Health content management is a lot like driving a car. You can’t over-focus on what’s directly in front of you. Eventually, you have to trust the road and look at the horizon.
Daily content brushfires will come and go. We have to trust that we—and those we delegate to—can handle them. Keep your eye on the horizon and don’t let the little fires that crop up deter you from the steady (and often slower than we’d like) progress of meeting your organization’s long-term content goals.
Four tips for staying on top of your organization’s content goals:
1. Protect a short amount of time every week for strategic thinking. A little a lot is better than a lot a little. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done in 30 minutes.
2. Keep your goals visible, to remind you of the big picture and to keep yourself accountable. Embrace your inner nerd and put a laminated list of content goals on your desk. You won’t mind once you’ve met your goals.
3. Document as much as possible. Some organizations use old-fashioned excel spreadsheets, others use Google calendars, or project management software, ranging from simple to highly sophisticated. Whatever is right for you—it’s worth your time to develop a tracking system for all your content—past, present, and future.
4. Assess your progress monthly, at a minimum. This should happen even when you think you haven’t made any progress. Assessing progress is just as important as making progress. It maintains momentum and motivation and helps us improve on weak areas.