leadership


them, but this somewhat ad-hoc system ran into trouble when the skills required by editors as well as newsroom journalists changed significantly. Consequently, senior journalists with years of newsroom


experience are now under pressure to return to the classroom and hone their skills. “Editors like learning but they don’t like being taught,”


observes Nel. “There is an appetite but no infrastructure.” The JIL programme involves distance learning and twice-


yearly get-togethers where candidates meet up and share experiences. In 2023, this included face-to-face sessions in southern Africa as well as the UK. By becoming better leaders, editors can rise up within a media organisation and take a seat at the ‘top table’, says Nel. This is best achieved by learning alongside people from different backgrounds and, perhaps, with vastly different jobs. “You don’t learn from similarity. You learn from diversity and from people who aren’t like us.”


Skills for


editors • Motivating an editorial team, sometimes in a challenging environment


• Managing underperformance


• Handling difficult conversations, including where there is conflict and anger


• Demonstrating soft skills, including emotional intelligence and empathy


• Managing journalists’ workload


• Financial management, including budgeting


• Understanding how strategy shapes a media organisation


• Implementing change, including overcoming resistance to it


• Encouraging creative and innovative approaches


• Understanding wellbeing in the workplace, including how to manage stress and spot mental health issues


Editor training is also becoming more commonplace at


magazine publishers, such as Bauer Media. Bauer runs its own training academy, offering a range of courses for journalists at its own titles, and from outside media. Tim Pollard, group digital editorial director, says there has been a notable ‘mindset shift’ towards leadership training at Bauer and elsewhere. This includes getting to grips with remote leadership, where a team is split between offices or individuals work from home. “You have to think about setting up an afternoon water-cooler moment to help motivate a team,” he says. Pollard recently completed a two-year MSc postgraduate degree in senior leadership run by the Bauer Academy and De Montfort University. Among other things, this covered cultivating high-performance teams, management and leadership styles, and data analytics. “It made me a better leader and showed how to lead teams through change,” he says. “Publishing is heading towards choppy waters and therefore you need people who can lead.” Some may ask what the difference is between management


and leadership. Put simply, management consists of instructing people to do somethingwhile leadership involves inspiring them to perform or operate in a particular way. Editor training does not come cheap. The NCTJ’s leadership qualification costs £999 plus VAT, while the JIL programme comes in at £2,800 or £5,400 for the full MA degree. The NCTJ qualification stresses the importance of softer skills, such as emotional intelligence and empathy. Meeting deadlines may need to be balanced against the welfare, resilience and safety of individuals, says Adams. Stefan Stern, a freelance journalist and teacher who writes


about management for The Guardian and FT, points out that journalism is not the only profession where people rise to the top based on achievements in non-leadership roles. Teaching, medicine and law come into the same category, to a lesser or greater extent. While editors need good news sense, the changing media


environment means super-hero bosses who walk around the newsroom, shout instructions and rewrite copy are mostly consigned to history.. “The idea that one person provides all the leadership for a


complex organisation is a myth,” says Stern. Distributive leadership, where decision-making is shared among colleagues, is generally more successful in journalism, where staff tend to be suspicious of those who cross into management and of senior management in general. “A lot of training helps people understand the most effective


way of talking to people and guiding them,” Stern adds. Remote leadership also works better when editors take a


collegiate approach and do not give the appearance of a boss ‘checking in’ on team members, says Alan Geere. It is better for an editor to praise journalists for stories. “Everybody should feel it’s a worthwhile exercise,” he adds. Ultimately, effective editors never forget their roots,


but build on their newsroom experience to benefit the wider organisation. “You become a bridge between senior executives and


people doing the job down below,” says Geere. “You are managing up and managing down at the same time.”


theJournalist | 13


NED JOLIFFE


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