What does ‘niggling’ cost your company?

Develop a business case for reining in approvals

First there was DBT, or Death by Tweakage: When a brochure or newsletter “fails due to unnecessary tinkering or too many last-minute revisions.” (BuzzWhack.com)

Then came nanomanagers: “Bosses who have taken micromanaging to a whole new level of nitpicking.” (BuzzWhack.com)

Enter niggling: That’s Procter & Gamble’s verb for editing a memo. Memos can go through a dozen or more “niggles” on their way up the corporate hierarchy at P&G. (The Wall Street Journal)

How much does DBT cost your company?

So here’s the question: How much is all this tweakage costing your company? (The answer to that question is also the answer to reducing niggling, nitpicking and nanomanaging.)

One of my clients ran the numbers and found that her organization spends north of a million bucks a year on do-overs.

Now find out how much it costs your organization. All you have to do to find an answer is to run the numbers:

• Choose a sampling of communication projects at random.
• Have project managers track the number of hours spent reworking the copy or design on each project.
• Multiply those hours by companywide hourly wages, including benefits.
• Come up with an average rework cost per project.
• Multiply that by the number of projects your group completes each year.

The result: a reasonable estimate of how much your organization spends — in creative time only — on niggling.

Once you have that number, you’ll have a compelling business case for reining in the approval process.

Improve approvals

Want to master the art of managing the approval process?

• Invite Ann’s team in to handle a special writing or editing project.
• Work with Ann to polish your writing skills in one-on-one writing coaching sessions.
• Get dozens of tipsheets on managing the approval process at RevUpReadership.com.
• Find Ann’s out about Ann’s next “Develop an Approval Process That Doesn’t Drive You Nuts” teleseminar.
• Read Ann’s “Develop an Approval Process That Doesn’t Drive You Nuts” handbook.
• Get free writing tips every month when you subscribe to our e-zine.

About Ann Wylie

Ann Wylie is president of Wylie Communications Inc., a training, writing and consulting firm. She works with communicators who want to reach more readers and with organizations that want to get the word out. Wylie is the author of RevUpReadership.com, a toolbox for writers, and Wylie’s Writing Tips, a free e-zine. She has earned more than 60 awards, including two IABC Gold Quills, for her work.

Copyright © 2010 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.