Strategic training delivers results

In these times of declining newspaper circulation, the Bloomington Herald-Times grew circulation four of the last five years. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times has growing circulation, particularly in home delivery. The Waco Tribune Herald's single-copy sales are up 8 percent year over year.

What is their secret?

These are three of the minority of newsrooms where training has increased. They have learned and demonstrated the value of strategic training. They need more company. As we face the challenges of changing markets and digital opportunities, all newsrooms should be training more. Lots more.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation this week released a survey of more than 2,000 American journalists and news executives in a report called Investing in the Future of News. It shows that journalists say they need more training and executives agree. And only three in 10 newsrooms are doing more training.

"Most newsrooms are still either paralyzed of moving in the wrong direction when it comes to training," said Eric Newton, vice president/journalism program at the Knight Foundation, at "Learning to Change," a conference reporting on the work of the four-year Knight newsroom initiative.

The survey showed that the need for training has grown more than the response since the 2002 Knight Foundation report Newsroom Training: Where's the Investment?

Many of the findings were discouraging:

• Journalists are even more dissatisfied with opportunities for training and professional development in their jobs than they were five years ago. That remains the leading cause of job dissatisfaction in newsrooms, cited by 40 percent of journalists, up from 35 percent in 2002. If you think journalists gripe a lot about pay and benefits, they do (32 percent are unhappy with pay and benefits). But they are even unhappier with their lack of training.
• Most journalists give their organizations a C grade or worse for training.
• Nine in 10 journalists and nine in 10 news executives say their newsrooms need more training. "How often do you see 90 percent agreement on anything of substance?" asked Michele McLellan of Tomorrow's Workforce, one of the Knight programs.
• Despite all the upheaval in the past five years that has increased the need for training, only 31 percent of newsrooms have increased their training budgets. Twenty percent have cut their training budgets and 38 percent are the same. Eleven percent didn't know (and if you were training more, you'd know).

If you lead a newsroom or want to improve the culture of your newsroom, make sure you read "All Eyes Forward," the book by Vickey Williams, released this week at the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention. It chronicles the impressive results of the Learning Newsroom, a joint project by API and ASNE to transform the cultures of 10 newsrooms. Then read "News, Improved: How America's Newsrooms Are Learning to Change" by Michele McLellan and Tim Porter. Then go make a difference in your newsroom.

This is not theory or wishful thinking.

The Bloomingon Herald-Times, one of the Learning Newsrooms, couldn't afford a full-time training coordinator. But Editor Bob Zaltsberg appointed Rod Spaw, a senior copy editor, to spend five hours a week coordinating training. And the training program took off. The paper required staff members last year to get a minimum of 12 hours per year of training (it's up to 16 this year). The average for the newsroom was 23.5.

Training does more than make journalists feel better. It improves content and culture, both of which are proven pillars of readership. Bloomington has had year-over-year increases in single-copy sales 14 straight months.

Training improves results on all platforms. At a panel Wednesday during the ASNE convention, Corpus Christi Caller-Times Editor Libby Averyt said her newsroom, another Learning Newsroom, also has seen circulation gains. In addition, the web site has seen a 19 percent increase in page views and a 38 percent increase in regular users.

Training makes the biggest difference, McLellan said, when you tie the training to strategic goals and then measure the outcomes.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tied its training initially to three key goals: watchdog reporting, community connection and alternate story forms. A fourth goal, improved online performance, was added later. The Journal-Constitution requires 30 hours per year of training.

Wallace says training should be mandatory, just like deadlines. Wallace's "biggest epiphany" as an editor, she said, came when she realized she needed to resist that urge to "roll up your sleeves and work on tomorrow's paper." An editor who has done her job has a staff that can take care of tomorrow's paper or today's web site.

The editor's job is to make the paper and the web site - all platforms where you deliver news - better next month, next year and beyond.

To do that, you need a strong training program.