Faves from NewsU’s 100 ideas for better journalism

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NewsU and its founder, Howard Finberg, celebrated their 100th webinar today with ideas from faculty at the Poynter Institute on making journalism better.

My favorites had to do with leadership and the business side of the news.

From Wendy Wallace, on journalism entrepreneurs

• Play to your strengths. Develop a niche that highlights your special skills, knowledge or talents. 
• Pick a problem that needs solving, that will make your community a better place.
• Find the money to survive by studying how other entrepreneurs did it.
• Form partnerships. You can´t succeed alone. Even competitors might be allies in selected activities. 

From Paul Pohlman, on coaching your colleagues

• Spend a few minutes a day with people to ask them how their work is going. Feedback is crucial and greatly appreciated.
• Be an active listener. Replay to them what you heard.
• For long-term coaching, set aside time each week to see how employees´ projects are going. Schedule it or it won´t happen.
• Help people make plans, review past work, give honest criticism.

From Butch Ward, on saving time

• Don´t waste time trying to guess what the boss wants. Ask him or her, and do it regularly.
• If you repeatedly have to fix the same problems, you aren´t stating expectations clearly to your employees. Invest the time and do it regularly.

From Steven Buckley, on dealing with difficult colleagues

• If a person is difficult to deal with, don´t take it personally. It´s not about you.
• Communicate, listen, seek to understand.
• Set high standards of behavior and set limits. 
• Take the long view. There will be ups and downs. Be supportive and totally honest. 

From Jill Geisler, on motivating people

• The best motivation comes from within, meaning people are motivated to do what they´re good at. Motivate people by giving them assignments in areas of their talent. 
• People are motivated by seeing themselves progress. You can help by giving people stretch assignments that allow them to go above and beyond.
• People are motivated by having autonomy. Give them clear expectations on a project and give them latitude to reach their goals.

From Rick Edmonds, on business trends

• Some news organizations are hiring journalists, especially those who specialize in business reporting.
• Venture capital groups taking over newspaper companies see news executives as a barrier to change and will replace them with people from other media backgrounds. Don´t be surprised if it happens in your organization.
• Newspaper journalists can expect to see their organizations continue to shrink as advertising declines. Design and copy editing will be consolidated.