“Don’t ever go with the flow. Be the flow.”
Jay-Z
Flow is a state of mind where everything seems to come easy. Life slows down, and vision increases. Decisions feel less like a burden and more like a trigger for clear actions.
Artists look for these moments of clarity, athletes levitate when they find them, and teams become a cohesive unit able to accomplish more than a collection of individuals when they are in a state of flow.
By combining “flow” with “work,” you create a powerful force multiplier.
By bringing together purpose with efficiency, tools that empower collaboration, and shared knowledge, the work of creative teams gets easier, more innovative, and better aligned towards success.
I like to think of “workflow” as a great basketball team on a fast break: everyone knows their positions, assignments are clear, trust exists between the players, and they all share the same goal. Flexibility and creativity are encouraged and celebrated but set plays are practiced, proven, and deeply ingrained.
As NBA legend Bill Walton says, “It all starts with the flow. Flow plus meaning equals performance.”
So, the question for creative teams still remains…
How do we bring a sense of flow to our work?
At PhotoShelter, we sit at an interesting intersection where we see how thousands of creative people use our software to answer that question daily. For the past five years, we have engaged with our customers to hear how they use our Digital Asset Management platform (DAM) to take control of their creative workflows and, ultimately, their brand identity.
Along the way, we have listened to and learned from them and collected hundreds of examples of workflows deployed by creative teams. We have studied purpose-built workflows that allow creative marketing teams to produce outsized results in the sports industry, higher education, non-profit, travel, food and beverage, technology, manufacturing, and many other business categories.
So, for our first-ever PhotoShelter Workflow Week, we will share a week’s worth of tips and inspiration from these brand experts to help you and your team speed up your productivity and impact.
What can you expect? Daily bite-sized tips to help you and your teammates create and/or optimize seamless marketing workflow.
- Topically, we will cover the five major steps in workflow design: Collect, Collaborate, Create, Organize and Share.
- Thematically, we will walk you through the process of workflow management.
From understanding your starting point to optimizing your efforts, from aligning and maximizing the utility of your tech stack to putting your new workflow into practice, Workflow Week will provide you with proven tactics to help make your teamwork F-L-O-W.
Check your inbox for daily #WorkflowWeek emails, follow the #PSItsWorkflowWeek conversation on social (@psforbrands) and for some final inspiration—let’s all aspire to follow Jay-Z, hip-hop’s first billionaire’s advice …“Don’t ever go with the flow. BE the Flow.”
