Nothing creates conflict like rapid change. During the
past year, when radio has been reorganized from top to bottom, their
has been plenty of strain put on people and organizations. A recent
on-line conversation I witnessed between longtime radio pros betrayed
bewilderment and not just a little hostility.
They wrote of expanding chains where managers no longer knew the
people who worked for them. The close working relationships these
vets had always valued were diminished or gone.
It's not just employees who are feeling the strain. Managers as
well are often frustrated by the complexity and size of problems and
staff they must direct.
As the way radio companies are organized changes, the expectations
placed on people and relationships changes also. This takes time to
adjust to. In the meantime, conflict can develop. Many organizations
are looking for ways to keep the conflict associated with rapid
change from overwhelming their staffs.
Myths
There are several myths about conflict that often make the
situation seem more difficult than it actually is. Contrary to what
we often feel when staff doesn't get along,conflict is not a sign of
poor management or that staff members don't care deeply about
the company. Anger is not always negative and destructive. Emotion
is a good clue that an employee cares enough to get involved in
station issues.
Stage One
When conflict crops up, as it inevitably does in changing
organizations, you can redirect it to benefit everyone. Here's how.
First, determine what kind of conflict you're dealing with.
Disagreements come in three different levels of intensity. Stage One
conflict happens everyday and managers and staff are used to coping
with it with little problem. These day-to-day irritations can be
passed off, sometimes for years.
You can help keep conflict at this low level from growing by
realizing that it comes from people naturally having different views
and opinions on the same issue. Help those who disagree to see that
their problem comes from differing perspectives and not from a lack
of concern for the organization. We all want a successful company,
but we approach that goal from different directions. While we can
attempt to get everyone "one the same page," there will always be
differences between the thoughts and personal styles of the people we
work with.
Stage Two
In Stage Two conflict, the issues become bigger and people are
tied to them. Self-interest and "how you look" becomes important. It
becomes a win-lose situation. People talk in generalizations such as
"everyone thinks," "he never," and "they always." It's hard to get
accurate facts because the level of trust has deteriorated.
Put-downs, sarcasm, and innuendoes become the tools of battle.
You can diffuse Stage Two conflict by getting disagreeing parties
together on neutral turf. Be strong on facts and easy on people. Get
all the details. Question whether any fact has been missed. This is
much like the method that judges use in court to diffuse these same
types of situations between neighbors. Get everyone to help come up
with a solution. Don't do the work for them. People must feel that
the solution is of their own making.
Stage Three
In Stage Three conflict, the issue escalates to the point where
people want to hurt others. One party wants to get rid of the other.
Staff takes sides and there is no room for people to take a middle
ground. People care more about "their side" than about the
organization as a whole. This kind of conflict can hamstring a radio
company.
Large corporations will often bring in an intervention team in
these situations. The conflict has been rolling and growing,
sometimes for years, and it takes lots of work with each individual
in the organization to sort it out. Company time must be spent
interviewing every single employee and manager. Feelings,
perspectives, and tempers have to be firmly redirected toward the
goals of the company. It is not a quick or easy process.
In the past, when radio stations had fewer employees, managers
could stay closer to the feelings and concerns of each staff member.
It's still important to try to do that.
But today--when radio companies are quickly expanding--new ways,
methods, and techniques form an important part of the effective
manager's arsenal.
Dr. Kevin Nunley provides
solutions to radio management and research problems. Reach him at
(801)253-4536 or on-line at DrNunley@aol.com.
(index)
FIVE WAYS TO MANAGE YOUR TIME:
How to Get Everything Done Without Living at the Station.
by Kevin Nunley
Originally appeared in Radio Ink Magazine.
Over the past few months many of us have gone from running one or
two stations to trying to keep track of five or six. When I asked one
bleary-eyed GM how things were going, she moaned, "Remember the guy
on TV who spun plates on sticks?"
That's just the problem. The old system of managing or programming
one or two stations was a full-time job. Today's megalopolies are
simply overwhelming.
