"Im starting to feel extremely overwhelmed by all the extra work I now have to take on."

Q:

I’m the editor in chief of a college newspaper. My staff is relatively small and there are several positions that have gone unfilled. I’m having a hard time getting some members of my staff to do all of the work they have been assigned – much less take on extra work to make up for the missing staff members. Everyone complains that they are too busy with school and other obligations, and some only do certain parts of their job duties. I feel that I’m to blame because I wasn’t assertive enough in the beginning — mainly because I was so desperate for editors — but I’m starting to feel extremely overwhelmed by all the extra work I now have to take on. Firing them obviously won’t help decrease my workload, and there’s no one to replace them. How can I get my staff to start pulling their weight?

A:

It can be very frustrating when you have a staff that keeps flaking on their responsibilities, because as editor, you’re the one left putting everything together at the last minute. Chances are your staff isn’t purposefully trying to screw you over — most likely, they either have a serious morale problem or they aren’t aware of how much work there actually is to be done.

Your staff might be shirking their duties because they feel underappreciated or are losing sight of the benefits of being on staff and consider it a waste of time. Or, they may not have a firm grasp on what their job duties actually are. It just might be that your editors don’t realize everything you are taking on.

The best way to find out why this is happening is to ask them.

At your next editorial meeting, acknowledge that there is a problem, but don’t come at them in a disciplinarian way — let them guide you to the solution.

Write all the necessary tasks on the board and say something along the lines of: “I know everyone is really busy and might not be able to do everything, but here are the things that need to get done. Let’s all figure out a way to get those things done fairly. What are you comfortable doing?”

With a small staff, it should be feasible to get this done in under an hour.

By including them in the delegation process, they will feel more in control of their responsibilities, and will help to make your staff feel like a team.  Writing all the tasks out lets your editors literally see all the work there is to be done, which might be a much-needed reality check for any staff members who think the paper just magically produces itself.

If it turns out that you do have a morale problem, it’s important to address it head on. I don’t know what your exact management style is, but you might find out you’re doing some things to alienate your staff. You should also try to reemphasize all the benefits of being part of the college newspaper editorial staff (clips, work experience, writing and communication skills, having an impact on your community, etc.)

Most importantly, don’t let your frustrations get the best of you. If you’re worried about keeping your anger in check, plan in advance exactly what you want to say, that way you won’t go off-book and say something you don’t mean (or at least something you don’t want to say, even if you do mean it).

Need some advice of your own? jQuery will be a semi-regular series where I do my best to answer your questions related to all things journalism (no, not javascript libraries). Send an e-mail or use the contact form in the right sidebar. Your question may be posted on the blog, but all identities and organizations will be kept confidential.

Tags: management, motivation, staff, student newspapers