12 common-sense principals of editorial management - magazine editorial management - Management/Editorial

You can learn to manage an editorial staff as you go along - but here's how to start off on the right track

As a writer or editor, you've probably never been trained to be a manager of people. But if you're going to be editor in chief, that's what you'll have to be.

Does that mean you need to read a book or take a course? It probably can't hurt. But it's not so easy to adapt the general precepts of modern management to the specific challenges of an editorial operation.

Fortunately, you can learn to manage a staff as you go along. But it does help to get off on the right foot. And you can speed up the learning process by listening to someone who's already been there more than once - which is the point of this article.

And remember, you don't start from zero. If you have earned your new position legitimately, you already have the skills of a good reporter, writer and editor. You need those skills to set standards, for training, and to enjoy the respect of your staff.

You also have a good measure of intellectual honesty, high ethical standards, a high energy level, and a healthy dose of compassion and humility. You are forceful in advancing your ideas. And you probably have a lot of common sense.

So, with that formidable base:

1. Set realistic goals

You must be clear - first in your own mind and then with your staff - about what it is that you expect to accomplish.

You may have a firm mandate for change from the publisher or from top management, especially if you are coming in from the outside. If so, be sure that you have a commitment for the resources that you will need.

If you are moving up on the staff, you may not have such a mandate. You may see your task as continuing to steer the course set by your predecessor. Or you may have your own agenda, born of years of chafing at what you see as your predecessor's failings. In either case, be sure that management supports your vision.

The marketplace, your magazine's competitive position and your management's business strategy impose limits on the size of your budget. Do what you can to expand that budget so that you can offer the best possible package to your readers. Even if times are tough, management may be ready to invest. But don't commit your staff to an editorial program that you know you cannot support.

And don't fall into the trap of forcing personal, but inappropriate, goals onto the magazine. You may have made your mark as an investigative reporter. Your audience may be looking for nuts-and-bolts stuff on how to do their job.

When you have decided on your vision and your priorities, tell you staff what they need to know. Above all, be specific about the journalistic standards you expect them to meet. Do this is in meeting, but follow it up with a good memo.

You may feel that you need to couple your goals immediately with changes in organization or procedure. If so, be sure that everyone on your staff sees the connection. Changes that seem arbitrary are a poor way to start off a new relationship. In particular, don't grandstand by firing someone before he or she has had a chance to respond to your new leadership.

This is not the time to worry the staff about changes you expect to make later on. There's plenty of time; you may change your mind; and enough is enough.

2. Organize for the task

The way you organize your staff is, itself, a message to the staff. And it will affect everything else you do.

The traditional organization chart shows the chief editor at the top and just a single downward line to the managing editor or the executive editor. That's the right configuration if you're going to be out shaking hands more than you will be in the office. In that case, you need to set up the managing editor as your surrogate. The staff will understand that you make the policy and the managing editor executes it. But it's not a good configuration for change. If you want to have a major impact on the magazine, you need to stick around a good bit. And you need a direct line to a number of your senior people. Call it a "hands-on" organization.

This is not an easy way to work. In some operations a managing editor is mainly a skilled mechanic, but in many operations this person is a highly talented, creative journalist who, but for you, might be leading the staff. You don't want to stifle that person's enthusiasm or undermine his or her authority. So, when you draw the chart for a hands-on organization, be sure to include not just the solid lines to yourself, but also the dashed lines to the managing editor. Delineate the responsibilities you will assume and those that will stay with the managing editor. Always include the managing editor in any group conference with your other senior people.

Just how you divvy up responsibilities will depend on your priorities for change. You will usually want to keep a strong hand in planning issue lineups, the thrust of individual feature articles, and your editors' forward schedules. If you're changing the graphics approach, you'll want to see rough layouts of both pages and major illustrations. If you're changing the writing sytle, you may want to see copy right down to the final revised version.

