How to Manage Communication Requests
How do I manage communication requests? This is a question that is asked often. I’ve personally been asked this question at conferences, meet-ups with others getting into the church communications space, and on coaching calls. Sometimes the question is phrased differently. One may I ask, “What project management system do you use?” Another may ask, “Do you have a form for communication request?” So many I come in contact with suggest that they are flying team solo receiving, designing, and implementing all internal and external communication for their respective organizations. Others have growing teams to help, but are still tinkering with their process.
The church I get to work with full-time has a growing team. We are continually assessing our process and brainstorming how we can improve in order to serve and support the different ministries at our church well. I believe there are a few basics to a communication process. Whether you are flying team solo or are recruiting a volunteer or staff team to join you, you should include these in your communication process.
1. CREATE A COMMUNICATION REQUEST FORM
A communication request form may be easily created on Google Forms absolutely free. Another option is to use a church management system like Breeze that also comes with a form builder. If you are not receiving over 100 form entries or have some extra room in the budget, then I would suggest Wufoo for building and managing online forms. I have created a basic form to get you started. You can download it here, and copy the request fields over to the builder of your choice. Create it, share it, and begin receiving the details you need for the next project.
2. SCHEDULE TASKS INTO A PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL
For a good while my team and I used Trello. I recommend this project management tool for new teams. I believe it is important to keep your process simple. This is a simple process, and I cannot take credit for it. I found it when Googling how to set up Trello when we first began (See source links at the end of the article), and tweaked it for us.
Create a project card. Within the project card create four cards (To Do, Doing, Done, Tabled). Under each of the previously mentioned cards you will create your tasks. Drag and drop each task as it is completed from To Do to Doing to Done. Tabled is for those ideas or tasks that are cut or saved for another time.
Our team eventually needed a tool that could offer us a bit more, and we went with Asana. I love how intuitive Asana is. We continued with a similar process with using boards in Asana. However, some of the features I really like are the personal task layout, project organization, file sharing, and calendar.
3. CREATE A CALENDAR
A calendar will provide a birds-eye view of all the scheduled events and activities for the year. If ministry team leaders cannot provide you with an annual calendar, then request a quarterly calendar. It is good to be thinking ahead. Place events on your calendar as requests are submitted. Finally, provide a copy for the entire staff.
Let me leave you with this. You get to create and organize media that visually communicates a message that could have an eternal impact in helping someone go from being disconnected to becoming a fully-trained follower of Jesus. That’s awesome!
If you found this informative or if you would like to add something you have found helpful, please leave a comment below.
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