'Eavesdropping in a locker room'

Five top male news also attended the conference and are contributing to the book. One described the experience as: "eavesdropping in a locker room." James N. Crutchfield, president and publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal, said hearing women's views on how men think and talk was "eye-opening" and "liberating."

One of the many illustrative anecdotes shared on that subject came from Julia Wallace, editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She spoke of overhearing a male editor helping a new male employee with decoding what THEY — two top female editors — are saying when they utter: "Why don't you (do this-or-that)?" "What they mean," the veteran told the recruit, "is that you gotta do it!"

Several seminar participants who saw themselves in that story swore they would henceforth be more direct.

Before closing the seminar Friday, some participants said they hoped that disseminating the results of a joint API/Pew Center for Civic Journalism survey would awaken the industry to the real possibility of losing female employees. The results were released to the seminar Thursday.

In the survey of 273 newsroom managers (202 men and 71 women), 45 percent of women said they are likely to seek a better job at another newspaper company or leave the industry entirely. Additionally, it found that 64 percent of women who said they see their opportunity blocked cite sexism as the reason.

The survey also found a group of women (45 percent of respondents) in the pipeline for promotion are conflicted about whether they even want to ascend. Dubbed "career-conflicted" by survey writers, this group was found to lack the tools necessary "to make it happen," said Ann Selzer, whose firm, Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, conducted the survey.

It is those tools — including asserting oneself, marketing ideas, obtaining "face-time" with superiors, getting credit for achievements, and gaining knowledge of libel and finance issues, among others — that the seminar participants agreed can come from mentors and coaches.

Guttman said her coaching with Bob Wall, a career coach from Spokane, Washington, who specializes in "treating" ailing work relationships, "was the single most positive transitional thing in my life."

Guttman said Wall helped her have a "series of awakenings" that trickled down to her staff. She hadn't had women role models in journalism but with the help of coaching and mentoring from Cochrane, "I created my own model from my strengths," she said.

Wall conceded that not all coaching results in every staff member staying on to coexist with others. Some people did leave Guttman's paper when they felt they could not adjust to what was being asked of them, Cochrane said.

Hiring professional coaches is expensive, but Cochrane believes it is an investment with good returns. "I do it for good business reasons. If you look at what it costs to lose staff, it's cheap. Our payback (at Guttman's paper) was very dramatic and very immediate."

Although coaching companies have been on the scene for years, Cochrane endorsed a more widespread use, especially to help reverse the flight of women from the industry.

"If equipment — a press, for example — broke down, we'd never say that we are aren't going to fix it," Cochrane said. "We get someone in immediately to do that. I don't know why we don't see relationships that way."

joycegemp110@comcast.net