Thankless job of doing more with less

By Mark Lett

There is no Pulitzer Prize for cost cutting. mEven if there were, what self-respecting editor would have the temerity to accept the award?

Editors, at least the good ones I know, don’t get terribly enthusiastic about their record of achievement for controlling costs, managing newshole and meeting a monthly budget.

Quite the opposite. They roll out of bed each morning eager to get more into the newspaper: More news, more features, more names, more sports, more photos, more agate — whatever. They live to seize opportunities and make things happen.

“Do more with less” just isn’t as inspiring as “print the truth and raise hell.”

Ah, such are the times in which we live.

Not that any of this should have caught us unprepared or unaware. For some years, publishers and newspaper companies have been urging, even directing, editors to improve their business literacy. Now, editors are expected to put those lessons to work.

No matter. Hitting budget targets is not the real task at hand. Editors will manage to do that, or not, and will deal with the consequences, good or otherwise.

Rather, the essential challenge is to work through the economic slowdown and come out the other side with values intact and the newsroom as strong as can be. That means making the right moves as editor and manager.

Editors edit

When I was city editor of a Pennsylvania newspaper, a pulse point was the mood of the executive editor. He had a reputation as a flinty sort with a sharp eye for where coverage had come up short or cut corners. He’d bellow his constructive criticism across the newsroom and, if you knew nothing else for certain, you knew he was engaged in making the newspaper better.

But at budget time, out of necessity, he would hole up in his office in a tangle of spread sheets, printouts, pro formas and FTE headcounts. And we’d wonder how bad the budget was going to be.

Soon enough, he’d ramble back into the newsroom and nail a few poor souls for holes in their stories. And we’d all know that, once again, all was right with the world.

Point is, editors need to be on the scene when times get tough, providing leadership, real-time information and authentic optimism.

Richard E. Dauch, who directed manufacturing operations as a member of the executive team that rescued and restored Chrysler Corp., calls it “getting out of the bunker.”

“You’ve got to get on your pony and get out to where your people are,” says Dauch, now chairman, chief executive and co-founder of American

Axle & Manufacturing in Detroit, a global auto supplier. “They need to hear from you, directly, about what needs to be done. You need to build trust and you can only do that in person, by making eye contact.”

Several years ago, Gene Patterson of the St. Petersburg Times, suggested editors had become “soft” by, in effect, becoming too distant from the nitty-gritty of the newsroom.

His observation came during an “up” economy. Today’s dicey economy makes it even more essential for editors to be visible and accessible, and to talk relentlessly about quality journalism.

Focus: Content

There’s no question that tough times force discipline and focus on organizations.

The current margin squeeze in the newspaper industry demands that editors concentrate on quality content and quality people.

One notion gaining currency in recent years is that newsrooms and readers are ill-served when newspapers try to be all things to all people. In covering everything, the thinking goes, newspapers cover nothing well — a recipe for mediocrity.

This idea is about to be put to the test. Current budget cuts will, in essence, force editors to make sharp choices, focusing attention and resources on the most vital themes and concerns that shape a community and its quality of life.

Developing more effective coverage of those themes — what some describe as telling a community’s master narrative — could be the most valuable outcome of the industry slowdown.

Focus: People

Q. Where do newspapers go first to make budget cuts?

A. Training and promotion.

If it’s different at your shop, you are the exception. Problem is, training and development are more necessary than ever, precisely because of the slowdown.

On one hand, editors are desperate for better ideas and sharper execution from staffs and sub-editors. Ram Charan, consultant to the directors and chief executives of Fortune 500 companies, describes making good people better as the “DNA of the most successful companies.”

At the same time, employees see training during difficult times as a litmus test for the newspaper’s commitment to them and to quality.

Their challenge goes something like this: “OK, you’re reining in newshole, travel and salaries. The least you can do is commit to making me a better journalist.”

So, as newsrooms cut spending for out of town training, the ante is raised to provide more effective training and development at home, drawing upon resources in the newsroom and the community. This creates an opportunity for editors to engage entire newsrooms in shared efforts to coach, teach and develop training.

The adage, “each one, teach one” has potential here. What better way to bind staffers to your newsroom than to facilitate their personal stake in improving their work and the work of their colleagues? If nothing else, it may redirect some of the anxiety that accompanies the current economy.

Expect more

Consider this: If you are managing for a slowdown you already have made a mistake. The smart editors are managing for the future, even during a downturn.

And just like any other time, editors need to make expectations clear and keep standards high.

When Lou Holtz took charge of the football program at the University of South Carolina in 1999, he inherited a mess. The team had lost 10 straight games the previous year, finishing 1-10.

Then things got really bad. The Holtz-led Gamecocks lost every game in 1999, going 0-11.

But rather than scale back expectations, Holtz raised them, promising to get to a bowl game, win a conference title and compete for a national championship. He took a giant step forward in 2000 when the team went 8-4 and defeated Ohio State in the Outback Bowl.

Throughout, Holtz and his staff generated new confidence and a more positive attitude, in large measure because they held players and coaches to steadily rising standards, regardless of two horrible seasons.

“You can’t sit still and say, ‘We can’t do anything’,” says Skip Holtz, offensive coordinator and assistant to the veteran coach. “You’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

Dauch, the former Chrysler manufacturing chief, suggests editors can approach today’s conditions much as he did in helping to guide the troubled automaker’s turnaround.

“Number One, you’ve got to give everybody an honest assessment of reality,” he says.

“Then you must explain how we can take control of the situation. People respond to an honest expression of hope and optimism, supported by a plan.

“Finally, everybody has to understand they can’t wait out the war — this is not a commiserating party. Everybody has to bring their minds to the game.”

Expectations — stated maturely, directly and with respect — are catalytic, Dauch says.

His success is cause for pause. When he acquired American Axle seven years ago, it was an under-performing, dispirited maker of axles and gears. Its owner, General Motors Corp., was eager to shed the company.

Since then, annual sales have grown to $3.1 billion from $1.5 billion and the company has expanded to 17 plants on three continents from five plants in North America.

This year, American Axle will pay employees an average of $2,200 in profit sharing. GM will pay about $800.

Brighter days

There’s no telling how long or how painful this slowdown will be. Consultant Charan describes it as a “classic test of management.”

Along the way, of course, they will still give Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism.

The working assumption here is that any editor receiving a Pulitzer will, in fine fashion, bust the hell out of the budget in celebration.

Lett is the executive editor of The State in Columbia, S.C.