Core competencies of a successful CvD in the newsroom
CvD in the newsroom: strategist, presenter and topic expert
Chief of staff - a role that has been clearly defined in journalism for decades and is increasingly finding its way into corporate communications. As a central key role in a newsroom, he or she is needed as an anchor point, decision-maker and integrator. But what makes a successful CvD? How much operational work should CvDs take on? And above all, how do they differentiate themselves from other positions in the newsroom?
A CvD is embedded in an editorial structure that can vary from organization to organization - whether at a TV station, in corporate communications or in overarching brand communications at small and medium-sized companies. In our Scompler roundtable talk, we spoke to experienced CvDs and newsroom experts about what role the CvD actually fulfills - from decision-maker and strategist to crisis communicator.
Decision maker
Ideally, a CvD is involved in strategic management and less in the operational development of content. The way Prof. Dr. Christoph Moss' corporate newsroom model understands a newsroom, people come together there, even if not in a real room, to discuss topics. Many people have many opinions - that's why a decision-maker is needed.
"For me, this mandate and the fact that someone ultimately decides what happens is one of the most important elements in a newsroom," says Michael Schmitz, Head Partner & Solutions at Scompler, summarizing the essence of the CvD role. "The term contains the word boss. Someone has to make decisions and this term describes both the attitude and the mandate," says Schmitz. However, this role as a decision-maker should not be confused with the tasks of an "editor for all", emphasizes Christian Wobig, Senior Consultant at Mediamoss Newsroom. Instead, a CvD should set strategic guidelines, understand channels and topics fundamentally, help out in an emergency, but ideally assign their expertise to the roles in the newsroom and entrust them with operational activities.
Strategist
At AOK Plus, the CvD also has a steering and overarching role that helps shape the strategy. "We have a big focus on our communication strategy because we are not driven by a news approach, but rather by achieving a long-term impact, playing on narratives and checking whether we are coherent in all perspectives and contributing to the same goal," explains Anja Stein. Ensuring that the company speaks with one voice is very much part of the CvD's role, she reports.
This also includes prioritizing topics, allocating resources, but also the perspective on suitable target groups and the impact of communication measures. The role of the CvD is therefore also very dialogical, says Christian Wobig, Senior Consultant at Mediamoss Newsroom. A CvD must be able to understand how an individual contribution is created from the strategic planning and the overall objective. Firmly integrated into the strategy team or editorial management, a CvD therefore acts as an interface between strategy and operationalization so that management and external and internal stakeholders also understand the communication strategy and view communication as added value.
To do this, a CvD must also be able to analyze data and carry out communication controlling in order to evaluate and adapt the content strategy, Stein emphasizes. A CvD can then transfer these insights to strategic topic planning, one of their core tasks: defining topics with foresight and maintaining the strategic focus from the outside.
Scompler Roundtable video
Moderator
A CvD must know and understand the communication disciplines, topics and channels and, at best, be able to do them themselves when it matters. A CvD brings topics into the daily editorial routine and has them handled by the right employees. Johann Schlickinski, CvD at SWR Sport, therefore often sees himself as a kind of moderator or integrator. "I have to think about who can implement a topic and have conversations with them, even if it costs me time and energy personally".
These soft skills are all the more important when corporate communications and marketing work in a joint newsroom. This is because traditional marketing often works according to different goals and KPIs than the press or communications department. A CvD must therefore also polish the dialectic in the newsroom, i.e. promote a common understanding of topics and moderate the needs of the different communication disciplines.
"Marketing may understand a certain campaign in a completely different way to a communicator," says Schmitz. This requires a change in awareness, as well as the CvD's ability to integrate but also to set boundaries and reject topics if they are not part of the overall strategy.
Topic and channel experts
Knowledge of the key topics and channels is a prerequisite for a successful CvD role in order to provide suitable briefings and ultimately make decisions. However, how detailed this needs to be depends on the expertise of the topic and channel managers in the rest of the newsroom, says Christian Wobig, Senior Consultant at Mediamoss Newsroom. "As CvD, I have to be able to trust that people can carry out their role well," confirms Anja Stein. Because if a CvD entrusts the operational development to the experienced topic and channel managers in the newsroom, they can focus on the strategic positioning of the topics and channels, says Wobig.
This is because, according to the basic understanding of the role, a CvD no longer produces content themselves, but instead briefs and monitors the development. In Schmitz's experience, the better the topics in the newsroom are planned in advance, the less CvDs will find themselves in the situation of having to produce content themselves.
If too many topics have to be dealt with ad-hoc and also by the CvD, this shows a lack of strategic planning in advance. In crisis mode, however, things are different and the CvD is firmly integrated as a direct contact person, adds Stein from the AOK Plus content room. This is because corporate crises often arise unexpectedly, for various reasons and with varying degrees of drastic consequences.
The role of the CvD can vary: depending on the organization, it can be single or multiple roles, it can be titled "boss", "head" or "topic lead". What characterizes the role, however, is the constant reference to the strategic guidelines of one's own communication work - maintaining an external view, contributing to a common dialectic, trusting the topic and channel managers and ensuring that everyone in the team is united by a common vision in their communication work.
