The One Thing Social Media Teams Need to Work Better Together

Agile is practice of working together as a team that was created by software engineers about 20 years ago. Back in 2001, a group of software engineers came together and wrote the Agile Manifesto, laying our four values and 12 principles to power their own software development teams.

The four values as written in the Agile Manifesto:

1. People and talking are more important than rules and tools

2. Getting work done is more important than having a lot of plans and paperwork

3. Working with customers is better than just following a plan

4. Being able to change is better than sticking to a plan

Putting the four values mentioned into marketing speak, I loosely translate:

1. People and communication over processes and tools

2. Published content over comprehensive documentation and perfection

3. Customer collaboration and input over exact scope of work

4. Responding to change, trends and world events over following a plan

While there is value in the items on the right, I value the items on the left more.

Agile in Marketing

Before Agile came to marketing, it made its way from software development to operations, HR and sales, just to name a few. While Agile marketing isn't new, not many social media marketers are of agile and how it can improve their team cooperation and their workflow.

To work in an agile way, it's important to have the right attitude. This means:

1. Being aware of yourself

2. Always trying to get better

3. Being curious and interested in learning

4. Working well with others

5. Being okay with making mistakes

In order to have the 'freedom' to work like this, you need buy-in from the C-suite to implement agile practices and to become an agile team.

The One Agile Practice to Try

There are many different ways to work in an agile way, but there is one practice that can help social media teams work better together.

This practice I love is called the "daily stand up meeting." Every day, each person on the team answers these three questions:

1. What did I do yesterday?

2. What am I going to do today?

3. What is holding me back?

By talking to each other every day, the team can help each other and avoid problems that slow things down. These meetings should be quick and only last about 15 minutes.

Working in an Agile Way Brings Benefits

When a team works in an agile way, everyone:

1. Feels confident

2. Feels safe to speak up

3. Works to their full potential

4. Learns and grows together

The key to making this happen is good communication, and the daily stand up meeting is a great place to start!

Agility within a team starts with people who are willing to fail, are curious, want to improve and learn and collaborate! To do that, communication is essential aka a daily stand up meeting! Let me know if you think agile could be your way forward to increase your workflow!

Dorien