Dmitry Shishkin, an independent digital consultant and World Editors Forum board member who is also Leader in Residence at UCLAN., writes that “As humans, we are fantastic at both adapting to change and collaborating with others while doing it – the two key ingredients for future successes and optimism. We all just need a bit of help and support.”
Shishkin suggests tips to achieve effective change:
“It’s about people: achieving internal staff buy-in, empowering changemakers, saying no with empathy.
“It’s about organisational self-improvement: bridge roles, that we grew to love and rely on so much, making themselves redundant in the process, while C-suite gets reverse-mentored by junior team members.
I”t’s about overcommunication: only when you are tired from your own voice repeating the same thing over and over, chances are that your message is starting to land.
The importance of transformation
It all narrows down to the tremendous importance that a positive attitude and openness to transformation play before change can take place.
My new book, The Story, is a trilogy but the first book is titled Transformation. While it is the shortest of the three volumes, it is the best seller.
In that first book, which is a prologue to the trilogy, I emphasize that without REAL transformation in the newsroom there can’t be profound changes in how content is conceptualized for mobile consumption.
That is why I find the observations from Mr. Shishkin to be so on target. I know that the newsrooms where real transformation has taken place, there has been a major human effort to effect change. In the process, editors abandoned notions of the way news flowed, decided to chase and update stories, NOT concentrate on editions, and came to the conclusion that a large segment of the audience is consuming content on mobile devices.
In the Transformation book I wrote;
I also profiled three of my projects where real transformation took place: The Wall Street journal, Germany’s Die Zeit, and Colombia’s El Tiempo.
In each case, the top management realized from the start that only major change in practices would yield positive, long lasting results. For The Wall Street Journal it was the introduction of color for the first time in the iconic newspaper’s history. For Die Zeit, a total rethink that included color, photography and illustration as major components of what has been a traditionally gray, text driven newspaper. For El Tiempo, an abandonment of the traditional sectioning, exchanged for an innovative way of presenting content: What you must know, what you must read, what you must do. . The challenges were many but success was achieved in all three of these projects.
I am delighted that WAN IFRA is devoted a special report to the topic of change. Hope it inspires editors across the planet!
Where to get The Story:
Our mobile storytelling workshops now available remotely
Professors: get your review version of The Story on time for fall classes
As an academic, I know the importance of having the right tools to advance our students, especially on the important subject of mobile storytelling. Please drop me an email if you would like to sample The Story in its digital edition: mario@garciamedia.com
Start writing or type / to choose a block
The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon
TheMarioBlog post # 3315