To succeed in business in 2020 takes a great team, a strong mission, and more than a little bit of luck. But it also takes a willingness to focus on the basics — and do them well.
So let’s take news organizations for a moment, because it’s the business I know best. A few years ago, several newsrooms took part in the Knight-Temple Table Stakes project to lay out the seven basic things all news organizations needed to do to make change. To simplify things for the sake of this blog post, it all really comes down to a few key principles:
• Serve your readers
• Build relationships
• Establish trust
• Listen, learn, and engage
• Drive loyalty and habit
• Grow revenue
• Keep trying new things
The newsrooms that are doing well today do all seven things incredibly well. Some aren’t doing as well — and to get onto the right track, it requires an entire news organization working together to get these basics right.
You’ll note from the list above that the categories are broad, and intentionally so. It’s up to every part of an operation to figure out how the table stakes fit into their roles. A newsletter editor might see that list and say, “Let’s build a daily newsletter that serves readers, drives a daily reading habit, and then converts those readers to paying subscribers.” A copy editor might say, “Let’s just focus on establishing trust — how should we be transparent with our readers when we make a mistake?”
When you’re seeking to transform a business, first identify the basics. What are the things we need to be doing to be successful? Where are the areas we need to invest in? And how will each part of our operation implement these basics into their daily routine? Build from there.
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That photo of a Jenga set comes via photographer Nathan Dumlao and Unsplash.