Elevating Your Editing Career

Wherever you are as an editor and wherever you want to go, you can elevate your career by working on personal development. Editors, colleagues and training programs will help you move to a higher level, but nothing will help as much as your own commitment to improvement. As training consultant Alan Weiss notes, if you can improve by just 1 percent each day, you will be twice as good a journalist in 70 days.

• Where do you want your career to take you?
  Perhaps you want to leave your current paper and chase your dream job. Perhaps you want to chase a better job at this paper. Perhaps you want to grow in your current job and become recognized as the very best at that position. Maybe you're open to any of those possibilities and more. Clarify your ambitions, at least in your own mind, and decide what steps might move you toward a goal.
• Set goals.
  Even if you're flexible about the paths you might take, consider where you'd like to be in a year or two or five. Look at the others who are where you want to go. What skills do they have? What experience do they have? What personal characteristics do they have? What skills, experience or personal characteristics might make you better than they are? Opportunities or changed interests might take you in different directions, but you will always benefit from setting and pursuing goals. Decide what sort of skills, personal characteristics and experience you need to reach your goals and make a plan to grow in those areas.
• Take responsibility for your own growth.
  Ideally, your bosses will pay some or all of the costs of conferences, seminars or university courses that will help you grow. If they don't, you still need to grow. Invest the time or money it takes to grow into the kind of editor you want to be.

Improve your skills

• Think visually.
  Your reporters' stories will get better play if you take more initiative in generating eye-catching photos and graphics. Don't let visual elements be an afterthought. As you develop story ideas, discuss photo and graphic possibilities. Insist on coordinating early and often with the art, photo and design departments.
• Think online.
  Early on every story, consider how to tell the story better online. Challenge the reporter to think of ways to make the online presentation interactive, to provide more detailed information online. Does the story present opportunities to use audio or data in creative ways to tell the story? Learn how you can help the online staff tell your stories better.
  
  Master numbers.
  Lots of journalists hate math and aren't very good at it. But it's important. Numbers can reveal some important stories. You need to know numbers well enough to spot and challenge faulty numbers and faulty conclusions in your reporters' stories and to challenge reporters to be more precise when they are writing around numbers they don't understand. Master budgets and tax formulas. Learn the difference between mean and median, between percent and percentage points.
• Develop your computer skills.
  How strong are your computer-assisted reporting skills? Have you stopped after learning a few basics, such as Internet searching and simple spreadsheets? Have you even mastered those basics? Learn a new program or a new way to use the programs you're using. Too few editors can help reporters who are skilled in computer-assisted reporting or can even push reporters who lack computer-assisted reporting skills. If you can, you will stand out as an editor. Ask in each story what data sources might help tell the reporter. Push and lead the reporter to pursue the data and develop the skills. If you or your reporters have passed on learning many computer skills, it's time you moved together into the 21st Century. A reporter who didn't know how to search for basic paper records wouldn't pretend to be a complete reporter. Most information today is stored as data, and your reporters need to learn how to find information to remain competent.
• Address a weakness.
  Assess your skills critically. Identify a weakness. Find resources or mentors to help you improve in this area. Seek criticism and suggestions from colleagues who excel at this skill. Concentrate on this skill in every story. Turn this skill into a strength.
• Work on improving one skill each story.
  You can set lofty and long-distance goals, such as wanting to develop better instincts or wanting to become an executive editor. Reach those goals by setting short-term goals, such as covering today's story aggressively, tightening tomorrow's story while retaining the writer's voice or using an active verb in this headline.

Encourage your staff

• Praise good work.
  Every newsroom supervisor should make a top daily priority of praising the good work of your staff. If someone on your staff has served your readers well today, you should praise the story, headline, photo, design or action. Make your praise specific, prompt and sincere. Praise face-to-face in most instances. Special occasions might merit a handwritten note of praise. Editors who recognize and appreciate good work from their staff invariably get more good work from their staff. And nothing advances your career more than good work from your staff.
• Encourage early writing.
  Urge reporters to start writing earlier in the process on each story. They should write at the idea stage, after the first interview and as the reporting progresses. The writing will focus and improve the reporting that remains and the reporter will have more time to rewrite. This will help your staff become better reporters and writers.
• Encourage new story forms.
  If a reporter hasn't written a narrative, watch for a story that lends itself to narration and encourage him to try. Or if a reporter hasn't done a series, help her develop plans for a story that demands the in-depth treatment of a series. Ask whether a particular story might lend itself to a creative approach that defies labels.
• Encourage authoritative writing.
  Challenge reporters to reduce attribution where possible by finding out for sure what the facts are. Writing with authority is more a matter of reporting than writing, though. First reporters have to know authoritatively what the story is.
• Encourage reporters to zig when others zag.
  When a reporter is running with the pack, ask what the pack might be missing. If everyone is looking to the right, encourage the reporter to look to the left, at least briefly. She can usually catch up with the pack pretty quickly if she doesn't find an exclusive. But she won't find the exclusive without leaving the pack and without an editor with the confidence to go after a better story. Sometimes the pack is really on the big story. But if your reporters always follow the pack, all you will have is the same story as everyone else. Reporters who come up with exclusives have editors who trust the reporter's instincts and risk letting the reporter leave the pack.
• Respect reporters' authorship.
  However much you enjoy writing and however good you are at it, it's not your job. Editors who insist on rewriting reporters' stories themselves generate resentment and disloyalty in their staff. And they don't end up with better stories. The reporter knows the information and the story better than you do. Challenge her to improve the story. When deadlines or other circumstances force you to rewrite, respect and retain the author's voice.

