STRESS DOESN'T HAVE TO CONTROL THE NEWSROOM

Although a low level is very productive, high levels day after day destroy morale; the problem may be the way editors handle and delegate tasks (or fail to)

Make no mistake about it: our newsrooms are cauldrons of stress. The technological revolution, with its cellular phones, computers, voicemail and beepers, adds exponentially to the stress that has characterized the newspaper business since time immemorial.

Moderator David Zeeck, executive editor of the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., and a panel of three experts explored the phenomenon and considered the title question "Is the problem really us?" during the Friday morning general session. It's more the nature of the work, the panel seemed to conclude, although the speakers granted that some editors' behavior unquestionably heighten tension among their staffs in detrimental ways.

Pete Meyer, president of MDA Consultants in San Francisco, said normal stress motivates people to do their jobs better by stimulating creativity and interaction. But the unrelenting pressure of deadlines and heavy workloads has the opposite effect. Also destructive are anger and hostility in the workplace, and limited autonomy for the people who do the work. Middle managers, Meyer said, feel this negative stress the most.

A more appropriate question for newsroom leaders, Meyer said, is "how can we help control stress?" To that question Meyer offered his own answers, including:

• Develop a sense of humor.
• Set realistic and achievable goals.
• Find opportunities for positive reinforcement.
• Be respectful and dignified in leadership.
• Operate in a predictable manner even in a time of change.
• Describe in specific, concrete terms why change is necessary.

"Let other people be a part of the solution instead of bearing the brunt of the manager's personal style," Meyer said. He urged editors to involve everyone across the newsroom in setting the paper's direction. "Get their ideas," he said.

Sharon L. Peters, formerly in the newspaper business and now a consultant, reported on her study of introverts and extroverts among journalists. Fifty-seven percent of reporters are introverts, she said, while introverts make up only 30 percent of the general population. She said introverted reporters experience stress just by doing their jobs - for example, asking questions of news subjects, something they would not think of doing in their private persona. She said the extrovert-oriented duties of the job were something that introverts can do, but only by putting pressure on themselves. "It's like a right-hander writing with the left hand," she said.

She suspects that introverts are the staffers who rely on computer messaging instead of talking with their colleagues. Peters hastened to note that this is not a mental-health issue. Introverts are no less mentally healthy than extroverts, she said, and both groups exhibit traits that help them be good journalists. Introverts are good listeners and concentrate better. Extroverts, though better suited for face-to-face reporting, tend to talk too much in interviews and require high maintenance from editors because they interrupt their writing to talk about their stories.

She said introverted reporters could improve if they understood their own tendencies and learned to deal with them. Editors can help, too, by giving introverted staff members the privacy they prefer and by allowing them extra time to make suggestions on newsroom issues instead of pressing them to speak out at brainstorming sessions.

Edward Miller, former editor of the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call and now an associate at the Poynter Institute, marveled that editors are able to do their jobs at all in the increasingly complex environment. "But you do it at a price - your own stress," he said. "You work too hard and too long. Families pay the price at home."

So, Miller said, the editor should change the culture by first changing the editor. His advice: "Distribute power while maintaining control. Effect change, but make the workplace stable. Encourage high productivity, but also creativity."

Miller lamented that "a 19th century model of organization governs newsrooms and doesn't work anymore." He said editors should redefine newsroom jobs, creating collaborative relationships that "raise satisfaction levels and reduce stress levels."

Foreman is deputy editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer