What Does It Take to Lead Change?

By Larry Olmstead

First Published: Spring 2007

Challenges rocking the newspaper industry call for new ways of thinking about markets, products and customers, and for new styles of leadership. Today’s leaders must be visionaries who inspire innovation through collaborative, courageous and optimistic behavior.

Newspapers have begun to respond to myriad threats to the industry and its business model, but newspaper leaders believe that the industry has failed to create an environment for true innovation.

Those are the findings of a three-month review of leadership in the newspaper industry commissioned by NAA and conducted by Leading Edge Associates of San Jose. The review included a nationwide survey of senior managers, interviews with industry experts and creation of a critical competency model to determine what skills, traits and knowledge matter most for newspaper leaders. Results of the review are detailed in this excerpt from a longer white paper available at www.naa.org/fusion/pdf/champions.pdf.
The review shows that people who work for newspapers crave a vision of success – a road map, a picture, a blueprint – that provides direction and clear roles and responsibilities. Ability to shape and drive a vision tops the list of 10 competencies most critical for change leadership.

Innovative approaches to gathering and delivering news and information inform a leader’s vision. Solutions are born where innovation thrives. But at newspapers, notorious for clinging to tradition, innovation can bloom only under new leadership styles.

Clear Change Imperative

“Every news organization needs to change,” says Vickey Williams, project director of The Learning Newsroom at the American Press Institute. She led a recent Knight Foundation-funded project promoting innovation in newsrooms.

Elizabeth (Betsy) Brenner is aggressively leading change at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, long seen as a bastion of traditionalism. Brenner is president and publisher of the newspaper, executive vice president of Journal Communications Inc., and chief operating officer of JCI Publishing Businesses.

“There’s not an individual working here who isn’t facing seismic change in their job,” she says.

Across the country, reporters are expected to be photographers and videographers. Advertising salespeople must sell bundles across platforms. Circulation departments are separating distribution and marketing operations.

The television and magazine industries are suffering almost the same pressures on the business, the same migration of customers to the Web, the same need to operate across media platforms.

For many media executives, acquiring and developing new leadership skills have been low priorities in the face of urgent pressure to produce short-term profit-and-loss results, cope with loss of customers and ownership changes and consolidations.

“I don’t think we have many executives to look to who are shining role models for change,” Williams says.

Scott Anthony, managing director of Innosight LLC, which conducted API’s Newspaper Next project, says that industry transformation will fail without dramatic culture change and that cultures will not change under old leadership styles. This is particularly true, he adds, where “the cultural antibodies at many newspapers are very strong.”

The stakes are high for newspapers and their top executives. The training company Leadership IQ reviewed 286 organizations across different industries that had recently ousted their chief executive officers, and it interviewed more than 1,000 board members to learn why. The top reason: mismanaging change.

“Half of board members say that their change initiative did not go well,” Leadership IQ reported. “Most pointed to a failure on the CEO’s part to properly motivate employees and managers and, more specifically, to adequately sell the need to change course.”

Case for Radical Change

Newspaper Next, a project led by Harvard-trained academicians, contends that a radical approach is needed. Innosight LLC, advised by a task force of media executives, posed the Old/New World model featured here of the “powerful paradigm shift.”

This extraordinary upheaval requires an extraordinary response from industry leadership. Asked how one would know a newspaper leader is successful today, Anthony says, “The result you would see is a dramatically different business model at a given newspaper company.”

In a recent NAA survey of publishers and other senior newspaper managers, 67 percent of publishers said their staffs have done an excellent or good job of responding to changing market and competitive conditions. Nearly 70 percent of publishers rated the capacity of their management teams to lead change as high or moderately high, while only 16 percent said high. With training and just a few new people, they said, they can reconfigure for success.

Change is undeniably under way. But is it profound enough? Is the business model changing dramatically enough?

The Newspaper Next model of the paradigm shift is a powerful reminder that the same leaders, operating the same way, will not get the job done

What’s Out?

Playing it safe, being unwilling to stand for change. “The leader who manages this successfully is going to make some enemies,” Anthony says. “The leader who is unwilling to make enemies will kill his company.”

What’s out? Running the business from the corner office while failing to engage subordinates in sharing news, views and ideas. Leaders “have to be humble enough to see ideas from other individuals,” Anthony says.

What’s out? “The myth of the hero leader,” Williams says. The “Citizen Kane” days when an executive could rule with a forceful personality and autocratic style are gone. Yes, she adds, the best leaders take bold action, but only after listening to staff and customers, acting collaboratively and creating an environment in which new ideas flourish. The successful executive “only occasionally has to draw on the power style of leadership,” she says.

Mary Ann Wendt, director of human resources at the Houston Chronicle, is one of many who offered leaders this advice: “Check your ego at the door.”

What’s In?

