“Play to the edges of the box.”
That was the advice Paul Tash, editor and president of The St. Petersburg Times, gave mid-level editors at a recent Poynter seminar. The editors were being challenged in the opening session to see their potential beyond the basic work of getting the paper out everyday.
The reality of newsrooms is that the “daily miracle” relies on groupings of people consistently working the same routines. And that re-enforces images like “working inside” boxes and boundaries.
Thanks to Readership Institute culture studies, many newsrooms are trying to free people of such tight confines in their job responsibilities. But much ground needs to be gained.
As faculty listened, the editors talked across the table about the often overwhelming feeling that there just isn’t enough time to effectively juggle the many things they do. And the list is often task-oriented:
• Editing stories or photos.
• Coordinating with other desks.
• Absorbing questions from their direct reports and ideas from bosses and others.
• Zigging or zagging with the changing forces of stories or plans.
• Coaching the reluctant ones.
• Planning for tomorrow and the weekend.
• Taking calls and answering emails.
You get the idea. A lot to do with little time to reflect.
With those common challenges exposed, it was time to step back, to think about what they have the potential to do in their roles. That was when Paul’s advice surfaced about playing to the edges of the box.
This list is very different. It’s a “forest” perspective, versus the “trees”. It incorporates on-going purpose into the daily work. It requires periodic reflection to stay the course or correct it:
• Setting a clear team direction for the journalism and the work to be done, instead of the daily driving most activity.
• Seeing the editing process in the longer view of helping staffers develop their skills and capabilities.
• Knowing and understanding newsroom change so you can interpret it in your words for your team’s purposes.
• Fostering a team atmosphere that values ideas, differences and respect for others. Reaching across boundaries to involve varying voices in team’s work.
• Speaking up constructively and suggesting alternatives when a new idea seems counter to what’s best for the journalism or news operations.
• Being on top of problem-solving, such as offering solutions when systems and operations work against the greater purposes – and not waiting for others to resolve.
• Taking time to assess your work, the work of the team, the fit in the newsroom picture, and what’s ahead in the mid to long-term.
• Volunteering for broader newsroom projects that would benefit from the mid-level perspective.
Why should anyone beyond mid-level editors care about these issues?
The sum of mid-level editors’expertise, perspective on how things work and proximity to the journalists is a powerful – and not well-developed – opportunity for newsrooms.
Experts have studied the reasons that managers in the middle of organizations are important.
In one set of research, mid-level managers were described as “sitting at the intersection of continuity and change.” So when newsrooms, proceeding forward daily with familiar routines, run into new initiatives that change what gets done and/or how it gets done, the mid-level editor is crucial to what happens at the intersection. Will the newsroom negotiate the intersection? Or get stuck there?
That gets to the heart of Paul’s advice to the editors — that they could allow themselves to work in the middle of the box. Or they could see the possibilities they have to make a greater difference — to stretch up and out into their roles.
