Editor Development Series: A Six-Month Program for Line Editors Here's an outline, with brief notes on content and sources, for a six-month program designed for line editors. The program consists of two sessions a month, one session on a journalism skill, one on a management/personal develop skill. The idea was to try and pair related topics (i.e. listening skills and coaching). Each session was two hours, which always included active learning components (i.e. case studies; role plays; etc.) to allow them time to practice and work with concepts together. The program was presented to Enquirer line editors over the winter of 1998-99. The program included assistants and deputies from all departments, including Photo, Sports and the Copy Desk. Most who attended were content editors from News, Features, Sports and Business. Along with course content, the group also found the opportunity just to get away as a group and talk about their work a very positive experience. ----------------------------------------------------- Editor Development Series (EDS) ----------------------------------------------------- Month 1 Session 1: Career Development -- An overview of the program, the idea of combining journalism and management topics. Incorporated an instrument called "Career Anchor," a self-assessment tool on individual preferences in work and type of job. Also used something called the Johari Window, which assesses interpersonal communication. (Sources: Career Anchor, by Edgar Schein.) Session 2: Coaching Writers: An overview on the five stages of a story and how to coach through each stage. Also spent time on moving from being a "fixer" to a "coach." This formed a baseline for future sessions that explored aspects of each stage in more depth. (Sources: Coaching Writers, by Roy Peter Clark/Don Fry. Editing for Today’s Newsroom, Carl Sessions Stepp.) Month 2 Session 3: Active Listening Skills -- The basics of how to listen and how to improve communication through active listening. (Sources: Zenger-Miller program. Basic Listening Skills, edited by Carol Allen, et al.) Session 4: Coaching Story Ideas -- Putting active listening and coaching skills together to develop better story ideas with their reporters (or assignments with photographers). Key was the development of "listening goals" to make exchanges more productive. Also applied to copy desk in editing and layout assignments. (Sources: Coaching Writers, by Roy Peter Clark/Don Fry. Zenger-Miller. Basic Listening Skills, edited by Carol Allen, et al.) Month 3 Session 5: Conflict Management -- How to manage conflict, to move from conflict to collaboration. As it applies to coaching writers, managing all employees, managing upward. Incorporated an instrument called the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, a self-assessment tool for gauging how you react to conflict. (Sources: Unlocking the Potential of Group Decision-Making Through Constructive Controversy, by David Johnson, et al. Collective Excellence, by Mel Hensey.) Session 6: Review – This was near the Christmas holiday season and about halfway through the program. We played a homemade version of the TV game Jeopardy to review course material. The content of the game was drawn from the first five sessions. We also talked about their problems in implementing skills covered this far and did a mid-point evaluation of program. Month 4 Session 7: Goal Setting -- How editors set goals for the people they supervise and themselves. Used the SMART goals format. Applied the format to many issues, including story assignments and annual performance reviews. (Sources: Managing for Dummies. Managing Oneself, by Peter Drucker (Harvard Business Review, March-April 1999) Session 8: Making Daily Stories Better -- (Guest speaker Richard Tapscott, Metro Editor, Des Moines Register, formerly of Washington Post) Six techniques for elevating daily stories from single note news to stories of greater depth and perspective. Also applied the techniques to photo assignments and copy editing. Month 5 Session 9: Critical Thinking Skills -- Introduction to critical thinking skills, and a focus on three critical thinking skills to use when framing story ideas, photo assignments or in editing copy. (Sources: DeBono’s Thinking Course, by Edward de Bono. The Art of Thinking, by Vincent Ryan Ruggiero. "Finding Meaning," by Jack Hart, 10/98 issue of Second Takes. Critical Thinking Press workbooks. The Art and Craft of Feature Writing, William Blundell.) Session 10: Story Forms -- Four basic story forms or approaches that can be used to help launch and manage stories, from daily breaking news to longer enterprise pieces. The forms and their uses. (Sources: Many and varied, including Don Fry) Month 6 Session 11: The Newsroom Budget -- An introduction to the newsroom budget, the budgeting process, and how line editors can and should be involved in the budget process. (I co-taught this program with our newsroom administrator.) Session 12: Leadership vs Management – An introduction to leadership concepts and the role of leadership in managing people and systems. (Sources: The Leadership Challenge, by James Kouzes/ Barry Posner.)
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