Rather than leading the troops, creatively solving problems, and
setting direction for a growing corporation, most of us end up
spending more and more time on what seems like less and less. Here
are five simple tried-and-true ways to stay on course.
These tips will help you get the important stuff done without
having to sleep on the couch in the jock lounge.
Quick solution.
Start by writing down a short description of how you spend your
day. Which tasks get an hour of your time? Which calls get made
first? How much time do you spend meeting with department heads each
day?
Next, hide you time description in a drawer of your desk. Over the
next week, keep a log of what you do each hour. Even better, have
your secretary take notes on what you do and when you do it. (Be
prepared for some big surprises when you compare your "what I did"
log with the "what I thought I did" log you hid in the drawer!)
No doubt, you'll find that some important things aren't getting as
much time as you would like to give them. At the same time, some
rather unimportant tasks will have edged onto your agenda in a big
way. That's normal for any executive.
The Five Steps.
Follow these simple guidelines for getting your day back in
balance. ONE: Eliminate the things that don't need to be done.
You probably already know what these things are. Every manager has
several pesky tasks that don't do a thing to enhance the success of
the company. Sometimes such time-wasters can eat up a surprising
amount of your day, and evenings.
TWO: Which things could be done by someone else? Is it
necessary for you to do everything that you do? Surely there are a
few items that could be passed on to someone else on your staff. That
person might appreciate your confidence in them and give those tasks
the extra time they demand.
THREE: Are you wasting anyone else's time? Your response
may be, "No way!" But think about it for a moment. Managers can wind
up holding a lot of meetings, the formal kind in the conference room
and the informal sort in the hallway or the sales manager's office.
Would a quick phone call or a short memo dashed out on a scratch pad
serve just as well? Remember, if you are unintentionally wasting
somebody else's time, you're wasting your time as well.
FOUR: Watch for the reoccurring crises. Every business has
them. Maybe its a weekly foul-up in the production department that
sends clients angrily to the phone. You spend a half day trying to
calm them down. It might be the monthly budget that always gets
pushed to the last possible day, creating a day or so of panic when
all other tasks get moved to the weekend.
Try to identify a reoccurring crises your organization may have.
See if there is a way to anticipate it. Solve the problem before it
demands big chunks of your time.
FIVE: Keep an eye out for too much emphasis on "The
Organization." Let me give you an example. I talked with one very
successful PD who was trying to hire an assistant to handle most of
the programming chores.
"Why do you want to do that?" I asked him. "Your involvement with
the air sound is the reason this station has such high numbers!"
He explained that all his time was taken up by endless meetings
with upper management. A corporate head had an obsession with
control. The chief exec needed non-stop meetings to reassure himself
that the organization was under his thumb.
There are many other ways that "The Organization" can get in the
way of getting work done. Do people in your company have the freedom
to make their own decision's and use their own heads, or do they have
to wait a half-day to run every idea past someone in the organization
who must rubber-stamp it?
Keep in mind these five ways to eliminate time-wasters from your
busy day. You may be surprised at the results when you put them to
work. Ultimately, you not only need time to get everything done, you
also need time to have a life. Remember, the executive's scarcest
resources isn't money--it's time!
Dr. Kevin Nunley provides
solutions to management and research problems. Reach him at
(801)253-4536 or on-line at <DrNunley@aol.com>.
(index)
Managing Radio After
the Telecom Bill
Why consolidated radio is a whole new animal AND how we can
deal with it.
by
Kevin Nunley
This article originally appeared in Broadcasting
Magazine. It was written just one week after the Telecom Bill went
through. It's surprising how much of the prediction has come
true...and how much is still remains to be played out.
The changes going on in the radio industry are positively
astounding. It's hard to find anywhere or anytime in history where
such a large business change took place so quickly. Literally
overnight, many of us are switching from one or two stations in a
building to hundreds of employees running eight stations in an
unwieldy communications complex.
No one in the maze of hallways seems to know anyone else.
Organizational systems that got us by just a month ago are now
struggling to remain effective. Scores of salespeople write and send
hundreds of pieces of commercial copy to one of 12 studios hoping one
of the 85 jocks will produce it.
