A LARGE NUMBER of significant changes are expected to be announced at TheJournal.ie today as acting editor Christine Bohan unveils plans to grow her career, encourage her team and futureproof the site.
Bohan has described the plans as “ambitious, but do-able,” citing a desire to ‘kill it’ upon returning to the newsroom after spending a number of days at the Poynter Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media in Florida.
We’ll be following her plans as she outlines them. Stay tuned.
First, a primer: Bohan has been deputy editor at TheJournal.ie since November 2011, where she looks after the newsdesk, operations, distribution and training at the biggest news website in Ireland. Since September 2018, she has taken over as acting editor to cover a period of maternity leave, a role she will hold until at least March 2019.
Her two guiding questions: What could she be doing better at TheJournal.ie? And what’s her next move?
Bohan says she has been guided in particular by two sentiments in particular from speakers over the past five days at Poynter.
Bohan says her plan comes down to this: More leadership, less filling-in-the-gaps
Bohan outlined her short-term goal: Be more selfish with time
Schedule one hour every Monday to prioritise my week according to what matters to me. I already have a weekly plan, but actually prioritising it means that I am holding myself more accountable for my time.
For medium-term goals, Bohan said:
Find at least two new projects/initiatives to lead to make sure that I’m focusing on big picture work and not sweating the small stuff.
This could be setting up an ONA-style group for female journalists in Dublin, for example, or introducing 360 feedback for my team. Whatever it is, it will be leading, not managing. Having a couple of new projects to lead means that I have less time for the fill-in-the-gaps work and can focus more on how I’m spending my time.
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Finally, Bohan said that her long-term goal involved planning.
Model what my ideal role looks like in the company — and then work towards creating that.
What parts of my job do I need to let go of? What parts of my role as acting editor would I like to keep on when my editor comes back? What other jobs are out there involving the kind of work that I want to do?
Answering these three questions would help cut out a lot of the fill-in-the-gaps work and allow me to focus on the quality, high-impact work that I prefer and am better at, and which is of more value to the company.
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