Leadership Report 2008: Culture changers

Communication is critical to culture change. Unless leaders are clear and consistent in their message, the staff will be slow to come on board. Write a short elevator pitch spelling out two or three significant goals, make sure all senior editors are repeating it – several times a day.
Change will only come from the bottom up. Command-and-control hierarchical systems of management have worked well for getting the daily paper out on time, but executive pronouncements do little to build long term change. The old structure burdens top editors with making too many small decisions instead of working on long term strategy. Perhaps more significantly, it discourages initiative – and possible innovation – from the ranks.
Newsrooms must spread ownership of the Web site. Too many organizations depend on a small cadre of web workers to maintain their websites. Job descriptions have to be changed to give everyone a stake in the web.
Leaders must empower experimentation. In perfection-oriented news organizations, top executives must make it safe for staff to try new things, including some that fail. Editors must create teams focused on innovation that offer protection from daily production needs for creative groups.
Training is required. Doing new things in new ways requires learning at all levels of the organization. But training must be strategic and reflect the needs and goals of the organization.
Accountability is critical. From top editor and senior managers on down, each staff member must understand her role in meeting new goals and see rewards for effort and consequences for not trying.
Scaling newsroom projects is more efficient. Everything from multimedia to database creation must be planned for scalability, because one-shot projects waste precious resources without providing enough utility for readers.
Outsourcing is a viable option. Every new tool does not have to be developed in the news organization. In fact, many off-the-shelf tools are perfectly suited to newsroom tasks and are inexpensive to use.
Staying competitive requires better coordination between the newsroom and advertising department. Innovation from the newsroom innovation is meaningless unless the other side of the building can sell it.
Look outside industry for inspiration. For too long newspapers have looked at each other for innovation. It is time for fresh ideas, and many of them can be found in government, Silicon Valley, universities and other places.

Leadership Report 2009

ABOUT THIS REPORT

Michele McLellan

This report was compiled by Michele McLellan, a longtime journalist who now advises organizations about leadership, culture change, staff development and project development. McLellan assists with KDMC leadership programs and blogs at Leadership 3.0.