Challenge your staff

• Challenge instead of criticizing.
  Rather than criticizing staff members, give them specific challenges to help improve their performance. Don't tell a reporter his writing is dull. Challenge him to use stronger verbs in tomorrow's story or to find a real person who will illustrate the problem.
• Develop story elements.
  Expect stories that are more than just a string of facts. As the reporter is working on the story, ask what the conflict is and how it will be resolved. Ask about the plot, characters, setting and theme.
• Read aloud.
  Encourage reporters to read stories aloud. This will help them find and fix long sentences, clunky passages, awkward phrases. They will understand the voice and flow of your story. As reporters are working on drafts, stop by and ask them to read a passage aloud to you.
• Emphasize rewriting.
  Few skills are as valuable or as neglected as rewriting. When you're setting deadlines and planning stories, ask when the reporter will finish the first draft and how much time he's allowing for rewriting. Rather than fixing the story yourself, identify some weak verbs, long sentences and organizational problems and have the reporter do the rewriting.
• Challenge leads.
  Ask whether the reporter has challenged the lead. Even if you both love it. Especially if you love it. Ask whether the reporter can squeeze a word out. Then another. Ask whether you can find a stronger verb, a more specific noun. Encourage a completely different approach. If the lead is longer than 20 words, challenge the reporter to write one that's shorter than 10. Sometimes an outstanding lead will withstand all challenges. You will feel better knowing that it did.
• Develop self-starters.
  Your staff will perform better, and show off your leadership skills better, if you develop and respect self-starters. Don't just give assignments. Ask reporters for their ideas. Expect reporters to develop lists of story ideas to pursue. Value their ideas, even if they conflict with your ideas or your bosses' ideas.
• Analyze the best work.
  When a reporter writes a story you're really proud of, review with her the techniques she used. Why did they work? How might she use the same techniques on other upcoming stories? Might she teach this technique to a colleague?

Communicate clearly

• Keep the boss informed.
  Learn how your editor likes to communicate and keep her informed of your staff's activities and plans. Does she like an occasional personal briefing, an e-mail, a personal briefing followed by an e-mail, a personal briefing accompanied by a budget on paper of stories coming up? Don't bury your boss in detail, but don't catch her off guard either. If the boss likes written communication, keep it tight. If you wonder whether some details are necessary, offer to tell more but don't include everything in the note.
• Be candid.
  Bosses and staff members alike expect honesty and openness from you. You can be candid and still be tactful. You can suck up to the boss and still be candid. While candor will lead to some bruised feelings and some uncomfortable moments, it builds trust. And trust will advance your career.
• Control your anger.
  Your staff and your bosses will make you angry, sometimes on opposite sides of the same issue. Mid-level editors, by the nature of their jobs, are caught in the middle. Address issues candidly but respectfully in both directions. Especially avoid expressing anger in writing. It may feel good, but your message will last longer than your anger.
• Use humor.
  An editor with a good sense of humor adds to the fun of the news business. But beware of sarcasm. Your staff will be sarcastic toward you and you may feel like responding in kind. But sarcasm from the boss cuts deeper. Be careful.
• Praise your peers.
  You're part of a team. Praise colleagues who are serving readers well. Thank them for helping you.
• Show interest in the budget.
  Budgets are boring. They also help you cover the news and help your newsroom reach its goals. Learn as much as your bosses will tell you about the budget. Volunteer to help in the budgeting process. Your knowledge of the budget and interest in it will add to your qualifications when top managers are considering promotions to a level that involves more budgeting.
• Seek solutions in conflict.
  Personalities, competition, turf battles and deadline pressure will lead to conflicts in the newsroom. Some may involve you. Set aside emotion and seek solutions. If you're involved, listen respectfully to the other person and work together to find the solution that best serves the reader. If you're not involved, ask whether you might mediate as a neutral third party.
  

