(Vivian Vahlberg)

Not too long ago, the folks who run The Globe and Mail in Toronto realized the organization (like many newspapers) needed to become more innovative. They wanted to speed up the pace and acceptance of change across the organization, to make it easier to develop and introduce new products and solutions. They wanted to create a new culture that worked together cross functionally, without traditional walls between sales and editorial and between online and print.

So they launched an extensive, participatory, company-wide process known as "Reimagination," designed to assess and then change the culture and mindset of the organization, from the ground up. Angus Frame, editor of Globeandmail.com, told conferees at the World Association of Newspapers' Digital Publishing Conference in London that while the process is still underway, there's already evidence that a sizeable mental cultural shift has taken place.

Key to the undertaking was involving as many employees as were interested. In the end, 225 of the Globe's 700 employees volunteered to participate in an intensive two-month idea-generation process. Divided into 23 cross-functional teams, employees generated 160 ideas which produced 18 projects that went to the feasibility stage, twelve of which are being implemented. Three of the 12 deal with Web-paper integration. As a result, new and beneficial relationships developed as people collaborated who had never worked together.

While all the idea-generating activities and the hundreds of employee interviews that followed unearthed some concerns about web-print integration, by and large there was a surprisingly strong consensus that integration was the way to go, Frame said. So they found ways to deal with the problems raised. For example, they mitigated fears that quality would be compromised in web-print integration by allowing copy desk editors to focus on either print or online instead of splitting their attention. And they moved Web and print journalists closer to each other, starting first with the business section which was reorganized in September, and with sports in early October. Full newsroom integration is being implemented in the coming months.

Frame said there isn't an element of the website's home page that hasn't already benefited from the integration. One of the best developments is a daily photo gallery, now run by the photo staff, which has become the site's single most popular feature.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts, experiences and reactions by clicking on the comment button below or by e-mailing me at: v-vahlberg@northwestern.edu.