Radio has provided us with powerful opportunities. Many of us have been fortunate enough to be given opportunities to lead companies, radio stations, or departments within radio stations. Most of us were thrown an opportunity due to a change or an unexpected opening. We probably weren't prepared, and most of us learned the art of management in the school of hard knocks and at the patient hands of a mentor.
As managers, we have developed systems, tools, and styles that have been influenced by those who we worked for, near or even against. Most of us have attended an industry seminar or workshop, and some have studied management formally, though it seems a rarity in our busy world these days.
As leaders, we call upon our past experiences for our perspective, which often color (or discolor) our perspective, which can often be a hard-line attitude about certain non-negotiable items. For instance, I once worked for a guy who had some non-negotiable attitudes about negotiating rates and how that process must be accomplished. These systems have stayed with me for decades and continue to influence how I lead those within my own company. Perhaps managers who have worked under me will adopt my ideals and carry them forward in their management practices.
But that isn't always a good thing.
You've probably heard the story of the grandma cutting off the ends of the ham before cooking it at Easter. When a little girl asked her mom, "Why do you cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it ?" The mother answered, "I do it because Grandma always did it."
The little girl asked her grandmother, who said she'd learned it from her mother. So the child asked her great-grandma. And her great-grandmother replied," I always cut off the ends of the ham because I didn't have a big enough roasting pan."
Sometimes we do things others have taught us for the wrong reasons. It stands to reason that we can all improve and increase our ability to lead and adopt new ways of thinking, because we may be cutting off the ends of the ham.
My wife used to work for an airline and was required to rotate to different positions. Though she was a counter agent, she had to work in baggage moving bags, had to work the tarmac to lead airplanes in, had to clean planes, had to work in customer service and in baggage service. Then, and only then, was she able to fully appreciate the services others in her company and what they had to go through.
It not only increased her patience, it made her -- and every employee who went through it -- a little less critical of those in other positions, because they could relate.
Your radio station or company is a community made up of different parts -- management, sales, sales management, traffic, programming, production, engineering, IT, promotion, reception, research, and so much more. How many people in your company have worked in all these disciplines?
Our community also involves the world of customers. It's a lot easier for a production director to throw a piece of copy in a fit and shout "Unacceptable!" when he or she has not had to go back to a difficult client to try to get something new. It stands to reason that not only should we try sharing disciplines within our own radio stations, we should do so with clients and advertising agencies as well.
Of course we're all busy and our jobs need to get done. But how would our service to our fellow employees and advertisers change if we were to work in their roles? Have you ever considered asking a client if some of your employees can come and work in their store for a weekend? Imagine how much better we would all be if we could relate more to the world of customers and other departments.
This is the core of a program adopted in the country music industry, Leadership Music. It was founded in 1989 with the intention of making their industry stronger. Each year about 50, younger managers in all disciplines make a nine-month commitment to gather once a month and learn about different parts of their business for a day. It's a wonderful program and has helped bring the current country music boom. In 19 years, the program has trained 790 people. Imagine the impact, and the depth of those connections.
What if we incorporated a similar program in our local markets with advertisers who could learn from other businesses, hosted by your station? What if we did this in our own stations? Can you imagine how service, internal culture, and communication would improve?
As they say, it's hard to see the perspective of others until you've walked in their shoes.
it's also hard to get a general mangager with poor ratings to look at a new format
Posted by: jim seagull | November 06, 2010 at 05:41 PM