How do you manage being the first person in a role?
This week, Jan and Fabienne discuss the idiosyncratic nature of being the first person in a role. How do you set boundaries for yourself and help people understand what you’re doing? How do you create systems and structures that last?
Some context to start with: my (Fabienne) new role is as Coordinator Innovation in Digital Storytelling. In this role, I work with 15 newsroom across the Netherlands and Belgium to help them make innovation a more centralized part of their organization.
Fabienne: Newsrooms are modernizing, and with that comes an influx of new people in new roles that previously never existed in a newsroom. So when the inevitable question comes: “What is it that you do exactly?” you can’t just point to your job title and let that be self explanatory.
Jan: When you’re in a brand new role, you are likely coming in with a unique skill set that nobody else in the organization really has. But others might have pieces of that skill set and look at your job from that perspective, the perspective that they’re familiar with. The result is you’ll have a variety of opinions and sometimes competing expectations of what you are there to accomplish.
You need to stay on the same page with your boss and you need to be really clear with your colleagues about what you are doing.
Be an evangelist for your own work
F: Which means that you’re essentially over-communicating all the time. Trying to understand what others do in the organization, how your role relates to that, trying to find common ground.
I developed this framework for myself, a catch phrase of sorts, that helps me explain what I do. And I use that to evangelize my own position, in the hope that they’ll think of me when a project comes up that fits within that framework. It’s “Mindset, Methods, Means” - the three things I think are essential for innovation.
J: That’s great. I think it will be really effective. I used to call it “cube-to-cube evangelism”. I would just go stand at people’s cubes and explain the web and why it was important to journalism.
In the early days I would distribute candy to reporters when they did a particularly good job on a digital piece. In one newsroom my team had our own version of a Webby award. It was a plushy spider and whenever someone did something that demonstrated forward thinking, they’d find the award on their desk (where it was displayed proudly) along with an email to the newsroom and their boss.
That all might sound a little silly but it was back when digital innovation was considered nice to have but not essential to the success of the newsroom. We had to have a fairly light touch when we were trying to push people to try new ways of telling stories. We’re long past that now and what we’re talking about is creating very substantive structural change. It is tough to do.
You have to be an effective evangelist and figure out creative ways to build momentum when you’re in a new role and want to make sure people see you for all that you can do.
Define your metrics for success
F: Exactly. So, remember when last time you gave me that advice about one of my big projects being figuring out how I should do this job? I’ve been making plans for 2022, and I’ve come up with some metrics for success.
I want to have a key person in every newsroom whom I know is open to what I’m doing, so that person can sort of be my ambassador. And I want to hear from all newsrooms at least biweekly - about what they’re working on, if there’s anything I can do to help. And I want to do a pilot with every newsroom at least once per year.
J: So what’s the impact on the organization going to be?
F: The biggest impact would be that newsrooms have the agency to experiment themselves with new innovations, without needing the publisher to do that. They’ll be able to learn valuable insights and share those with other newsrooms, so that we can accelerate innovation and digitization within the organization.
Create effective workflows
J: That sounds like the right thing to do. You will need to have momentum, make sure that people are on board with what you’re doing. What I discovered over the years was that it wasn’t enough to try to coax people into participating on digital platforms.
What really needs to happen is the creation of effective workflows that integrate digital distribution into daily production. You need to move from innovation into something that sticks. Having a group of people championing that effort will go a long way.
F: It’s nice to hear you say these things, because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do and it often feels like it’s not working.
J: Oh, it’s working. It just takes a lot of time. You will hit a wall and sometimes you bounce off it and you move on to something else. Then suddenly you have a breakthrough and you can move forward quickly. Then you’ll run into the next wall.
F: Luckily, I’ve seen some small breakthroughs here and there. But I’m struggling with the feeling of not doing enough, not going fast enough. I would like to have accomplished a milestone every week.
Communicate about your work
J: I think having a council of people from all the different newsrooms that you work with would be a great place to start. They can help you get some perspective on where you stand, what you’ve already accomplished, and where you’re going.
F: That sounds like a great idea - especially for someone in my role, with so many different stakeholders to report to. Is there something that you would like to do differently in your next role?
J: I’ve been thinking about that. I think something you need to balance as a leader in an innovation role is doing the work with communicating about the work. I think it can feel like a waste of time to constantly broadcast what you are doing.
However when I have taken that time it has paid off. It can be regular emails with data updates, or announcements about upcoming projects as well as recent wins. I used to email informational articles, highlighted for easy reading, to various station teams. I had one sales person tell me she’d print those out and take them to read during her pedicure appointments. People want the information. It’s just a matter of taking the time to regularly prepare and disseminate it.
F: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s such a great idea! I think I might steal that.
J: I think that could work really well for you - you’d establish your identity as a subject-matter expert in a non-threatening way. You’re just sharing information. I think you’re doing great.
F: Thank you! That means a lot. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going.
The Takeaways
Jan: Prioritizing consistent communication in any new role that’s related to innovation is key.
Fabienne: I loved all of Jan’s suggestions here, but especially the ones about the council and the newsletter. In a role like mine, where you have to deal with so many different people, one person to discuss issues with simply isn’t enough. I need more perspectives.