What makes a great SE

A good SE will offer to pay for all after deadline brews! Your staff will be forever loyal.

 

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it's not about being "the boss" but about leadership

 

That's actually pretty good. I kind of groaned at first, but it's true. I'd add:

The biggest thing with me is don't ever lie. Say you don't know. Say you can't tell me. Say it's none of my fucking business. But lie and I lose all respect for you permanently, I just consider it unmanly even if you use a tough-guy voice. Now most SEs I've encountered have a backbone and tell you the truth. Those who didn't, I had absolutely no use for them.

You can impose goals from on high and sometimes you have no choice, your boss has made his or her decree and you in turn have to decree that to others. But you'll get better cooperation if you care almost as much about your people's career goals and you try to help them get where they want to be. I was interviewing to be editor of a small daily about five years ago and I mentioned to the publisher that I wouldn't be doing my job if we didn't have high turnover, I wanted people to go on to larger papers. He agreed, saying, "I am aware of our place in the food chain, of course." Yet so often managers seem to resent people leaving instead of taking pride that their staff is in demand.

 

Another excellent post by Frank. Well done.

 

On the one hand, don't micromanage. I wholly agree with that.

But on the other hand ... know what's going on, as much as you can. Know enough about each beat so that you can understand what the beat writer's telling you and lead him/her in the right direction.

Delegate, but don't let that keep you from being a visible front for the department. Don't get lost behind the pile of papers.

 

Be organized. It's your job to be the department's administrator, so you need to stay on top of paperwork, HR crap, schedules, budgets, etc.

 

1. Back your guys up no matter what. (plagarism not withstanding)
2. Don't ever, EVER throw a member of your staff under a bus. Not even to a pissant reader who calls to complain about something. Always be the guy that takes it for the team.
3. Don't lie.
4. Plan, plan, plan. Always be organized.
5. Don't ever pass the tab.

 

Don't leave at 5:01 p.m. while your staff is laboring away.
Stay on top of the budgets.
Be my friend outside of work, but when we're in the office, I want to know you mean business and you that you are looking out for my best intentions as well as the section's.

 

In principle, I agree with this. The person in charge should set the example for the rest of the staff.

But in practice ... it really depends on the paper. And 1,000 other factors, too, including the SE's responsibilities (and the rest of the staff's responsibilities.)

My SE, who doesn't work desk (my direct boss is the ASE/desk chief; staff of 12ish), starts many of his days way before I wake up. He's in editors' meetings, planning meetings, covering something, or being the "face" of the paper in the community for one thing or another.

Sure, it'd be nice for him to stick around closer to deadline most nights. But unless we have a huge event going on (i.e. NASCAR weekend, etc.), I couldn't, in all good conscience, take issue with him for heading home at 6 p.m. or so. Frankly, there's not a whole helluva lot for him to do in the office on deadline, that we can't take care of ourselves.

 

My boss is great, someone I would run through the proverbial brick wall for.

Here are the skills I particularly admire:

1. Clear and innovative vision for the product and the direction it should move in. On the leading edge.

2. Clearly defined expectations about what we're supposed to be doing. Bar is set high, but not impossibly so.

3. Absolute, unquestioned 100 percent personal integrity.

4. "Gets it" - understands both the big picture and what those on the team specifically bring to the table.

5. Champions us to management.

6. Trusts me as much I trust him.

7. Wants everyone on the team to succeed with him.

8. Rewards hard work and productivity financially and emotionally.

9. Is somebody great to go have a beer with.

10. Despises the suits, the meetings, etc.

 

Here's an interesting question. How do you motivate a staff that doesn't care about APSE recognition and doesn't have a desire to move on to a bigger paper? And I'm guessing several SE's at mid-sized papers are facing similar problems.
Because those are two things that drive me to do the best I can. So, I'm trying to reach people who have completely different life goals than me. Suggestions.