Kanban Board Columns

[Daniel Gleason]

I'm a fairly new Jira user and have a question on Kanban board setup. We're currently using 3 columns and assignee swim lanes. We're using it to track status on operations functions, so for example we'll have a story (don't use epics) with tasks assigned to different folks. 

We do a 15 minute daily team review which means we need to go quickly, and one problem that's become apparent is that default "To Do" column ends up containing tasks that are not yet available to be processed. This can be confusing because we need to go through a long list of tasks to highlight what's actually available to be worked.

What I was hoping to do was create a 4th column and call it 'Assigned'. This column would contain tasks that are assigned to an individual but not yet ready to be worked, while the "To Do" column would contain tasks that ARE available to be worked.

The problem with this approach is that I have no status that I can assign to the new column that will allow me to post tasks. I'd like to use the 'Open' status which is not currently part of the task workflow., so my understanding is that this would require a change to the workflow for tasks. My admin informs me that this is incorrect and that I'm approaching this issue incorrectly. I'm hoping that someone can tell me how I could accomplish my end goal, and if it IS to change the workflow, would doing so affect statuses in any other Project using the Jira instance. I'd think not, but am curious.

Long note, sorry, but wanted to fully explain. I'm hoping someone can provide some insight. Thanks!!