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Hi, Julia B. Chan here after reading Alex Laughlin’s recent piece, “They built their careers on change. Now, they’re middle managers,” I felt we, so thinking about what I know now about leadership positions, what I’m able to reflect on and articulate for myself and others. And two things came up for me.
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One, I don’t have answers, I have ideas. Earlier in my career, it was easier to say or think things like why doesn’t management just fill in the blank with some brilliant answer I dreamed up. And when you become that management, you learn about all the contours and considerations that exist, that keep you from just doing a whole bunch of things. Kim Bui talks about this in the piece. She describes this vision I think a lot of us have of finally reaching a position in an organization where you can enact some real change and then not being able to, and ultimately feeling like you’re letting people down. It’s a harsh reminder that nobody has the answers, especially not in journalism.
What’s helped me navigate this dynamic is to name this right off the bat and to talk openly about the ideas I — or we — have to attempt change. Try those ideas, iterate if they’re working, stop them if they don’t and to communicate throughout the process. This kind of transparency is one way to help manage expectations, to mitigate the letdown.
And it brings everyone along on the journey. Something that I don’t think happens very often in many newsrooms. Most of the time we’re brought in at the end, when we learn about a decision, but communicating throughout the decision-making process is one way I like to champion ideas versus answers.
But you can’t do it alone, which brings me to my second share: Leadership is lonely. I don’t know that knowing that would have discouraged me per se, from pursuing leadership positions in newsrooms, but I find it pretty significant. The most supportive leadership situations I’ve had are ones where I’ve worked closely with other managers to navigate everything from breaking news to systematic change.
What’s most effective about this three- or four-legged stool is the way in which we were able to act as a team in order to push on change, evangelize ideas, or provide multiple touch points for staff. Having a united front with this small group also helped us to manage up. We were able to present a united front to those higher up, we were able to unlock resources like money or capacity. It’s also helpful to have some redundancy in leadership positions because managers need to take breaks too, but not at the expense of the newsroom, our staff, or operations. So let’s build for it. Priska Neeley talks about leaning on friends, mentors, and coaches, and I absolutely plus one all of that. Our networks, cohorts and group DMs remain clutch when we need a sounding board, a pep-talk or just a black hole to vent into, so keep those communities close.
