Modern management: How to work with different generations — Gen Z included
Intergenerational management can pose challenges, but also provide lots of rewards.
Hey y’all! After a whirlwind week at Newsgeist North America 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona, and the 2023 Southeast News Sustainability Meetup and LION Awards Ceremony in Durham, North Carolina, I’ve been thinking a lot about newsroom management. 🌀
At the Newsgeist unconference, 150 media leaders gathered for a weekend of discussion, debate and idea-sharing about the future of news. Among the sessions that stood out, I attended “Nihilism as News: How do we package news for Gen Z audiences?” facilitated by another fellow Torontonian news entrepreneur.
The group of 20 who attended the hour-long session quickly concluded that Gen Z nihilism is a generational stereotype, and moved on to discuss concrete approaches to creating journalism that genuinely engages this young audience. But most of our time together was spent sharing effective management techniques for Gen Zs; tips included prioritizing coaching over managing, assigning meaningful work in line with their personal passions, offering flexibility in terms of hours and work-from-home options, and providing opportunities for cross-team collaboration and learning.
These are all approaches I use when managing my team of big-hearted and big-brained young journalists — without whom The Green Line could absolutely not have accomplished so much in so little time. I made this clear in my acceptance speech at the LION Awards Ceremony in Durham after The Green Line won Product of the Year (in the Small Revenue Tier category). But, given that Canadian Thanksgiving just passed I want to take that a step further and thank them individually in this newsletter.
Julia Lawrence is a community producer for our show with CityNews Toronto and a former social media manager. As the longest-standing member of The Green Line team, she deeply understands and embodies our values. Beyond her institutional knowledge, Julia’s a creative soul and natural leader, so I’m grateful for her as an honest, measured sounding board.
Aneesa Bhanji is a social media coordinator and budding video journalist with The Green Line. As a meticulous and detailed-oriented worker who plans ahead for every scenario, she’s a woman after my own heart. Without fail, I can rely on Aneesa to deliver and execute to the best of her ability, while brightening the room with her enthusiasm and sunny smile.
Aloysius Wong is a digital coordinator and former community producer. Beyond being a stellar journalist who consistently follows through, Aloysius is the backbone of our digital infrastructure and someone I consistently lean on for strategic feedback. As a deeply loyal friend to many, he’s also the first person to volunteer to help a fellow team member.
Amanda Seraphina James Rajakumar is a community producer for our show with CityNews Toronto and a former intern. Elegant and composed, Amanda meets requirements and deadlines with a cool confidence. As a fast-learner, she’s also quickly become a reliable member of our team.
Adele Lukusa is a news innovation fellow focused on newsletter strategy and audience engagement. With her warmth and ability to connect with the most underserved in our city, Adele brings big sister energy to the team. She’s also a stellar writer with the best story ideas, not to mention a pop culture aficionado who’s endlessly fun to chat with.
Lanxin Jiang is an impact and news innovation fellow. As a b-school graduate, Lanxin brings much-needed business knowledge to our team, so she’s helped me reframe my thinking about different problems. Whether it’s biz or news, Lanxin is reliable and consistently delivers, which is why she’s my go-to for heavy lifts and important projects.
Hans Xu is a developer and digital coordinator. Hans has deep knowledge of data and technology, so he’s been the brainchild of a few TGL data reporting projects that we couldn’t do without him. As a thoughtful person, Hans is full of interesting ideas, so any day that I get to talk to him about religion and spirituality is a good one.
Didhiti Kandel is a news innovation fellow focused on YouTube strategy and video. She’s a video-editing whiz, with a style that’s full of flair, creativity and confidence, especially when it comes to arts and culture-focused topics. Didhiti is also a great communicator who’s very dedicated to The Green Line’s mission and team.
Jacob Krone is a video innovation fellow. As an entrepreneur who runs his own video production company, KRONE Productions, Jacob brings valuable expertise to The Green Line. He’s also a team player who’s always willing to pitch in on other video projects. Outside of work, Jacob and I have a shared love for weird film.
Tanmayi Deshmukh is an audience innovation intern who’s currently studying at The New School’s Parsons School of Design. With her deep understanding of audience strategy, design and user experience, Tanmayi has been a valuable member of The Green Line since first joining our team. She gets exactly what resonates with our audience, and is able to execute confidently and reliably despite being based in NYC.
Arin De Castro and Maria Palacios are Storyworks interns from Centennial College’s journalism program. They only joined The Green Line several weeks ago, and it’s already clear that they take initiative and follow through on commitments. I’m particularly excited to see their video and audience engagement work.
Thank you, all!
The last thing I want to say about The Green Line team is that they’re all independent thinkers, which is essential for any non-partisan news outlet that wants to help people think critically, rather than tell them how to think. My staff is partly made up of what I would describe as progressive advocates and people of faith. Despite tending to sit on opposite sides of the political spectrum, both groups are service-oriented, which is why they can collectively work towards a shared goal while also debating issues with nuance — both hallmarks of any solid team.
Celebrate good times, come on!
I’m stoked to share that The Green Line won Product of the Year (Small Revenue Tier) at the 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards, which recognizes excellence by local independent online news businesses in award categories focused on LION’s pillars of sustainability: journalistic impact, financial health and operational resilience. Congrats to our fellow nominee, RANGE Media. Here’s what the judges had to say about us:
“The Green Line has pioneered a new product that blends elements of explanation, feature reporting, in-person events, and follow-up coverage. This reflects a thoughtful analysis of its target audience, the most effective means of engagement, and the necessary steps to bring the project to fruition.”
In other great LION-related news, The Green Line was also selected for the organization’s Sustainability Audits and Funding program (September to November 2023 cycle), which will be incredibly helpful in sustaining our financial health.
The Green Line: We’re looking for long-form pitches
The Green Line is interested in long-form pitches from experienced investigative and/or feature reporters based in Toronto that tackle systemic issues in the city through a solutions lens. We offer highly competitive freelance rates. If you’re interested in pitching, please send me your resume, cover letter and links to three clips (longform features).
Quick and Clean
“In my community” and “Cool stuff I like” will be back…
I’m thrilled to announce my new position as Journalism Innovator-in-Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University! I’ll be focused on teaching entrepreneurship and audience engagement to students at the School of Journalism and beyond. (Also, welcome to my fellow TMU Visiting Journalist, Rhiannon Johnson!)
Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, for which I serve as a member of the board of directors, recently unveiled a spate of exciting news: First, LION has identified 270 publications in Canada that are independent, digitally dominant and serving a geographically-based community or single-subject topic. Second, LION just unveiled its five-year strategic growth plan, which doubles down on measuring sustainability as a core offering.
Thanks to Anita Zielina, my CUNY Craig Newmark School of Journalism colleague and newly minted Reynolds Journalism Institute columnist, for shouting out The Green Line’s diversified revenue portfolio alongside Daily Maverick and URL Media in her debut column.
How you can support The Other Wave
My professional mission has always been to support the global movement towards more thoughtful, impactful news coverage, and all the ways that manifests. If The Other Wave gets you to think even a little differently about journalism, especially in Canada, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do. And if TOW gets you to take action and support Canadian media outlets — especially ones that strive to be innovative and inclusive — I will have exceeded my expectations.
If my values and goals resonate with you, please consider supporting fiercely independent media analysis that fills in gaps in coverage of the Canadian journalism landscape. How? Feel free to provide feedback, pass along resources, donate money or simply share this newsletter with your friends.