Let me tell you about this photo: I spent the last month with 40 other journalists in the Poynter Institute's “Leading with Influence” course, during which we learned how to inspire and contribute to exemplary work in today’s media organizations. On our last day, we were asked to pose with something that brought us joy, so I’m tucked in there with Otto.
I was asked to share a few key takeaways from the course during our editorial meeting today, and this post borrows from that chat, but — if you can’t tell from the energy encapsulated in this photo — the course was absolutely transformative, so maybe it bears sharing again.
Early in the class, we were given an assignment: To essentially create a user manual to ourselves, something we could ostensibly give to a coworker or a boss for them to better understand how to work with us. We were encouraged to make it as robust as possible and were given a framework of prompts and questions, things like: How do you like to give feedback? How do you like to receive it? What do you value? What energizes you? What drains you?
This was an unexpectedly vulnerable challenge for me and I think it’s because journalism — especially journalism in a daily newsroom — can sometimes feel like one of those careers that just happens at you, in the sense that this is an industry structured around deadlines. And, often, as long as we’re hitting those, it can feel like how or why we got there doesn’t really matter.
But it does.
So, if I could pass on anything from what I learned, it would be: It’s the end of year. Take some time, slow down and really consider how and why you work the way you do. Then ask the question: “Does the way I currently work line up with how I want to be working?” or perhaps even, “Does the way I currently work line up with who I want to be?”
There are a few practical ways to get into that discussion with yourself. Some use their enneagram type or even their Harvard Business Review leadership style assessment. For me, an easy organizing principle or lens has been a list of four core values that are important to me in both my personal and professional life: creativity, compassion, clarity and consistency.
What I appreciated about this course is that it forced me to push past the amorphous headspace where we consider our values and find practical ways to apply them during the workday. For example, valuing creativity means starting my workday 90 minutes earlier (with Slack off) to get my best writing in. Or knowing that I value both giving and receiving clarity has changed how I communicate schedules and calendars to my team. These are small examples, but they collectively add up to bringing a fuller version of yourself to work which really does make a difference.
Big thanks to the folks at Salon for making the space for me to take this course (especially Erin Keane who encouraged me to apply), and for the staff at Poynter, including Kathy Lu, who put together such a spectacular program.
