A colleague is tearing her hair out. A graphic designer, she’s created some attractive, readable, interesting employee newsletters and community reports. She meets every deadline, which always start out urgent. But somehow, every time a publication is almost ready for release…

The CEO wants to rewrite his message. There’s a last-minute addition to another article. Something else gets revised. The approval process goes on. And on. And on.

It takes months to finally get the employee newsletter out. Some publications just never get out at all. My friend is incredibly frustrated and disappointed at working hard and delivering on time, and then seeing all that work go down the drain.

What do you think she should do? Here are some of my thoughts:

  • Research statistics for that specific industry, and find out how often peers and rivals publish information. Point out the contrast.
  • Set up a schedule ahead of time. Be clear with the CEO the window he has to comment. Say if you hear nothing, you will assume everything is fine and go ahead as of the scheduled date. (I realize this won’t work with some people!)
  • Make sure the content supports the company’s overall goals and the information needs of readers.
  • Enlist help (the CEO’s administrator, maybe?) to get pieces that need approval in front of his nose and move them along.

Do you think any of these might work? What other ideas do you have?

Image: graur razvan ionut and FreeDigitalPhotos.net.