Be a newsroom leader

• Mentor a junior editor.
  Share your advice and experience with a colleague who has less experience. You don't have to be a know-it-all. But if you notice some conflict in a relationship with a reporter, offer advice in a spirit of cooperation. The colleague probably will appreciate it and your relationship will develop. Colleagues and bosses will notice this contribution to the newsroom. And you will learn from the colleague as you teach.
• Share your experience.
  Develop a workshop for your staff in a skill you have mastered. When you overcome a challenge of which you're proud, tell colleagues what you did, not in a boastful look-what-I-did way, but telling what you learned from the experience. Write up a tip sheet. Develop some points, examples and exercises to help colleagues learn the skill in a workshop. I'll be glad to schedule and announce your workshop to the staff. Give me the handout and I'll post it, with credit, on the Web at "No Train, No Gain."
• Pass tips to colleagues.
  When you see or hear something that would be a good story for a reporter who doesn't work for you, pass it along. They won't do all the stories you suggest, but they will appreciate the tips. Pass along how-to tips as well. If you find a valuable Web site, let colleagues know. Join a list-serv of colleagues with similar jobs. When someone asks for help on a matter where you have experience, give some advice. You don't have to hold forth as though you're the fount of all wisdom. But if you share your knowledge and ideas, your respect among colleagues will grow.
• Promote yourself.
  You can tell editors and colleagues of your accomplishments without becoming annoying and boastful. If your reporters beat the competition on a story, be sure to tell your editors, giving due credit to your staff. That may affect the play on a story and it certainly will affect their view of you and your staff. If your story forces some changes by the agency you cover, tell your editors and discuss whether the changes merit a story. Even if they don't, the editors will note the impact you and your staff have had. Don't expect anyone else to beat your drum.
• Lead in your newsroom.
  Does your newsroom have a committee that is considering newsroom reorganization or policies on issues such as technology or ethics? Serve on the committee. The work may be frustrating at times. Committees always are. And don't assume the editors will adopt all your ideas. But you can make a difference. And your leadership will be noticed. Consider other ways you can lead: perhaps by speaking up directly to editors about matters that concern you or by organizing a brownbag lunch to discuss a current issue in journalism.

Learn from others

• Seek a mentor.
  Look around your newsroom. Identify a colleague who has a skill, work habit or leadership style that you admire and would like to emulate. Offer to take her out to lunch. Pick her brain. Learn how she developed that skill. Follow up by asking about individual stories that illustrate the point you have discussed. Perhaps your mentor might be a colleague in a similar position at another newspaper. Seek advice by phone and e-mail or connect in person at a workshop or conference.
• Attend training programs.
  Ask your editors to send you to the regional National Writers' Workshops (which always have sessions for editors) or training programs of the American Copy Editors Society, Investigative Reporters and Editors or other organizations. Even if the company won't send you, these low-cost workshops are a great investment in your own career and your own future. Watch also for national training opportunities. Don't assume the company won't send you to an expensive Poynter Institute or American Press Institute seminar. Some of these national training programs that offer fellowships that cover some or all expenses.
• Follow up on training.
  Whether you attend a conference or a workshop in your newsroom, be sure to follow up. Make the training stick by deciding how you will apply the lessons to expand and improve your own skills. After the workshop, decide what points were most relevant to your current situation and what steps you need to take to improve your skills. Set your calendar to review after a month and after three months how you are doing in this improvement plan. If the workshop taught a skill that's entirely new to you, start using that skill immediately after returning to the newsroom, or the lessons will grow stale quickly.
• Seek advice.
  Find editing and leadership advice online. Go to Poynter.org and subscribe to weekly leadership columns, delivered by e-mail. Go to newsroomleadership.com and subscribe to Edward Miller's weekly e-mail columns. Visit other helpful sites, such as www.newsthinking.com, www.copydesk.org. Borrow the "ABCs of Editing" CD from my desk and read some of the advice compiled by ACES.
• Connect with other editors.
  Join ACES, IRE or another organization of editors who share your challenges. Many journalism organizations do an excellent job of training members at annual or even regional conferences. Many operate Web sites or list-servs that help journalists connect to share ideas, seek help and learn from each other. Join the organizations or e-mail lists that look the most helpful to you. Even if your newspaper doesn't pay the costs, you should consider investing in your career by attending conferences.
• Some editor organizations:
  American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors: http://www.aasfe.org/
  American Copy Editors Society: http://www.copydesk.org/
  Associated Press Sports Editors: http://apse.dallasnews.com/
  Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors: http://www.capitolbeat.org/
  Investigative Reporters and Editors: http://www.ire.org/
  Society for News Design: http://www.snd.org/
  Society of American Business Editors and Writers: http://www.sabew.org/

