Your New Year’s resolution: to be a better leader in 2002, right?
But you’re so darn busy you haven’t had time to reflect on just how you want to improve.
No problem. I’ve crafted a handy checklist for you. It is based on feedback I’ve reviewed from many newsrooms and ongoing discussions with news leaders about their strengths, weaknesses and challenges.
Feel free to print out the list. Put a check mark next to the resolution(s) that seem most appropriate for you. Check the list from time to time in 2002 and evaluate your progress.
______ Feedback: I will make and take every opportunity to let people know I value their work.
_______Real Feedback: I’ll be specific and sincere in my comments; no “drive-by” praise. I’ll share details about what they’ve done that impresses me. I’ll be familiar enough with each person’s work to do this with ease. I’ll encourage others to tip me about noteworthy work that happened behind the scenes of a story, so I can sincerely and specifically praise that, too.
_______Tough Feedback: I’ll stop avoiding difficult conversations. I will approach tough discussions prepared with facts and prepared to listen. I will deal fairly and honestly with under-performers, giving them tools to improve, a plan for feedback, and an understanding that improvement isn’t optional, it is a condition of employment.
_______Self-Awareness: I’ll pay closer attention to how my emotions can short-circuit my reasoning. I’ll think through situations, rather than respond by “gut.” I’ll keep my temper in check. I’ll stop assuming I know the motives behind peoples’ actions. I’ll be a better reporter about the “why” of peoples’ behavior. I’ll aim for greater empathy.
_______Platinum Rule: I’ll treat people as they want to be treated, not as I want to be treated. I will know my colleagues well enough as individuals to be able to do that effectively. That means I’ll do more listening this year to their needs, goals and interests.
_______Team Play: I’ll build stronger bridges to my fellow managers. I’ll ask them how I can be a better colleague to them in 2002, and what I can do to improve our collaboration. Then I’ll follow up.
________Culture: I’ll take a long hard look at the culture of the workplace I lead. Do people enjoy working here? Do they feel they have a place, make a mark? Do they share a sense of purpose and could they articulate it? Do they help each other? Treat one another with respect? Even though times are tight, do they find reasons to laugh and have fun? I’ll do my best to grow a positive culture in my newsroom.
_______ Time Management: I’ll figure out what gets in the way of my most important work. I may delegate more, drop out of non-essential meetings, prioritize e-mail, take my hands off projects I dive into just to demonstrate my expertise, clear my desk of things that really don’t need my attention, make better “to do” lists and perhaps a few “not-to-do” lists.
________ Learning: I’ll remind myself that learning is a great motivator both for myself and my staff. I’ll take time to increase my skills and knowledge. I’ll find creative ways in this tight economy to offer training to my troops, and to reward my dedicated staff with opportunities to learn.
_______Life Management: I’ll fine tune my work/life balance. I’ll identify things outside of work that make me happiest and I’ll devote more time to them. I’ll have more fun. I’ll stop thinking that addiction to news and a compulsion to being in the middle of it, even at the expense of my personal life, is the mark of a superior journalist. I’ll measure my work by outcomes, not the time spent producing them.
______Commitment: I’ll rededicate myself to the core values of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless, holding the powerful accountable, truth telling, and independence. I will support those values by knowing my community, leading a diverse staff, training for excellence in craft, and building a process for ethical decision-making in my newsroom that encourages participation and reflection among the journalists who work with me. I’ll remember that they, like me, chose this vocation out of a desire to do good journalism.
Happy New Year, News Leaders!
