In the world of sports, it’s clear what qualifies an individual as a Most Valuable Player. By definition, it’s an award given to the individual who has contributed the most to the team’s success. The key word is the “V” portion, which, broken down even more, means VALUE.
How close are you to being an MVP at your station? With all that has transpired in our business in the past 5 years with job eliminations, staff reductions, format changes, etc., now, more than ever, you should be thinking about what value you can bring to the radio station, the cluster, and the company.
A little disclaimer here: value does NOT necessarily equate to higher pay, but it does lend to what YOU may value the most today – continued employment and security!
How can you increase your value in the eyes of your employers?
1. Work at being the best at your current position.
- Go above and beyond what you do on-air. Find out where you can help off the air? Podcasts, Digital Assets, events, voice tracking, etc. Get involved without the expectation of more in your bank account. That’s a tough one, but look at the long-range benefits.
2. Understand everything you can about the radio business.
- Learn everything about Nielsen Ratings, whether it be PPM and/or diary, and how they (and you) can impact sales and revenue.
- Develop a strong, collaborative relationship with sales. Assist with client pitches, recording specs, etc.
- Treat the radio station as if it were yours – act like an owner.
3. Know the audience – and that means listeners AND clients.
- Be very aware of the station’s target demo, their habits, what motivates them, and how they consume content.
- Get very acquainted with those regular advertising clients of the station and what matters to them.
- Use these insights in brainstorm sessions and meetings, and you’re thinking like a programmer.
4. Work on Developing New Skills
- Learn how A.I. and other new technologies can benefit your show and the station, and offer suggestions/ideas.
- Become a multi-platform content creator. Socials, videos, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Establish digital content fluency. Ask questions. Be curious. Learn. Bring new ideas to the table.
5. Be a Connector
- Develop and grow relationships across all departments and do your best to bring them together when needed.
- Learn to collaborate in all spaces.
6. Ask for Feedback – and Use It
- Seek regular coaching – and act on it. Want the respect of your PD and/or GM? That’ll do it.
- When you get better, your value grows. Need I say more?
7. Support Others
- Mentor when you can. Maybe it’s a promo road crew person who wants to learn to be on air. Look for ways to help someone grow.
- Be a cheerleader for the staff. Recognize the successes of your station peers and let them know personally.
- Lift up those who are going through rough patches when you can.
8. Make Your Contributions Known
- Share any “wins” with the staff, especially when they align with company goals. Use “we” more than “I.” Recognize your collaborators.
- Stations love talent who perform and promote
As a long-time PD and OM, if I saw someone doing all the above, I would make sure they knew that I noticed and I would find ways to help them get to where they wanted to go, hopefully, inside the building. I did what I could to keep them, and I would let my supervisors know that in no uncertain terms. Who are the MVPs in your organization?
Value is more than a paycheck, especially now. Put those days of “four and the door” behind you. Be your station’s MVP.
John,
Your call for everyone to make it a priority to become more tactically proficient, more capable and more effective in delivering value in their role is absolutely pure genius.
Here’s where your absolutely perfect mindset gets a flat tire: When the leaders at the top of the organization don’t have the same mindset about improvement or performance.
When the people in the C-suites remain detached and uninterested in how the sausage is made, it becomes more difficult for them to discern who’s really making it well and who their true MVP’s really are. This harmful disconnection is inside most organizations, by the way. This is not peculiar to radio. However, radio is WAY behind other industries and companies on the subject of continuous improvement. WAAAAY behind…
Radio groups, unlike other world class companies that generate billions of dollars in profit each quarter, don’t generally have a formal system in place to continuously improve their processes—all of them: Programming, sales, accounting, promotions, marketing, website, social media strategy and so on. They don’t, therefore, have written Best Practices in place for each department that form a basis for improvement to build upon.
Instead, far too many GM’s, PD’s and sales managers are out there winging it as best they can and hoping it results in higher ratings and more revenue. That’s a lousy strategy, but the CEO’s are doing the same thing: Winging it and hoping it results in more revenue. How’s that working out so far?
What would be better is for your brilliant list of suggestions to become formal goals tailored to each employee that are monitored and measured so when they’re achieved, there is some formal way to show a high score on a Key Performance Indicator system. That way, the high score would leap off the page and be hard to misunderstand. The true MVP’s would be hard to miss.
I come from the sales side, John. Speaking of process improvement…I would love to see ONE single CEO call up a dozen major advertisers and ask how their company is doing to take care of them currently and how they could do a better job taking care of their needs. Then, take their personal notes to a meeting to have a very FRANK discussion with the people they hired to facilitate sales.
Until a CEO actually does that, they’ll remain unable to tighten the loose bolts necessary for revenue success. Until then, they won’t know what an effective sales process looks like or how to fix their own. Instead, they’ll continue to rely on people who fail them and watch their companies spiral down to bankruptcy, negative net earnings and decimated share prices. Who wins in this scenario? No one. Not even the CEO’s.
Your idea is superb, John–and it would an unstoppable strategy if EVERYONE was in on the goal to improve and there was a way to prove who was succeeding and who was failing with fair and accurate measurements for every level of the organization.
Your idea is the right one: “How can we be better and more valuable?” You list some ways which are perfect starting points. This is the right conversation. This is an extremely important subject. Let’s see who takes it seriously and who keeps re-arranging middle managers and talking about “headwinds” in their subpar earnings reports.
You’re either growing revenue, or you’re failing. There’s no middle ground to spin your failed efforts into some heroic delusion. It’s pass or fail and most radio groups aren’t passing right now. Will they change? Will they course correct? Will they listen to your great suggestions about improvement?
They should.
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