A principal goal of this review was to determine which skills, traits and knowledge – which competencies – matter most for those leading change in the newspaper industry.

 To accomplish that, Leading Edge Associates partnered with Bigby, Havis & Associates Inc., a Dallas-based consulting firm of industrial psychologists. Interviews with industry experts were framed so answers could be used to create a relevant competency model. Jeanne Fox-Alston, NAA vice president of talent management and diversity, monitored the process.

The research showed that these 10 competencies matter most for those who will transform the industry:

• Vision – identifies strategic goals and champions innovation.
• Customer focus – anticipates customers’ needs; delivers products and services that exceed customers’ expectations.
• Championing change – effectively promotes and implements change initiatives.
• Driving results – pushes the organization and him/herself to excel.
• Interpersonal communication – communicates clearly and effectively with people inside and outside the organization.
• Relationship management – builds, maintains and values positive relationships inside and outside the organization to accomplish business objectives.
• Coaching and developing – encourages and inspires employees’ development and long-term career growth.
• Integrity – upholds a high standard of fairness and ethics.
• Business acumen – understands general business and financial concepts and the company’s business; uses general and specific knowledge to be effective.
• Learning agility – continuously adapts and improves his/her performance.

On Top: Vision, Customer Focus

In 1995, Harvard Business Review published “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” by John P. Kotter, and the article became highly influential in corporate circles. Kotter said successful change efforts have eight stages, the third of which is vision.

Here, the newspaper industry seems stuck. Leaders struggle to draw a clear picture of what success will look like.

Just as Wall Street has punished the industry for failing to state a clear vision, individual leaders stumble if they cannot help employees see the path to success.

“Somebody has to have a picture of where they want to go,” says Michael P. Smith, executive director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. A visionary leader helps the organization focus and align its efforts. A successful leader is good at telling the story. It must be recounted energetically, paired with a clear strategy and monitored for tangible results.

 “Top change leaders are good at creating a clear and concise vision,” says Michelle Krans, president and publisher of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif. “They look for innovators in their operation, reward them and make their jobs interesting and dynamic.” Krans is also group vice president of the Pacific Group in the Gannett Co. Newspaper Division.

After vision, the most critical competency is customer focus, which newspapers must develop to a level not seen in the industry.

In January 2006, NAA’s Board Committee on Industry Development adopted 10 imperatives for newspapers. No. 2 is “Make Consumer Insight a Competitive Advantage.” The committee says newspapers must invest in systems that bring greater knowledge about customers and “integrate all of the content, community and commerce offerings around people’s needs and interests, rather than our traditional publisher-centric viewpoint.”

Indeed, 96 percent of publishers in the NAA survey said customer service is very important or somewhat important to successful change initiatives.

Powerful cultural forces push against this imperative. For years, newspapers have dictated terms of their offerings to readers and advertisers, with dialogue inside their buildings too often internally focused and too seldom about customers’ needs.

Those who contend that new journalism techniques are sacrificing traditional principles miss the point that for several decades, customers have been voting with their feet.

What Breeds Success

Collaboration and communication are recurring themes among critical competencies.

Cutting-edge executives agree that leaders alone cannot transform an industry. The complexity of the marketplace and speed of change mean that each workplace must be a learning lab where many good ideas flourish.

Leaders must put in the same hours and energy they ask of others, says the Chronicle’s Wendt. It is essential to move around, meet with small groups and maximize results of one-on-one encounters.

“It’s important to engage those experts on your staff,” Wendt says. Leaders should “invite them to the table and ask them what they think.”

The newspaper industry has not been known for outstanding data management, sophisticated financial analysis or brilliant marketing. Now, these and the ability to learn new skills are critical.

Successful change leaders are lifelong learners who help to create a learning environment. The successful leader will “help the work force discover things on its own,” Smith says. Every worker must continually learn and contribute more.

Strong leaders also must realize that change will “make the newspaper uncomfortable for people who are used to doing things the old way,” Smith says.

Leaders should listen patiently and gather enough data to make decisions but must have the courage to act decisively, knowing their decisions will not be universally popular. They must hone conflict resolution skills, learn how to communicate candidly and manage relationships well.

“Executives who are used to leaning back and managing are not going to be successful,” Innosight’s Anthony says. “The role of the executive now is to get in and fix what does not work.”

Perhaps the major challenge is that many newspaper executives find it more comfortable to use their business and journalism skills than the organizational and people skills required to change the culture and help employees through the complications of transforming an industry.

“It’s lingo we’re not comfortable with,” Williams says. “You talk about training and communication, and leaders’ eyes glaze over. Just the term ‘culture’ sounds touchy-feely. We may not be happy with the term, but those are the results we have to achieve. You have to get those outcomes.”

Confidence and Courage

Championing change takes courage, and a viral spread of constructive confidence would be welcome in the industry. In interviews and focus groups, executives consistently spoke about the need for optimism during turbulence.