This isn't radio. It's IBM!
Suddenly we don't recognize the same industry we've worked in for
most of our adult lives. What used to feel like an intimate team of
entertainers and salespeople now looks like Grand Central Station.
The small town store we knew as radio has become Walmart.
The station I visited this week has just expanded into thousands
of square feet of formerly adjoining office space. The next door tax
expert has been replace by several vacant rooms with wiring hanging
out of the ceiling.
"I don't exactly know what they're going to put in there," a
long-time employee tells me. "I think it's another station. Or maybe
it's two."
The sales office in front of us is a converted warehouse.
Computer-screened cubby holes number well over 50.
"I don't know any of the sales people," he says. "Just when I get
to know a name, that person leaves and four more take their place."
It's a different world...
Radio today is a very different world. But it is not a world
unknown. In fact, just about any other industry that has experienced
big growth has been through the same things, if not nearly as
suddenly. We can learn from their experiences.
American business, radio included, traditionally embraced an
organizational method that broke the work down into individual parts.
The sales person wrote the copy, the traffic director assigned it
dates and cart numbers, the production director assigned it to a
jock, the jock produced it, and so on.
Each step of the process involved a different specialist. And
sympathy for the person who tried to do more than one of these jobs!
Sales did sales, jocks did production, and nobody but the traffic
director was allowed into her computer.
New strategies.
American industry has discovered over the past 30 years that this
old system of specialism doesn't translate well to much larger and
more complex organizations. All these connections between
salesperson, jock, traffic director, and so on, bog down when the
number of employees and work increases dramatically.
Each time the work is handed off to another person, there is an
opportunity for error to step in. Papers are lost, orders are
forgotten, the next person in the chain is not in the office. Chaos
goes on a holiday when this work chain is greatly enlarged and
extended as is happening in radio today.
The reengineering craze rampant in big business in the 1990s has
wisely taught managers to create teams and combine specialties into a
single person. Think of it as mistake insurance. In the case of
radio, a salesperson would form a team with a traffic director, a
production director, and a jock. Instead of tracking down one of 75
jocks, the others would look for their specific team member.
Small, tight-knit teams give a much less confusing feel to the
organization. When one member of the team learns to do several of the
others' jobs, there is less chance of screw-ups as the work is handed
from one to another.
Bigger hammer syndrome.
But why do we have to change how we've always done things? Why
can't we just use the same old systems? Just make them bigger, with
more people.
American industry tried this "bigger hammer" approach. It didn't
work. As broadcasters, we can make things a lot easier on ourselves
if we simply look to their examples. We can't afford to bog down over
the same disastrous mistakes.
It's time for radio managers to go to school. We need to cast our
information net wide. Whether it's picking up a few books on
contemporary management at the library or inviting a big-business
manager to lunch for a brain picking session, radio pros must keep
their eyes open for new ways to solve massive opportunities, and
problems. We will surely see plenty of both in post-Telecom Bill
radio.
Dr. Kevin Nunley is a broadcast
research and management specialist. He may be reached at 801-
253-4536 or on-line at DrNunley@aol.com.
(index)
Dr. Kevin Nunley's
RADIO RESEARCH
SHORT COURSE
by
Kevin Nunley, PhD
In only 20 minutes you can learn everything you need to know to
do better research, get bigger ratings and make more $$$!
Watch out! I didn't come to Radio Research because I liked to
diddle with computers. Or because I enjoyed math. Or even because I
wanted to know more about the beliefs and attitudes of my fellow man.
I started doing this because I was tired of seeing the radio
industry being ripped off. You read right. The more I talk with
scientists (who we must remember are the true inventors and
practicers of this beast we call research) the more I realize that
radio research companies and consultants are selling us an awful lot
of half-baked research.
Not only is this a waste of our precious operating dollars, but it
is leading our GMs, PDs, and owners to important decisions made on
bad research. Good formats are being ruined, talented and loyal jocks
and programmers are being fired, GMs are lying awake at night
worrying, and more than a few owners are losing their shirts.
