Need a New Relationship? Associated Press Media Editors October 28, 2013 Butch Ward The Poynter Institute

Let’s Talk Relationships

‘Into the White Water’

Living with change

Staff and Audience

First, the staff

Pride

More with less

Trouble with priorities

Exhausted

Fearful

‘Endless threat of layoffs’

‘Can’t afford a house’

‘Doing my staff’s work’

Living with change

What can you do?

Focus on the work.

Build a relationship around the work.

Can you ‘handle’ players?

Relationship Success Mutual respect Genuine interest in the other’s success Effective communication Honesty Willingness to collaborate

What staff wants Meaningful work Improvement in job performance A shot at a dream job Tools and training Help with prioritizing their work

Invest.

5 investments

1. Provide clarity.

2. Invest in their ambitions.

3. Coach. Give feedback.

4. Provide tools, training.

5. Take a risk.

What about your relationship with audience?

Two preliminaries:

The audience frequently knows more about the story than we do.

Instead of asking the audience: ‘What do you want?’

Listen.

Observe.

Like journalists do.

3 investments for solid audience relationships

1. Agree on the Relationship. Consumer? Commenter? Co-producer?

(The Staff)

Successful sharing

2. Transparency

3. Listen... ... and Respond

And remember... You can’t do this alone. You can’t do this from the weeds. You can’t do this overnight.

Relationships take time.

Two Tracks Staff Development Content (The Staff)

Two Tracks Content Engagement (Audience)