Almost exactly one year ago, St. Louis Public Radio and The St. Louis Beacon began serious conversations about how they could best work together. 

Those conversations were driven by a vision shared by Beacon Editor Margaret Freivogel and St. Louis Public Radio General Manager Tim Eby of what journalism in the public interest might look like for their city. The question they wanted to explore was whether 1+1 might add up to something more than 2. Could they both deepen their impact and broaden their base of financial support by working together?

On Friday, the plan to merge the two organizations was approved unanimously by the University of Missouri’s Board of Curators. The approval is an important step in the merger process, but it is hardly the final one – and the leaders of both organizations know that the real work is just beginning.

In fact, the merger process in St. Louis is a case study in clear-eyed and rational leadership. I’ve gotten to see the power of that leadership up close as a principal in Coats2Coats, the consulting firm hired to explore the potential of a merger and then to help execute on it. 

From the start, Eby and Freivogel saw the merger in terms of both its value to their community and the example it can set for how partnerships between public media and entrepreneurial news startups can work. With that commitment to national leadership in mind, it’s a good time to reflect on lessons learned that have broader application to other organizations considering partnering or full-on mergers.

1. Consider the entire news ecosystem of the community you plan to serve, and what your place is in it.  One of the first steps we took in St. Louis was to scan the entire news landscape. We looked at the editorial approaches of all the local news providers – the daily newspaper, television stations, alternative press, specialty publications and community news organizations. Then, we looked at the content provided by The Beacon and St. Louis Public Radio. 

This meant reading lots of stories, listening to lots of audio and watching lots of video, reviewing lots of Facebook posts and tweets. Our goal was to understand the menu of news options available to St. Louis residents. What areas of coverage were saturated? What areas were neglected? What was the quality of conversation about news, and where was that conversation happening? 

When we understood what the existing news menu looked like, then we could start to consider how the new organization could leverage its strengths and expertise to rise above the digital noise and provide distinctive public service journalism. We knew where the opportunities were.

2. Evaluate not just your journalism assets but your financial assets and your existing networks. One of the early questions we explored in St. Louis was whether the funding sources for the two existing organizations overlapped significantly. Ideally, merging organizations want to draw from different funding streams, maximizing the potential for expanding revenue.

If the funding streams overlap significantly, there’s a risk that overall dollars would actually decline through merger – that donors or funders would reduce their total commitment, reasoning that they were now supporting one organization rather than two separate ones. In that case, the equation for a merged organization becomes 1+1 = 1.5, putting sustainability at risk.

In St. Louis, we quickly identified that there was very little funding overlap and that, in fact, the two organizations brought complementary revenue skills to the table.

Just as important as the revenue equation is the network of community support each organization had built. Both St. Louis partners had strong boards, whose members have been involved in the merger conversation since the beginning. Their enthusiasm for the possibilities represented in the merger has been vital in building support in the larger community and within the University of Missouri.

Leveraging the financial assets and support systems of both organizations is every bit as important as defining the mission of the journalism.

3. Honestly assess the skills you have and the skills you need to acquire. Think about the short- and long-term horizon. In St. Louis, the organizations had similar coverage philosophies and were focused on similar topics. When they combine newsrooms, they’ll immediately be able to showcase deep expertise in local and state government, education, health and science, and economic development. 

But they’ve also been very honest in confronting what they’ll need to develop. In the short-term, The Beacon staff will need to develop skills in audio reporting and editing. Both newsrooms need stronger visual skills and greater competency with data. Included in the merger plan is framework for training on the skills the new organization will need to build, in the order in which the staff will need them. 

4. Check ego at the door. This brings us back to leadership. Both Eby and Freivogel have been focused from the beginning on serving the public good and maximizing the potential both organizations bring to that goal. I never heard either of them express self-interest.

From the beginning, the leaders recognized that this will be a different organization, with all the risk and discomfort that comes with building something new. They’ve embraced the risk, lived with the discomfort and worked the challenges of merger methodically, transparently and with an eye on creating an organization that, in the words of their statement of purpose, will “make public service the focus of our work and the foundation of a strong and sustainable future.’’