You see, Radio Research can't be done halfway. It has to be done
exactly right....or its wrong.
Radio is more ART than science. That's why most of us love radio
so. But RESEARCH IS SCIENCE! Art can vary greatly in the way it is
done, depending on who is doing it. That's what makes art interesting
and beautiful. SCIENCE is the EXACT OPPOSITE OF ART. Science must be
done a certain way...exactly right...with every ingredient in
place...EVERY TIME...or it ISN'T SCIENCE.
Memorize this ranting of mine. Say it over and over to yourself.
It is the key to the treasure! Get a firm grip on what is and is not
good science and you will be 80% of the way to understanding Radio
Research far better than those around you.
Why Radio Research is so Important
Those of us lucky enough to work in radio like to refer to
ourselves as "communicators." Or, as I like to do, we call ourselves
"entertainers." The one thing that all communicators and entertainers
do, whether they be singers, or speechmakers, or comedians, is to
have a FIRM IDEA OF WHO THEIR AUDIENCE IS. They want to know how old
their listeners are, how much money they make, how morally
traditional or conservative they are, what issues they are concerned
with.
In short, the entertainer must have a running list of the
audience's beliefs and attitudes. In radio we call this a "listener
profile" or "knowing the audience's hot buttons." Being a radio
professional, you know just how hard it is to get this information.
When you, or your jocks, relay a funny quip over the air, the VU
meters don't laugh back.
Did the joke make the audience laugh, or did it just bore them?
How do you find out? If you've been in radio more than a week, you
know! You get listeners calling you on the request lines to rave or
complain.
Someone you meet at the grocery store recognizes you and mentions
the joke they heard on the air. Your neighbor who drives a truck and
listens to the radio all day happened to catch the joke and ribs you
about it as you drag your trash can out to the street.
Qualitative Research.
That's research! Or, at least, one kind of research. Scientists
call it Qualitative research. After a radio professional has
experienced hundreds of feedback encounters with listeners over many
years, he or she develops what the industry calls "gut"
understanding. To "go with your gut" doesn't mean to guess. It means
to make decisions based on the sum of hundreds of listener
encounters, often times over many years.
Going with your gut is a perfectly valid way of reacting on your
body of personal research. For crying out loud, the entire science of
Anthropology is based on it (Anthropologists invented it by the way)!
Certainly you've heard a radio professional say... or you've said
yourself, "This research we've been using is all screwed up. I'm just
Donna go with my gut." Most likely, everyone around you agreed.
Why?
We use our "gut" a lot more scientifically than we use supposedly
"scientific" research. As broadcasters, we know full well that the
listener we meet at the grocery store has a valid opinion about our
station. But we also are aware that her opinion may or may NOT be
shared by OTHER listeners.
I can hear you. I know you're already saying, "We can't base our
management decisions on the whims of one person. We have to know what
the thousands of others in the audience think. We must know the
beliefs and attitudes that are SHARED by significant percentages of
the audience. That's what we must do to be MASS APPEAL....to garner
higher ratings...to make a splash in Arbitron Diaries." (And that's
another book or two in itself. You don't want to get me off on how
Arbitron is pulling the wool over our eyes.)
The Key to the Treasure...Every Research Method done
RIGHT...and In It's Place!
To make sure our gut hunches about the audience are on target, we
must use Quantitative research. Em?
That's the kind of research that gives us numbers and percentages.
Example: Of listeners 18-34 who cume five rock stations within a
week, what percentages like or dislike sexual innuendo (no pun
intended) on the morning show?
This is Quantitative research. Telephone call-out surveys are the
most common form of Quantitative research used by radio stations.
Arbitron is Quantitative research using a mailed survey. Nunley
Associates, my company, uses telephone surveys because it is darned
hard to get anywhere near a reliable response from a mailed survey.
Let me say this again...because we are using numbers and
percentages in a Quantitative survey...the research must be done in A
CERTAIN WAY or the results...the numbers we need so badly...WILL NOT
BE ACCURATE.
