Growing leadership skills: My story, my counsel

Media Career Diary 52
Growing leadership skills: My story, my counsel

I was recently invited to speak at the Kampala Meeting / Poynter Fellows Reunion of The Media Project (TMP) in Uganda. Unfortunately I could not attend the programme due to the ALI Media Fellowship inaugural class launch in South Africa which I attended. 

Here is the excerpt from the speech I sent along with a video recording to the Uganda meeting.

Brothers and Sisters, Gentlemen of the press. Greetings from Lagos, Nigeria. I am Lekan Otufodunrin, a very proud Fellow of The Media Project.

I presently work as Managing Editor, Online and Special Publications of The Nation Newspapers of Nigeria, not the one of Kenya which you all are familiar with. 

I want to thank the leadership of TMP for this opportunity to share with you my colleagues my thoughts on my leadership experience in the media in Nigeria. I thank them for the privilege, honour and trust. 

My apologies not being able to be with you all in Uganda due to another media leadership programme I am attending in South Africa. 

I had looked forward to a day like this based on my vision for media career development in Africa. I have always dreamt of platforms where as African journalists, we can share spiritual and professional fellowship.

I had always wanted sustained networking, peer review and learning experience among journalists in the continent beyond occasional programmes involving a few of us and most times don't last long after the meeting. 

My mentor who I had seen champion my kind of vision at the global level was Late Rev Arne  Fjeldstad  who passed on suddenly last year. It is hard to get over the shock of his sudden exit. I was waiting for him to upload a report of a reception our group, Journalists for Christ held for some journalists who won media awards in Nigeria when I got the sad news. May his loving, inspirational and caring soul rest in perfect peace.

The least we can do to keep his memory alive is to be the kind of Christ-like journalist, mentor, coach and leader he worked tirelessly to make us. 

In our newsroom, country and together in our continent, our impact must be felt as the 'salt' of the profession. We must always remember that as the bible stated, we are supposed to be the light of the media profession. 

By our excellent journalism practice, which we all must be committed to and the leadership positions we occupy at whatever levels, our light must so shine that our colleagues will see our good work and give glory to our father who is heaven.

Since Tuesday I have been in South Africa as part of the inaugural class of the Africa Leadership Institute/ Bloomberg Media Fellowship.

I was interested in being part of the three countries, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa media development programme due to the opportunities it provides to enable me become a better media leader in my country and in the continent.

I am glad to note that my being a TMP/ Poynter Institute fellow was one of the reasons I was chosen for the very competitive fellowship. I promise to be a good ambassador of TMP and spread the good news of what TMP has been doing and will continue to do to enhance leadership in the media. 

In my quest to provide leadership in whatever way I can in Nigeria, I am not only usually interested in participating in career enhancing programmes wherever I can find them , including online, I go out of my way to share useful information about fellowships, awards, jobs, trainings and other opportunities.

Sharing information through email list, website and the social media is part of the main work of the Media Career Development Service which I founded years ago.

We also organise workshops, seminars and other trainings on career development issues and collaborate with other media organisations. 

Continuos education on the job and self development are very critical to enhancing your status as a leader in the media industry. There are many opportunities if we try hard enough to find them. I urge you to maximize whatever opportunities you can get. I will be willing to send you all regular updates if you send me a mail at lekanagency@yahoo.com 

I want to encourage use to take advantage of being a journalist in the present global village we live in by connecting with excellent journalists through their websites and social media platforms. To become a leader one must be a good follower first. 

You should have local mentors but help is also available in abundance online. 

At Media Career Services, we initiated the Young Journalists Award and Conferences whose  winners and participants have become top media professionals within a short span of their career. 

Early this year, I launched a daily Media Career Diary on Facebook. Essentially, the diary is like devotional for journalists covering my experiences on the job, ideas, perspectives and best practices on media issues to promote excellence in the industry.

Due to my concern about the need for better synergy between media training institutions and media organisations, I teach part-time at the Mass Communication department in University of Lagos and also travel round other journalism training institutions to speak on media career and skills. 
 

The other major platform through which I reach out to journalists is the Journalists for Christ, a faith based media organisation to promote Christ -like journalism in the secular media houses.

We hold monthly fellowships where we discuss how to maintain a good balance between our faith and work. It has proved to be a good networking forum for all categories of journalists during and after the meetings. We provide counseling and support for our members.

At The Nation where I work, I combine along with my Online Editor’s job, liaising between editorial staff and management on administrative and welfare issues. 

I earned this role due to my interest in always asking editorial staff in the company, the crucial question Jill Geisler spoke about while we were in Poynter " How can I help?" 

 As a member of the management board, I do my best to draw the attention of the Editors and managers to the complaints and concerns of the staff and get them resolved in any amicable way as possible. 

I don't know what the situation is in media houses in East Africa, but in Nigeria we need more Editors and managers who can provide better leadership as mentors and coaches to bring the best out of journalists.

We need newsroom managers like a former boss of Jill Giesler who in order to encourage his staff before going on air will always say " Bloom my flowers" instead of issuing threats. 

Our Administrative Manager calls me the “Compassionate Editor".  I am happy to accept the title if being compassionate is one of the attributes of being a coach, mentor and counsellor  in the "mad house" which newsrooms are sometimes. 

When many other managers are losing their "sanity" all in the name of getting the job done, those of us who appreciate the fact that the reporters are as important as the stories they are writing should manage the "crazy" situations we sometimes find ourselves better. 

With the benefit of what we have learnt from the Poynter training and other resources available to us, I urge you all to do your best to show good examples of how to be better leaders in our newsrooms.

The flame of the bond of fellowship, being excellent witnesses as Christians in secular newsrooms and as leaders being our true brothers and sisters keepers in the media ignited by a Rev Arne must continue to glow and not allowed to extinguish. 

Our consolation on the sudden death of our great mentor, Rev Arne, should be like that as someone once said, good men will always die, but their good work will remain forever through what people do with what they learnt from them.

Photo: Postcard photo from fellows at the Kampala meeting