“Happy Father’s Day to the best dad, boss, mentor and friend!”
As I wrote that line in my dad’s Father’s Day card for about the 100th time, it occurred to me that among the myriad of things my dad (View Newspaper Group Publisher Wes Smith) has taught me, is how to wear multiple hats. While he’s worked in the print and newspaper industry for his entire career, he’s worn a number of hats throughout those last 50+ years — writer, sales professional, marketer and much

more. Of course at home he does the same as our dad. Although we’re adults, he still has to wear his mediator hat once in a while, along with the fun hats of grill master, pool guy and concert-ticket-buyer. Outside of work and home he’s also a community volunteer wearing whatever hat is needed on any given day from board member to janitor.
Chances are if you’re reading this, you wear multiple hats at home, at work and throughout life too. Usually that’s a good thing. Many hats means you have a rich life full of people, places and things you love. At work wearing multiple hats typically signals success pointing to your own career growth and/or growth of your organization. It was probably about 14 years ago that I started to realize a shift in my career to one that includes many hats. At the time I was working at an agency that was growing so rapidly I had three different business cards I handed out depending on what hat I was wearing.
Team members wearing multiple hats within an organization can be great for both the business and its team members. A forbes.com article on the topic by Tracy Brower PhD and author of “The Secrets to Happiness at Work,” says “Role flexibility and the resulting responsiveness are fundamental to agile success. Rather than encountering a problem and then having to wait for additional resources or a specific skill set, team members can keep the project moving by solving it themselves more immediately … Multiple roles can also be good for people. After all, it’s critical to ensure people have a positive experience. In addition to providing the opportunity for development, working on a wider variety of tasks is typically more interesting and more challenging than sticking to the same thing day-after-day. This contributes to engagement and satisfaction among team.”
That said, wearing many hats can be a challenge, one that can ultimately lead to a headache if not managed properly. Keeping that in mind here are a few tips on how to wear multiple hats successfully:
• Prioritize: Our team is fortunate in that we have a built-in system to help us prioritize — press deadlines. Of course those daily deadlines also must be integrated into event prep deadlines, client proposal deadlines, internal communication and more. The first step in prioritizing is to create a to-do list. If just looking at your to-list becomes overwhelming it’s time to label each item in order of importance to best prioritize the work. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your team or leadership to help you do so, because wearing multiple hats doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers.
• Be present: I once heard a chief marketing officer at a major financial institute give a talk about work/ life balance. The first thing she said is that there is no such thing. Instead, she said, it’s about work/ life focus. Wherever you are or whatever the task at hand, focus on that. Easier said than done, but her words come to me whenever I realize I’m multitasking in an unhealthy way. Whatever you’re doing, be it eating dinner with your family or finishing a budget proposal, it deserves your full focus.
• Think about the “why”: Wearing multiple hats isn’t easy, but as Brower writes in the forbes.com piece “A clear sense of ‘the why’ for the work acts as a north star.” Remind your team and yourself the purpose behind all your hard work. At View Newspaper Group the answer is right in our tagline “Your Community Connection.” Whether I’m wearing my editor hat, my event planner hat or my team happy hour coordinator hat, it’s all for the greater purpose of the growth and success of our 22 locally-owned community newspapers across this great state. Our newspapers keep readers connected to their community and each other, and I believe those connections, especially the ones we facilitate in person, are a key factor in the overall well-being of community members and the community at large.
How do you balance wearing multiple hats? Email me at ecaswell@mihomepaper.com.
Emily Caswell is the Brand Manager for VIEW Group, the branding division of View Newspaper Group.