Tailored Programs

Queries about custom training, services and management development programs for your news organization should be directed to Elaine Clisham.

Phone: (703) 715-3321

API wants to help you and your organization pursue excellence, whatever your needs. Through our Tailored Programs, API will work with you to design a customized leadership development program to help you meet your organization's strategic goals and keep up with the swiftly changing newspaper business.

We can design programs for individual departments within a newspaper, for an entire newspaper, a newspaper group or another news organization.

These programs are an extension of our Reston-based seminars, bringing the API experience to larger numbers of your staff at a site you choose. API's faculty members have expertise in all functional areas of newspaper organizations, and we can also help in cross-departmental training in areas such as leadership, innovation, readership, strategic planning and digital integration.

If your program requires specialized expertise our faculty can't provide, or if your program would conflict with faculty schedules, we will draw on a talented array of other leaders in their fields, many of whom have served as discussion leaders for our residential seminars. We also can help you develop your organization's own human capital development capacity.

API's Tailored Programs help you improve in other ways as well:

• We can help you redesign your paper.
• We can critique your paper, identifying strengths and recommending areas for improvement.
• We can help in your recognition program by judging contests.
• We can help you conduct focus groups to connect better with your readers.
• We can guide you through such important steps as strategic planning or organizational restructuring.

If you have a unique need we haven't addressed before, tell us about it and we will find the experts and design a program to help you improve. We negotiate costs individually with each client, based on the services you want.

Some of our recent engagements:

Newspaper Next: API's landmark research initiative on future business models for newspapers has led to numerous Tailored Programming engagements at individual newspapers and newspaper organizations to assist with strategic planning, organizational restructuring and innovation and new product development.

Leadership Development Program. Ottaway Newspapers used API's Tailored Programs for two seminars for mid-level managers being groomed for top leadership positions. The Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald worked with API to customize its capstone Executive Development Program for a select group of its senior managers.

Specific Issues. Stars and Stripes identified three specific areas where it wanted help, so API presented seminars in each area: connecting with readers, writing stronger headlines and improving design.
"I have nothing but the highest praise for everyone involved from API. But more importantly, I'm hearing nothing but the highest praise from everyone in the newsroom, and most importantly we're already seeing training applied in the daily product." -- Associate Editor Robb Grindstaff

API also offers Upholding and Updating Ethical Standards, an ethics seminar funded in part by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. This seminar is custom-tailored to your newsroom and addresses the most critical digital journalism issues you're facing right now.

Newspaper critiques. Tailored Programs presented detailed written critiques of individual newspapers for Freedom Community Newspapers and Southern Newspapers Inc.

Redesign. API consultants guided redesign efforts for The Daily Oklahoman and Chesapeake Publishing. Click here for more information.

Judging. API judges have selected winners for Suburban Newspapers of America, Catholic Press Association and the New England Press Association.