Establishing a ‘minimum standard of care’ for requests

For those requests you really don’t have time for.

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We’re going to go out on a limb and assume that your comms department has more work than you can comfortably handle. That’s the status quo for many communicators: more demands and requests pile up and it feels impossible to meet it all.

But somehow, you have to.

One tactic for handling these fast and furious requests is a concept Debra Helwig, internal communications & events director at Pinion, calls “minimum standard of care.” The idea, borrowed from healthcare, is designed to be of use in situations where a request comes in late or under-resourced.

“In other words, you come to us two weeks ahead, we can create a whole comms plan,” Helwig said during a presentation at Future-Proof Your Communications in 2025. “If you come to us 24 hours ahead, we’re moving into minimum standard of care, and you’re going to get a templated post and a templated job ad.”

Here’s how you can prepare for this “minimum standard of care” model — and stop driving yourself crazy over last-minute requests.

Create templates

The key to creating templates that can be used plug-and-play at the last minute is looking for the things you’re most likely to need.

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