Back in May, Pioneer Newspapers, a privately held group of 17 dailies and weeklies in the Northwest, booked me for a Newspaper Next workshop for publishers and department heads. Pioneer is headquartered in Seattle, and its papers range in circulation from 5,000 to 21,000.

After the workshop, the managers were eager to put the N2 concepts and processes into practice. CEO David Lord and his team set out to find a way to stimulate and support the development of new, disruptive products around the organization.

Pioneer takes pride in its decentralized approach to management, and their solution reflects that core value. They invited any interested newspaper unit to submit a proposal for an innovative new product, with the offer of corporate development funding – up to $20,000 each – for the best ideas. They also specified that the new ventures needed to have separate P&Ls, and that the new projects would not negatively impact the publishers’ compensation.

"In fact, I told people to expect some failures. You have to be willing to take a risk if you want to get the creative juices flowing," Lord said. "But the fact is, it isn't a lot of money."

The document announcing the program (download it here) was short – just over two pages – and crisp. It stated plainly that only “truly innovative and disruptive” projects need apply. The objective, it said, was “to launch products that will co-opt disruptive threats to our existing business, threats that have nibbled at the fringes of existing markets or penetrated small new ones.” Less disruptive projects might have merit, it said, but this program aimed at “higher risk ideas that will push the creative envelope.”

The announcement did a good job of defining the selection criteria, making sure that the proposals would reflect key disruptive principles. And it briefly outlined the format for proposals, with 10 questions covering such things as the project’s structure, management, funding needs, timetable, target customers and key “jobs to be done.”

This Pioneer initiative provides a great practical example of a key point in the Newspaper Next “gospel”: Innovation requires structure and resources. Companies hoping to transition from the old, monolithic newspaper business model to a diverse and growing portfolio of products need to create clear innovation processes and allocate resources to support promising projects.

These and other key principles for building a consistently innovative organization are covered in Section III of the N2 Report. (Get a free copy here.)

Pioneer selected four projects to received corporate funding, and they are just now getting under way:

• Idaho Press-Tribune, Nampa, ID: -- A new online Newcomers’ Guide, linked to an upgrade in their print Community Guide and an increase to twice-annual publication. The site will target non-readers of the newspaper and non-advertisers, and help newcomers with a wide range of local information jobs – employment, housing, utilities, schools, child care and more.

• The Herald Journal, Logan, UT: A new website for rabid Cache Valley sports fans, initially specializing in the high schools and Utah State University and then going deep into little leagues, soccer clubs and other recreation-level sports. Content would be gathered from existing sources and users of the site.

• The Herald and News, Klamath Falls, OR: A local student-to-student Web site targeting student involvement and interaction, with lots of user-generated content, and designed to foster viewership by both students and parents.

• Idaho State Journal, Pocatello, ID: A new website where community members can participate in a wide range of user-driven activities, including posting photos, creating blogs, joining discussion boards and submitting calendar information. As content grows, the plan is to reverse-publish the best material in the newspaper.

The Pioneer approach shows that newspaper companies don’t have to be big to be innovative, and their clear, simple directions offer a good model for other companies wondering how to get started.