You may have other organizational decisions to make. If your staff is large - say, 15 people or more - you will need some substructure. Neither you nor the managing editor can effectively direct a dozen or more people. Set up two or more senior editors as supervisors for four to five junior editors, and make such supervision their primary job. Practicality aside, it's a good way to train your successor.

Finally, organize to support your priorities on coverage. The most important thing you can do for your readers is to write about what's new. If it looks as though levitation is the big new thing in aeronautics, create a levitation editor - even if you have to jumble coverage assignments for the rest of the staff. It's an almost sure way to get thorough coverage in a hurry.

3. Tell people their jobs

It's important to tell the staff as a group what you expect. It's just as important to tell each individual what you expect.

Don't neglect that oft-abused bit of paperwork known as the job description. That piece of paper is your chance to spell out carefully and to reinforce the responsibilities and priorities that you have, presumably, laid out face to face. If you have been misunderstood, this is a chance to find out before it's too late. And an accurate job description is an absolute requirement for any fair system of evaluating individual performance.

Your company probably requires written job descriptions and prescribes a form for them. In any case, list all significant responsibilities, and be as concrete as possible. But also summarize the responsibilities of the position in one to two sentences. And indicate to whom the position reports.

Then be sure that you respect the job description. When you change someone's job, discuss the change in terms of his or her job description, and follow through with a revised bit of paper. This will keep issues of job performance clear - particularly important when it's time for a formal evaluation.

Whether or not you do it within the job description, be sure to tell your copy producers how much work you expect from them. That will depend on how many people you have to fill how many pages. It will also vary according to whether you're talking news, features, new products or whatever.

4. Set a precise work flow

How you organize the staff tends to draw the road map for work flow. But the flow of copy, artwork, layouts, proofs and mechanicals is so tightly linked to product quality that you cannot afford to leave the procedural details to chance. True, work flow for a small staff can be pretty simple. On a large staff, though, it's easy to drift into chaos, where mistakes get into print and accountability is lost.

Suppose, for example, that your staff includes a managing editor and a couple of copy editors, and that your writers report to senior editors. A writer hands his copy to a senior editor. When the senior editor is satisfied, does a copy editor or the managing editor see it next? If a copy editor makes major revisions, does the copy go back to the writer or to the senior editor? At what point, if any, do you see the copy? Under what circumstances is it okay to deviate from the procedure?

Now answer similar questions for illustrations, layouts, for dummies, for page proofs and revised page proofs.

Your answers will depend on the level of quality you want or can afford, the consequences of mistakes, the talents of your people, the time available, and the cost of revisions. In simple cases, you may draw a flow chart. But such charts can become hard to read.

It's better to spell out on paper for each person in the process just what he or she is to do. Then reinforce that procedure by insisting that every piece of paper or every electronic file that moves through the system carry a routing form. Have each person in the sequence of edits and approvals sign off on the form.

5. Guide, but don't stifle

It is easy to become obsessed with style and procedure. Lose no chance to let your staff know that, above all, you care about content. Do it en masse, and do it individually.

You may be the only person on the staff who has a broad view of your magazine's field and mission. You have more access than you staff to the movers and shakers in your field. And, unless you have loaded yourself up with copy-producing chores, you have more time to think. Your readers need your perceptions. So does your staff. Share your thoughts and experiences at staff meetings.

Even more important is one-one-one guidance. Study your staff's written plans, and conduct individual planning reviews. React quickly to a project that seems unclear, overly narrow, or just plain off-base. Help find the major ideas that may lurk behind minor ideas. Have a good word for originality. Don't ridicule any well-intentioned initiative.

Don't try to play old-school city editor. You don't want your staff to wait for you to hand out assignments. Use the leverage of your number and diversity. Make planning start with reporters, writers and junior editors and let it percolate upward. Put forward your own ideas and pet projects, too. But remember that your more important job is to shape the ideas that your staff brings to you. Most journalists work best when they are executing ideas they take to be their own.

