better project prioritization, but they have helped organizations identify other areas of their business that can be automated or digitized.
For example, with task management tools, organizations have been able to break down their content creation process into smaller, more digestible steps. This not only means that team members will be able to handle their tasks more proactively, but organizations can figure out where to better utilize talent and what changes they need to make ASAP to help work move down the pipeline efficiently.
“To make our content production more efficient, we leverage SOPs and project management tools to coordinate our team members’ efforts,” says Donald Chan, founder of marketing tech blog MarTech Wise.
3. Collaboration Tools
Collaboration tools have become vital for distributed editorial teams because they allow tasks to keep running smoothly, no matter where team members are located. With them, editorial teams have been able to effortlessly edit, assign tasks, and comment without losing track of their workflow’s progress or deadlines. They’ve also been valuable for technical teams on the back end to keep up with any risks or issues that might prevent users from getting the best experience they can from content.
Multidots’ Multicollab plugin is just an example of how transformative a collaboration tool can be, specifically for a WordPress editorial workflow. With their premium edition, you can add comments to any text or media, get instant email notifications, and even track activity with advanced reports. You’ll never have to worry about your team’s productivity or meeting your organization’s goals because you’ll have every resource you need on a single platform.
4. Virtual Team Building
Distributed editorial teams function differently than in-house ones. Because they can’t just walk over to their co-worker’s desk to ask about their day or to check up on how an assignment is going, they have had to get creative with their strategies to build trust, accountability, and productivity — which are all necessary for successful workflows.
Some of the key strategies that have worked for the strongest remote teams include:
- Establishing communication etiquette rules for improved interpersonal relationships such as keeping cameras on, muting mics, and more
- Setting time aside every week for the individual, team, and company-wide check-ins
- Creating weekly social events such as lunches and happy hours
- Emphasizing the organization’s culture of over-communication and full transparency to all new hires
Just by implementing team-building strategies such as these, distributed editorial teams have proven that they are just as strong as in-house ones. With their efforts, they have been able to eliminate the risks and gaps in their workflows that would’ve been caused by lack of communication and now can fully focus on larger technical issues that affect their organizational goals.
Transform Your Workflow for a Profitable Future
Between keeping up with team members and handling deadlines, managing virtual editorial workflows is no easy feat. But they can become manageable once new tools and processes are utilized. This means that if you’re finding gaps within your own processes or are concerned that your team isn’t meeting certain goals, you need to make changes now so that your workflow is 100% efficient.
