Creative people, such as actors, musicians, and radio personalities
must put part of themselves at risk in order to succeed. Successful creative people
use personal experience and perspective as stimulus for their creative process.
This blending of the person into the profession makes directing the effective
on-air performance of radio personalities a complex process, which should not
include antiquated industrial management techniques. Here are seven ways to help
you more effectively coach air personality performance and development at your
radio station.
- For Every "Don't, Have a Do"
Many radio personalities are managed exclusively by a daily dose of don'ts. Don't talk so long. You don't edit well. Don't dominate conversations with callers. Don't! Don't! Don't! While creative people need to know the boundaries, they also need direction as to what to do within those boundaries. Every time you tell an air personality what not to do, always give them an alternative as to how it might be done more effectively in the future.
- Separate the Person From the Performance
Avoid attacking the motives you perceive the talent had for doing something you did not like on the air. Focus only on the behavior you wish to change. If you want an air personality to edit better, talk only about the process of editing. Steer clear of language and issues which will be interpreted as a personal attack by the personality.
- Don't Take Things Personally
All radio personalities do what they do on the air because they think it is the right thing to do. Radio personalities do not spend time plotting to do things on the radio just to annoy you. When approaching a problem with an air personality, ask questions before you make accusations. For example, "I heard you put a caller on the air this afternoon and since we don't put callers on the air in this format, I'm curious as to why it happened?" By opening this conversation with a question you allow the personality to plead his case before he is judged. In the end, you may find that his reason for doing the unexpected on the air makes sense and paves the way for positive change.
- Focus on the Future, Not the Past
Most radio personalities are fully aware of what did not go well on their show on any given day. So, it is counter-productive to pour salt into the wound by spending excessive time talking about what went wrong. Make the corrective part of your critique sessions the first and the shortest part of each meeting. Once you have made a corrective point and receive confirmation from the personality that he understands and accepts your position, move on. Do not over-explain or belabor corrective issues. Spend the last and the majority of each meeting discussing areas of professional growth and brainstorming for future shows and promotions. Your primary goal for each personality critique session should be to motivate and inspire future performance. Yesterday's show is history!
- Be Assertive, Not Aggressive
The difference between an assertive and an aggressive statement is that you can easily add the words "you idiot" to the end of an aggressive statement. Aggressive statements lead to unnecessary conflict. "Why did you go on and on for over five minutes this morning at 7:20 (you idiot)," is an aggressive statement. "Were you aware that the 7:20 break was excessively long this morning?" is an assertive statement. Giving a little thought to how you say something to an air personality can make a difference between just getting it said and getting it to happen on the air.
- Don't Lie
When confronted with questions you are not able to answer for whatever reason, don't lie. If you cannot tell an air personality the whole truth, tell them you can't. Don't fabricate a story. The most often asked questions managers don't want to answer are about future employment or contract renewals. It is better to tell a personality that you cannot make any guarantees at this moment than to say "everything will be fine." Once you have been discovered to have lied to an air personality, you have lost their trust forever and trust is critical to keeping air talent open to your input.
- Encourage Questions
Give your air personalities license to question anything and everything! Empower them to scrutinize everything that happens at the radio station. Reward them when they discover an error or oversights in your memos and other communications. When you encourage air personalities to challenge or question you, you instill a sense of responsibility for the station's overall success and prevent a myopic my show mentality on your air staff. You also build in safety nets to catch the occasional human error before it can do any serious damage.
Effective talent managers have the qualities of good parents. They set their own egos aside and openly approach each problem or challenge that faces their professional families. Air personalities respond best to and respect managers who are honest, fair and consistent. In the final analysis, the most effective way to tap the maximum creative potential of a radio station's air personalities is by improving the quality of the creative support environment.
When your air personalities trust you and feel safe exposing parts of who they are to you every day, you have succeeded in constructing a healthy support environment. Only then can you truly begin the process of effectively coaching maximum air personality performance.
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