Expand your vision

• Explore your community.
  Too many editors don't get out of the office enough. Occasionally visit a part of your community you haven't seen in a while. Or ever. Spend a day with a reporter on her beat. Your improved understanding of the community will help with your editing of copy and your discussions of story ideas with reporters.
• Read the best.
  Read the work of reporters whose work you admire. Read prize-winning stories. Analyze the writers' techniques. Consider how they got their information. Consider how they got their story ideas. Share these lessons with your reporters. Read the "Best Newspaper Writing" series, not just the winning stories themselves, but the interviews in which they say how they did it. Note how their editors helped them and ask whether you are doing the same things for your staff.
• Take on a something bigger.
  If you haven't edited a major project, help a reporter develop a project idea, sell it to your bosses and see if they will let you handle it. Or encourage a reporter who wants to take on a serial narrative, a major data analysis story or something else that might be new to you.
  
  National context.
  Help reporters add depth to stories by asking them about national context. Is your situation the best, worst or first in the country? Does it illustrate (or buck or lag behind) a trend? Might solutions in another city work in your city? Might problems in another community provide a warning for yours?
• Follow up.
  One of our weaknesses as a business is that we're too often hit-and-run journalists. Use your Outlook calendar or another technique to remind reporters to check up on stories and see how they came out.
• Remember the reader.
  Newspapers are catching on to the importance of readers. If you are keeping the reader in mind as you assign and edit stories and discuss coverage with reporters, top editors and colleagues, your outlook and insight will become increasingly valuable.

Pursue opportunities

• Voice your ambitions.
  Let your bosses know about your ambitions. You never know what opportunities might arise and you want to be the first person they think of when your dream job comes open or when they create your dream job. You can and should express your ambitions without whining about your current assignment.
• Consider a new assignment.
  Maybe a move to a different team would give you a chance to learn and use new skills and master new issues.
• Never say no for someone else.
  Your bosses will tell you no sometimes -- when you are seeking a new position, when you want to commit a reporter to a special story or project that requires a considerable commitment of time or money, when you want to attend a national conference or training program. Reporters will resist stories that you think would be terrific. Organizations will tell you no sometimes -- when you seek a fellowship to a special training program or inclusion in a special program. Make them say no. Never assume you won't get the fellowship, the big story or the promotion. Ask or apply. Maybe they will say yes. Maybe they will say no. But they won't say yes if you don't ask.
• Be yourself.
  Mike Reilly offers these two tips, that basically boil down to being yourself:
  • Be upfront about your interests and ambitions, but don't worry about them day to day. Go out and perform your current role to the best of your ability. Excellence in the job you have is the best way to get a boss's attention.
  • When discussing a promotion, be honest and upfront with those making the promotion about your views....about what you would want to do with the job, your priorities and judgments, your criticisms of the status quo....even if you fear your views could cost you the promotion. If you get the promotion, you then have a mandate to move in the direction you want. But if you get a promotion without such a discussion beforehand, you might wind up miserable. There can be worse things than getting the job you think you want.

Grow personally

• Grow.
  Even if you're experienced. However good you are, someone else is better and you can be better. Identify one way that you could improve and then identify immediate challenges to help you grow in that respect. Then do it again. And again.
• Accept responsibility.
  You will make mistakes, either editing errors into stories, failing to catch reporters' errors, errors in news judgment, failing to pursue stories quickly enough. Accept responsibility. Tell your bosses and your staff what you will do to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. Bosses, colleagues and staff will remember your sense of responsibility (or your lack of responsibility) longer than they will remember the mistake.
• Apologize.
  You will offend reporters, colleagues and bosses at times with sarcasm, temper, lack of consideration or any number of other ways. Deadline pressure, difficult stories, difficult staff, competition and the aggressive attitude that this business requires inevitably lead to some bruised feelings. Apologize. You don't want hard feelings to fester and hold back your career development.
• Stay positive in difficult times.
  Newsrooms go through many difficult times -- hiring freezes, pay freezes, staff cuts, staff mergers, staff reorganizations, tyrannical editors, annoying corporate policies, big stories that go on for weeks and wear on everyone's nerves. Stay positive. This is fun, exciting work. Remember that. Focus on the fun. You can't ignore the unpleasant situation. But you can and must choose not to wallow in it.
• Don't make excuses.
  You will face obstacles as you pursue your goals. Some will be valid obstacles such as lack of experience. Some will be unfair obstacles such as personality conflicts, bad breaks, unfair policies and prejudice. Regard them as obstacles you must overcome, as challenges that will make you appreciate your ultimate success. Don't let them become excuses for failure.