Thankfully, This Isn't Rocket Science.
Why all this insistence on doing research in an exact way? We are
trying to guarantee against the great bugaboo of research...BIAS!
When a research project gives inaccurate results, it's because BIAS
crept in.
What exactly IS bias? The goal of scientific research designs, the
ones we like to use in radio, is to give a fair, balanced, and
accurate picture of the audience. Bias causes the research findings
to lean one way or another...to unfairly favor one solution over
another...to, without good cause, favor one view of the audience over
another.
You see bias in a telephone survey when your teenaged intern doing
the call-out prods the respondent with, "So would you say you like
the CHR station over the Alternative station because all the
Alternative people have studs through their noses and look weird at
the mall?" This is a little bit of an extreme example (although we've
all heard something just like this). It illustrates the nature of how
bias can render your research results into complete crap.
Did the respondent answer the question honestly? Probably not with
the not so gentle nudging from the questioner. The response is not
honest, not accurate, and you sure wouldn't want to make programming
decisions by it.
There are many ways that bias can invade a research project. Quite
frankly, there is a certain amount of unavoidable bias built into all
research designs, some more than others. AND, when we fail to use the
entire recipe for a research design (as is often done by consultants
and research houses...including Arbitron) we merely INVITE bias into
our precious findings. Ouch!
How to Become a Research Whiz on a Couple of Bucks.
If anybody here hasn't already figured out that I'm a media
consultant specializing in research, let me come right out and say
it...I AM. Other consultants will shake their heads in disgust over
what I'm going to tell you next.
Guess what? None of media research's many and seemingly complex
techniques are a secret. In fact, they weren't invented for radio.
Scientific, statistical research has been around for close to 100
years...virtually unchanged. In fact, when it IS changed, it doesn't
work.
(I know this is going to bother the hell out of some of the "big
name" radio research firms who are making six figures on goofy
research methods that are more snake oil than science.)
Any old, used statistics book...the kind they use in Psychology,
Sociology, and Social Work courses...has all the information you will
ever need to do top notch research. You can buy a new book if you
want, but you don't need to. ANY old statistics book will do, even an
old dog-eared, highlighted, used one from the 1960s, because
scientific, statistical research DOESN'T CHANGE.
My Innovation
Think of all the different kinds of radio research you've seen
used during your career as a broadcaster.
Arbitron's mailed survey, Birch's old telephone survey (which
always seemed to give younger audiences a bigger edge!), music
testing call-outs, some interns flipping through the phone book
calling people at random and writing the answers to the PD's
questions on some pizza-stained forms. (By the way, focus groups and
auditorium tests ARE NOT Quantitative research. If you use these
methods to get numbers or percentages about your audience, you do so
at your own incredible risk!)
Maybe you can think of some other types of research design used,
but that's about all that comes to mind for me.
That's only the tip of the iceberg of what's available to
broadcasters. From the same well that we got the methods we use, come
a whole host of equally good, accurate, and time-proven research
designs. At Nunley Associates, we use
One-on-One Interviews using Snowball Sampling
Content Studies of Station Programming
Programming Expert Round Table Think-Tanks
Researcher Networking
AND
CAREFUL Telephone Surveys
That Rigorously Guard Against Bias
I would love to discuss these methods, and many more, with you,
but we would soon have a book rather than a 20 minute report. Let's
talk on the phone about it. Or fax me. I'm simply a Morning
Guy/Programmer who went overboard and got a Ph.D. in Media. I still
love to talk with radio folks about radio. We are all in this boat
together and anything I can do to make your ride more enjoyable,
successful, and profitable will be a pleasure.
Call me at my home office in Salt Lake City at (801) 253-4536. My
fax number is (801) 253-4603.
My e-mail:
DrNunley@aol.com
New articles on radio management and
research added here all the time! Check back soon!
Thanks, Kevin.
Kevin Nunley, PhD has been in radio for over 20 years at
great stations in San Francisco, Dallas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City,
and Salt Lake City. You may know him better by his air name "Kevin
McCormick."
(back to top of page)
