Whenever you look at adding a new process, offering, or even changing existing processes, it can be an overwhelming task. We tend to get very comfortable with the status quo. No matter how scary it may seem, change is usually a very good thing. It is what allows us to grow and improve, both in our processes and as managers and employees. However, a sure fire way to short circuit the benefits of change before you start, and potentially screw things up, is to jump in without a plan.

The first step, and probably the most important, is to look at your available internal resources to see if this is something you can successfully take on as a project on your own. There are two things you need to evaluate very closely.  First, is there someone in the organization, a champion, that has the skills and drive to take this on? That doesn’t mean that they need to fully understand the ins and outs of Cross-Media production processes; they just need to have an inquisitive mind and a desire to learn and get things done. If they have those strengths, they will be able to find the necessary information to get this process started.

Once you have found that person, if in fact they exist in your company, seriously examine their current roles and responsibilities and honestly determine if they have the time to take this on. This is a critical factor in determining whether you can do this with internal resources or need to look outside for some help. If that employee with the skills exists in your organization but they are too tied to the daily production process, giving them this new task may result in the failure of the new process development as well as negatively affecting your normal production. In the worst case, you could also wind up losing a good employee.