ON BETTER HIRING AND GOOD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES...
Gord Marratto

THE DO’S

Hire wisely. Decide upon the strengths needed for the position. Itemize them in your advertising for the job and make sure you stick to your guns.

Don’t try to buy a Cadillac on a Volkswagen budget because you’ll likely get a lemon. Be realistic about what you can afford and don’t expect more.

Advertise the salary range and vary the starting salary based on experience.

Make sure you check references carefully. Prepare a list of questions that will give you the best insight into the applicant’s character and talent. Always ask the reference if he/she would hire the employee again if they had the opportunity.

At the interview, always ask the applicant to do something relevant to the position you are offering…..i.e., write a news story based on given facts; write a piece of commercial copy based on advertiser supplied fact sheet; produce a commercial, evaluate audio from an announcer and write a critique, etc. etc.

Show the applicant an organizational or authority structure chart for your company and let him/her know who they will be responsible to in their position.

Invite someone you trust and respect, preferably with experience in broadcasting, to the evaluation session. Even if you feel certain that the applicant is the right person, give yourself a couple of days to collaborate with the person who attended the meeting and to consider all the applicant’s responses.

When you have made your decision, hire the applicant with confidence. Let him/her know that you believe they can do the job and will be given all the help they need to work their way up to excellence in the position. Prepare a job description for the new employee in which you spell out ALL of your expectations of them and by which he/she can measure their own performance. Inform them that as with all employees, their work will be assessed before the end of 90 days and depending on that evaluation, they will be offered an employment agreement.

Schedule and set up departmental meetings for programming/promotion and sales. Invite some or all of the other departments to your meetings. If you have matters such as music, news, production or promotions that concern you, this is the time to bring them up. Try as much as possible to run your business in a democratic way and at the very least, as a patriarchy. NEVER give the impression that “it’s my way or the highway”.

THE DON'TS

Don’t subvert your organizational structure by needless intervention. If you believe a new employee (or any employee) is not performing properly, inform their immediate superior and allow that person to either defend the employee or carry out any required admonition.

Don’t hire an employee and tell them they must prove themselves in order to achieve a position. You legally have 90 days to assess a person’s ability and during that period, you may terminate them without cause. If you have hired properly (see above), you will virtually eliminate the need to replace them.

Don’t succumb to the temptation to contact employees directly. I knew an owner/GM who once phoned the duty announcer and told him, “I don’t care if ‘The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ is Cancon, I don’t want to hear any 70’s folk music on MY station”. Firstly, he was subverting all the people in his organization who were responsible for developing and improving that announcer. Secondly, the time to discuss any such issues is after the fact, perhaps at a programming meeting when emotions are less likely to play a key factor, and finally, the impression of “final authority” exuded in that phone call is destructive to the spirit of teamwork and cooperation.

The only excuse for an owner/manager taking immediate action is when it relates to legality, moral acceptability or CRTC regulations. Even then, don’t castigate the offender. All other issues should be up for discussion with the management team.

Don’t dictate! Remember that the strength of your radio station will be a reflection of how you treat your employees. Lavish them with specific praise and they will flourish but criticize them incessantly and they will shrivel like a dying flower. If an employee requires correction, find something they do well and begin with recognition of their good point(s). The correction should be an encouragement to improve rather than a display of hopelessness at their conduct.

Don’t make your employees afraid of you. You will stifle creativity and you will set the company up for failure rather than success. People will ONLY do what they are told to do because they will be afraid to display their own initiative. The most successful companies (Southwest Airlines, WestJet, Dofasco) are the ones that encourage initiative and creativity. Being a hothead may give you the satisfaction of power but it will destroy the morale of your staff.

Examine the history of your company. Do you have an unacceptable turnover rate? Is there constant griping and dissension among staff? Does anyone know what job or position they fill? Is everyone blaming the other guy for his/her failings? Are YOU usurping everyone’s job by constantly interfering in the day-to-day management of the station? If you are an owner or manager, you might be “too close to the forest” to be objective but if you suspect that your station suffers from a lack of initiative, call in a consultant from ByrnesMedia and let us offer an objective opinion. We can help you with job descriptions, organizational charts and the better principles of encouraging teamwork and cooperation.

If you have comments on this article or any other aspect of our newsletter, please write to us at: office@byrnesmedia.com

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