Are your assistants following an effective online workflow?
An online workflow management system is basically mapping out exactly how you want your staff to complete a task in a clear and understandable process. There are four simple steps involved in this process.
First, the architect of the system needs to define the outcome or objective. A system is a predefined repeatable process that produces consistent results. We get to this system by first knowing what the outcome is.
The second step in this process is to do this task yourself. It will be very difficult to teach someone else how to do the task if you have not been through it yourself. You need to break it down action by action into a clearly defined step by step process using workflow management systems. If you are teaching someone to do SEO for example, you would say, step one, load up Google, step two type in free Google keyword tool, step three click on the link, step four, start with a broad phrase and so on.
Remember too than when you give someone a system for the first time, they are not going to be able to complete it as well as the architect. There will be mistakes, and these should be welcomed, as this is the only way the task is going to be learned.
The third stage is you want to get it to a point where any team member could follow it and get consistent results.
The final very important step is documenting the process of your online workflow. Precise step by step notes should be made as you are going through the process. It is important to realize that the more detail that is put into the system, the more cheaply and more quickly the work will be able to be completed when it is passed over to others. The description needs also to be jargon free. In the internet marketing space it is very easy to slip into the use of acronyms and so on, but this may not be helpful to the person learning the system for the first time.
Make a video of how the process should take place. If there are mistakes made during the making of the video, leave them in. The chances are if you make mistakes, these mistakes will also be made by the employee trying to follow the process. The way you overcome these mistakes will be valuable learning for your employee.
Before you make the video, write out some bullet points which show you clearly the step by step process that needs to take place. You can refer to these points as you are making the video. Later on the text and the video can be put together to give the employee a very clear idea of exactly how the process should be carried out.
At the end, include an end result example. One of the best ways for the person learning is to see how it should all turn out in the end. Give them multiple examples so they can be sure that they are working to achieve a result that looks just like that.
When this much effort and detail is put into an online workflow management system, you are sure to get a positive outcome for your business.
We at Melbourne Video Production follow an effective online workflow to do things right all the time. Do you want to more how we do it for our online business? Click here.