 One maxim of leadership is that while change brings challenge, it offers opportunity. To see the opportunity, though, people must overcome what managers repeatedly refer to as pervasive “gloom and doom.”

Williams says the industry needs leaders who can ask tough questions and challenge the status quo in a way that inspires innovation and good ideas. “Folks don’t need more scary messages,” she says. “They know the industry is in trouble. They need a persuasive leader, not a frightening leader.”

“What’s missing now,” says Tom Silvestri, president and publisher of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, “is the spirit and the passion of the business in figuring out the future. We need to work on the spirit side. We don’t know exactly what the answers are, but we can’t give up on hope.”

Smith says he does not “want to be a Pollyanna, but a very clear trait of a successful newspaper executive today is someone who is positive.”

In times of change and crisis, the leader’s responsibility as role model is heightened. People ask, “How are they dealing with stress and the pressures of change?” Wendt says. “If you are cool, collected, under control, with a positive outlook, I think that’s contagious.”

Changing Leadership Style

Just saying leaders must act differently will not make it happen. Any culture change requires management’s commitment. Here are guiding principles for making the most of the 10 competencies listed under “What’s In”:

• The most powerful drivers of culture are the chief executive officer and senior executives. They must examine their behavior, modify it where possible and better position executives whose skills match new requirements.
• Individual managers cannot successfully all 10 competencies simultaneously. Determine the three or four most relevant to you and your organization.
• Ask how candidates for supervisory and management jobs stack up against this list. Devise interview questions for candidates, and their references, that help answer the question.
• Ask how current supervisors meet the list of competencies. Choose two or three competencies most relevant to their job expectations and work with them to craft activities to develop their skills.
• Create or seek training programs that further develop these skills.
• Realize that some managers, even well-regarded ones, may not be suited to lead change. Determine whether their shortcomings can be overcome or accommodated. If not, would they fit better elsewhere in the organization? Or should they be managed out?

Driving Change

Good intentions will not effect change. The change process requires vision and planning and is strengthened by rigorous examination of the organization, its objectives and resources.

“Winning Through Innovation:A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal” (2002) is perhaps the best-known guide to organizational change. Authors Charles A. O’Reilly III and Michael L. Tushman created a model for driving change initiatives. They say the first step is to analyze a company’s formal organization, culture, people and their critical tasks. Ideally, those four areas should be aligned with each other and with the company’s goals and strategy.

 ing alignment gaps is the key to advancing change. Consider the need to produce more Web content. For most news organizations, the gap is obvious. Whether or not the industry uses this congruence model, newspaper leaders must find ways to add rigor to the change process.

From the Front Lines

Executives interviewed for this review discussed lessons learned while leading change. Some lessons came the hard way.

• People have certain needs in good times and bad. Employees must be engaged in work that matters. They need recognition and to be treated with respect and dignity. They need to trust leaders and feel trusted, and to grow and learn. During change, people experience fear, confusion and vulnerability. Managers must redouble efforts to meet employees’ basic needs. Thank them for their work and recognize that change is stressful, says Christian A. Hendricks, vice president of interactive media for The McClatchy Co. “If people’s jobs are going to change, make a commitment to give them ample warning.”
• Seek new change agents. As different skills become more critical, different people must be tapped. Diversity plays a role. Managers must be willing to reach out to those who may have been overlooked or underutilized. Pay particular attention to newer midlevel managers.
• Expect and prepare for resistance. If you’re not encountering resistance, which is natural and inevitable, your changes are not profound. Rather than maintain silence or ignore resisters, open a two-way flow of information. Listen carefully because resisters can warn of obstacles and weaknesses in your approach.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Change experts counsel that you must send the message to employees repeatedly on multiple platforms and then start over again. “Our leadership team does a seven-meeting road show at both of our plants to share business performance, new initiatives and to answer employee questions,” the Journal Sentinel’s Brenner says.
• Avoid analysis paralysis. The Newspaper Next mantra is that failures are inevitable, so aim to fail cheaply and quickly. Even successful initiatives must be monitored and adjusted continually. “Ninety percent of all new products need readjusting, and the industry tends to overlook this step,” says Krans of the Desert Sun. 
• Don’t take it personally. Dean Denhart, chief technology officer for McClatchy Interactive West (formerly Knight Ridder Digital), worked for companies outside the newspaper industry and has been involved in an estimated 18 mergers and acquisitions. “Hard decisions are being made, and I applaud people for making them,” he says. “In many ways, the newspaper industry’s late to the game. The financial services and cellular industries have gone through many M&As. Technology has gone through consolidations, turmoil and retooling the industry model. People have to learn not to take things personally. We need to communicate early, often and honestly.”

Larry Olmstead is president and executive consultant of Leading Edge Associates in San Jose. He can be reached at larryo@leadingedgeassociates.net.