RapidChange advice shows up in media

RapidChange Group president, Dan Suwyn, was quoted at length in the June/July edition of the American Journalism Review. In a fine article by Beth Macy, he was asked to comment on the dramatic cost cutting - including massive layoffs - happening at the nation's newspapers and TV stations.

Below are excerpts:

Dan Suwyn has advice for journalists like 53-year-old Lindsay Peterson and all the other realists out there. And for their bosses. A former journalist who now runs the Rapid Change Group, Suwyn, 45, says layoffs not only affect the mental health of the survivors left behind; they also have an impact on productivity. If the normal worker is productive five out of eight hours in the day, for a worker in the aftermath of a layoff or buyout that number plummets to 1.5 to 1.8 hours a day, he says, citing government statistics. He says that effect can last anywhere from three weeks to a year, depending on the magnitude of the cuts.

Journalists are obsessing: How are we going to do more work with fewer workers? Did I make a mistake by staying? Do I need to get out, too?

"Most managers don't know how to deal with people who are angry, but people who are angry are still demonstrating that they care, and that's a good thing," he says.

While reporters are still in the caring mode, editors should set transparent and specific goals – for example, to increase page views for stories, develop more interactive ways to pull in readers, make city government coverage more relevant – and then celebrate every tiny victory along the way.

"Right now," Suwyn says, "what I see most media companies doing is kicking into survival mode instead of into, 'How do we show the employees who are left that they're safe and respected? That they have a chance to contribute to this so they can use their intelligence to help grow the media company of the future?' "

Journalists need to realize that if they're not already working in a free-agent economy, they soon could be, Suwyn says. "Ask yourself: 'How do the skills and principles I have apply to different media? What can I do better online?' Maybe you get to be the last person to turn out the [newsroom] lights, and that's great. But in case you're not, think about how you can apply your principles in a different medium.

"Newspapers no longer have the market cornered on journalism, so what are you going to do? It's not just about Budweiser any more. There are lots of microbreweries and, while the microbreweries might not pay as well, sometimes they are more rewarding."

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