6. React and evaluate

You know what kind of performance you want. No matter how well you communicate, no one else can see your vision the way you can. You must tell your staff whether they have hit the mark or not. Be specific about what is good or bad, and, if bad, how it might have been done better.

Do some of this in general staff meetings. At least occasionally, mark up an issue and pass it around. Follow up key observations with a memo. But save heavy criticism for meetings with individuals or their supervisors.

If you're conscientious about feedback, formal performance reviews will be relatively agony-free. There should be no big surprises in your evaluation. You can concentrate on the positive steps that may still be needed to improve unsatisfactory performance.

When you do go head-to-head in a formal evaluation, keep it separate from a salary discussion. You want your staffer thinking about how to work better, not about the size of his or her raise.

Consider not just quality but quantity as well. Know how many pages an issue each of your copy-producers has contributed. If appropriate, assign weights to those pages, depending on the type of material they contain.

Yes, your most prolific staffer may write the shallowest stuff or put the biggest load on the copy desk. And your least prolific staffer may produce the stuff that gets the biggest reaction in your readership surveys. All this says is that it is up to you to interpret the numbers intelligently. Even if your prolific performer's work is just barely okay, he deserves some credit for filling the pages and allowing your less prolific performer the luxury of doing outstanding work.

There are other reasons to track output. If you're lucky enough to have someone who is both prolific and good, you'll find that she likes knowing that someone is measuring her output. Finally, if an individual's output rises or falls markedly, there may be a reason that you ought to know about.

7. Reward your performers

Many writers and editors like their work so much that it is all too easy to exploit them - a fact well known to publishers. Don't be a party to such exploitation. But don't rely on good salaries to cure all staff ills.

Writers and editors are like most other people in one respect: They appreciate praise. And praise, if it appears to be sincere and not manipulative, is a great energizer.

The higher your own standards, the more likely it is that the routine feedback you offer will tend to be negative. So, look for legitimate opportunities to offer positive feedback.

The problem is that you need to praise not just excellent performance, but also improved performance. Someone who is trying hard, and improving, can benefit even more than a star from a psychological boost. But when you ladle out that kind of praise, do it one on one, not in a staff meeting. Otherwise, you run the risk of seeming to patronize or of setting up as a model work that is far from what you want.

Because journalists cannot live on praise alone, you must see that good performance is recognized in the paycheck. You may be impeded by corporate guidelines on salary. But remember that guidelines are guidelines. You can fight for exceptions. And while you may be stuck with a rigidly fixed pool for salary increases, insist on your right to distribute that money in a manner that will be most effective.

The other reward you can offer is a promotion. You don't necessarily have to wait for an open slot. No set of boxes on paper truly reflects the varying set of talents and degrees of energy that make up your staff. If you have an associate editor who stands out above his colleagues, and if it doesn't make functional sense to increase the number of senior editors, call your new star a senior associate editor and make him a part of all meetings with your senior staff.

Don't hand out a bigger title unless you hand out responsibilities to go with it. Everyone sees though a meaningless title, so it has little value to the person who wears it.

8. Provide the tools

See that your staff has the tools it needs to produce a good magazine and to do so with maximum efficiency. That means spending time and money on some rather dull activities. It can sometimes mean a budget struggle with management.

Don't stop with text processing by computer, for example. Use the computer to maintain contact lists and other database, to help conduct quantitative editorial research, and to index the magazine.

The computer aside, have a style book (yes, that ought to be on the computer, too) and someone assigned to maintain it. Have a manual of staff policies and procedures - an obvious help, though, surprisingly, far from a universal one. Have some kind of library and a central filing system. In short, invest in systems that make it less difficult for your staff to find information and unnecessary to reinvent the wheel every time you get a letter or phone call.

Also, look for ways to provide needed training. If you have good, trainable people lacking certain skills, it's usually a lot less expensive - and more satisfying - to train them up than to buy those skills in the marketplace.

9. Protect your people

Insulate your staff from outside pressures.

