For the past few days (see sidebar), we’ve been on a nostalgia kick, remembering the days when -– before we became leaders -– we felt confident in our role as storytellers.
We went on this memory trip with the hope that we could use some of those storytelling techniques in our new jobs.
Here are two final ideas worth remembering.
Concept 6: Choose moments for effect. The best storytellers know the importance of selecting anecdotes that illustrate the point of their stories. Many a bad story has opened with a wonderful anecdote that, unfortunately, has nothing to do with the theme.
As an editor, the selection of the right “moments” is equally important. A well-chosen moment can propel the newsroom’s efforts forward, reminding the staff of what really matters.
You know, for example, that if your newsroom is working to create compelling multimedia, you can refocus everyone on that goal by seizing the right opportunity to praise an excellent multimedia effort. You also know it can be effective, from time to time, to point to excellent work on the competition’s Web site.
Unfortunately, we’ve all seen editors -– for a variety of reasons -– praise efforts that the staff recognized as mediocre. Such praise is like a long, clunky sentence in the middle of a taut mystery novel. It stops the action cold.
That’s why choosing the moment well is important.
You can use “moments” to emphasize newsroom standards:
- Applaud a story that reflects a reporter’s efforts to diversify her source list.
- Stop the flow of a news meeting to make it clear that partisan political jokes and comments are unacceptable in the newsroom.
- Congratulate a copy editor whose story idea results in a Page 1A scoop. You will make it clear that in your newsroom, everyone’s ideas are important.
- Single out the work of a photographer who made a great picture in a neighborhood the newsroom rarely covers.
- Stress your pride in a Web producer’s decision to hold off on a story -– even though it meant getting beat -– because of questions about the item’s accuracy.
One caution: “Moments” lose their effectiveness when they occur too frequently. A journalist recently told me he gets “too much feedback” from an editor who says “good job” about everything the journalist does. Better that you choose the right “moment” to write a note of appreciation, for instance, for a well-designed page. Then you can be pretty sure you’ve created a memory.
When you were a reporter, you recognized memorable “moments” and seized them. Remember?
Concept 7. Identify your story’s meaning and share it. It’s been some years now since Chip Scanlan introduced me to the four questions that David Von Drehle asks before writing a story:
- Why does it matter?
- What’s the point?
- Why is this story being told?
- What does it say about life, the world, the times we live in?
Chip also was the first to suggest to me that writers can find focus by reducing the theme of their story to one paragraph, then to one sentence, and finally to one word.
So what about you, editors? Can you reduce the meaning of your newsroom’s story to a paragraph, a sentence, a word?
Can Von Drehle’s questions help you express that meaning?
And could that paragraph, that sentence, that word become a point of shared understanding for your newsroom? Could it help your staff embrace the meaning of their work? Could it help them experience your vision?
Earlier this week, we talked about how a leader can use her vision to help the staff focus on a common goal. We looked at this example:
“We will be the most credible and relied-upon source for understanding the events in our community.”
That’s just one sentence. Clearly we could expand it to a paragraph. Can we reduce it to a word?
Whatever your word, remember that a whole lot of journalists got into this business because they wanted to do meaningful work. Help them find the meaning in their work -– and in your vision -– and you will provide them with real leadership in a very difficult time.
When you were a reporter, you used tools that helped you bring events and characters to life. When you used them well, your audience had an experience.
Now as a leader, you’re searching for management tools to help you inspire your staff to do great work. Don’t forget to look in your storyteller’s toolkit.
That’s where you’ll find the four questions, the peeled onion, the well-chosen details and the moments that matter.
Your newsroom’s success story just might be in the notebook you thought you didn’t need anymore.
Get it out. Start writing.
