Dorothy Hernandez (@dorothy_lynn_h), a volunteer with the ONA Resource Team, compiled these key moments from the ONA20 session on Oct. 14, 2020. To view a recording of the session, register for on-demand access to the ONA20 archive. Session participants included:
- Erika Owens, Executive Director, OpenNews
- Bettina Chang, Editorial Director, City Bureau
- Moderator: Sisi Wei, Director of Programs, OpenNews
5 key takeaways:
- Basic things each panelist has done as a manager to make remote work work for their team:
- Erika: Open News was already a remote operation but COVID definitely shifted how things worked, since everything is online now. They are trying to be thoughtful about how they engage via different platforms, making some meetings video and adjusting others based on how people want to interact (Slack, phone calls, etc.) They also recognize that people engage with time differently—some can put in the solid 6 to 8 hours of work while others need time to take care of personal things throughout the day. So Open News came up with a system for people to sign in and out throughout the day.
- Bettina: Make sure staff have what they need to work from home. City Bureau provides a $1,000 work tool stipend that can be used for not just computers but what people need, whether it’s a dog gate or books for kids. Working from home is a challenge and they want to support it financially in addition to socially.
- How to adapt your hiring process for COVID:
- Bettina: Being clear and intentional about onboarding and hiring is key, as is taking the time to do it right. Onboarding is just so critical, especially in an organization like City Bureau that’s really not a traditional newsroom. They want to ensure that roles are defined clearly and that everyone is on the same page about what success looks like in their position and how you’ll know you’ve succeeded.
- Sisi: When everyone is remote, you have to be explicit about things; People don’t have the benefit of casually asking someone next to them.
- SRCCON was one of the first journalism conferences that had to pivot to online. When planning, Erika says the team asked community members early on what they would want to see, and then looked to that advice and feedback throughout the entire planning process. The main thing they heard: Just do what you can, and don’t apologize.
- What is one challenge related to working remotely during a pandemic that you’re facing but still really haven’t figured out?
- Erika: Not specific to their organization, but most are facing the collective challenge of adequately supporting parents at this time.
- Reporting is still extremely difficult, Bettina says. City Bureau usually does a lot of in-person community engagement, which is also not feasible right now. There’s really no way to replace that feeling of spontaneous communication between people, especially among strangers. But they’ve been experimenting with different ways to try to make sure that people in their community still get to meet each other.
- How are you boosting morale?
- Bettina: The biggest thing is acknowledging the moment, don’t pretend it’s not happening. Think back to why you do what you do and why it’s important.
- Erika: Openness/sharing/acknowledging people might be at different places. Also developing a trusting culture where people can share the fear and uncertainty, but also the excitement and possibility—and how to hold both of those things together. Opening up space for conversation about what our purpose is in this work and as much as possible feeling able to lean into that. There’s very little that we know certainly right now, but thinking about “What is our role?” — especially at this moment in time — is a really critical piece of trying to get to any place of a possibility or closure.
Memorable/tweetable quotes:
- “If people don’t feel very committed to their role and understand how their role contributes to the mission of the organization, then it’s just going to make all of that harder.” —@bechang8
- “If some of your management structures weren’t working before the pandemic like they’re certainly not working now.” @bechang8