Rightly or wrongly, your management will sometimes be critical of a story you publish, or don't publish. Or it will be critical of an interchange between one of your people and a subscriber or an advertiser.

Make sure that such criticism is directed to you, not to your staff. It is then up to you to take whatever action in indicated. Your staffer must feel secure in doing the job the way you have told him to do it. He must feel no ambiguity about the line of authority.

Similarly, build a wall between your staff and the ad sales staff. Insist that the sales staff's suggestions for coverage flow through you. If that's impractical, instruct your staff to report such contracts immediately so that you can evaluate and advise.

10. Communicate well and often

We sometimes communicate much better with our readers than among ourselves.

There is no substitute for one-on-one, face-to-face talk, when you can look in the eye, study the corners of the mouth, and watch the hands and shoulders. But be sure that you listen, really listen, at least as much as you talk. You will learn a lot, you are more likely to say the right things the right way, and, in turn, you are more likely to be listened to.

Hold staff meetings, but not too many. Have a regular staff meeting at least at the same frequency that you publish. Review the issue most recently published or put to bed, as well as the issue under way. Preview future issues. Your aim is to force a timely exchange of information and, if you're lucky, promote synergism - that is, develop some good new ideas that no one had before. A staff meeting is also a good time to deliver a message when you want everyone to hear the same thing at the same time.

But verbal communication alone is chancy. Body language is fine, but if your words are not precise or if they come out in the wrong order, you may not make your point. If you have an important point to make, and certainly if you decide on a course of action, follow up a meeting with a confirming memo. That goes whether the meeting is one-on-one or involves the entire staff.

Too many editorial managers fail to communicate clearly in writing. An important memo ought to be good. It ought to be the best writing you can do. Never, never dictate an important memo Craft it on your word processor. Get the words, sentences and paragraphs in the right order. Keep the memo as brief as you can. If the matter is complex, put some of the complexity into an attachment - just as you would write a sidebar for an article. Yes, it's a lot of trouble. But it's not as much trouble as having to deal with the matter all over again two weeks later.

If you have a big staff, you could be writing a lot of memos. When your people see a lot of memos, it's natural for them to hope they can safely ignore some. Don't let that happen. If you're serious about a memo, put a note on your calendar or in your tickler file. Then follow up.

11. Be a leader

Do not let your staff think of you as merely an administrator. One way to avoid that is to take a genuine, active interest in the content of the magazine.

One way is to get into the trenches. Emergencies arise on every publication. You may have a super-large issue, a story may drop out, someone may be sick. You will have ways to deal with such emergencies. But occasionally, jump in and get your hands dirty. Do some reporting, write or edit a story, do some proofreading. Show your colleagues that you understand and value what they do, and, not incidentally, that you didn't get your position by mistake.

Another thing you can do, perhaps rarely, is use your own talents directly to force up the level of staff achievement. Limited resources put a cap on what you can produce issue after issue. But with extra effort, especially on your part, you can rise above those limits every now and then.

For example, plan a specal issue about the future of the industry or profession you cover. For that issue to be more than pap, your people may have to do more intensive reporting than they normally do. They may have to get interviews with people higher up the ladder than they normally reach. And they may have to deal more with concepts than they know how to do.

In fact, your staff may be incapable of doing the job right unless you get in there and personally direct and support that project every step of the way. If you do that, you will have an excellent issue. Your people will have learned things that only you can teach.

12. Be yourself

Much has been written on how to manipulate people to get them to do what you want. Ignore it.

What your staff wants is a leader who knows his or her business, is dedicated to the task at hand, recognizes that not everyone can match that dedication, listens well, works hard at being both honest and fair to everyone, and is humble enough to admit to mistakes.

That's not a small order. But the chances are that you would not be getting the editorial management job if you had not survived those tests already. If you do meet those tests, your people will forgive your mistakes, and they will try hard to do what you want them to do.

John B. Campbell is a magazine editorial consultant. He has been editorial director, Hearst Business Publishing Group.

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