In every organization, corporate or conventional, spiritual or secular, there must be a manager. Where there is no leader or the leader is weak, there will be chaos and maladministration, misplaced priority and undue rivalry. You will agree with me that when the leadership in an organization is productive, such an organization will be productive. If a manager is weak, his organization will be weak, unless he leverages on the competence of his subjects. Once a leader policy is wrong, the whole organization will never get it right.
In the media space today, everyone wants to lead, coordinate affairs and peradventure dictates to others what is necessary. Often times, media sponsors have mistaken familiarity, big name in the industry, for leadership. I think this is where the issue emanates. There is no radio or Television station which can grow beyond the leader, irrespective of the aesthetics, beautiful studios or big names so to say. Most radio stations want the best but they barely go for the best, rather, they look for the rest to stand in for them. This may sound rhetorical but this article is geared towards opening the media to the call for leadership, rather than the attention given to sentiments.
It is not new that a lot of media entrepreneurs do not really know much about the business in itself, some just want an investment, but the games and the politics going on in the industry remain elusive to them. In order to be on the safe side, often times, they opt for influence or known names in the industry to steer the affairs of their organizations. How then is it that most of these radio or television stations, oftentimes, are not doing well? Some of them fold up within a short period of time simply because of greed and incompetence covered with what we mistakenly identified as influence. It is not really magical I think.
In some developed climes, leadership and analytical skills are given priority, irrespective of where you are coming from or the name you have built so far. Should the media also not key into this by seeking true leaders to run the affairs of stations rather than picking station managers, heads of Station (or whatever name it is called) based on sentiments, familiarity and perceived intelligence? Most times, these mangers disappoint their employers and run their businesses aground based on ineptitude and poor leadership skill. I think I agree to the saying that one cannot give what one does not have.
Perhaps, it is safe to say the media space is faced with leadership crisis today. We now have people of questionable characters in place as heads of units, managers and operational managers. Who then is a true leader, manager? A person who sees human-beings and not hierarchy can actually fit in this definition. I don’t understand why a radio manager will see the engineers or On-Air personalities as his rivals who he has to force into obedience because they don’t belong to his caucus; therefore, the crisis in such organization will continue to grow unabated.
Hence, no manager can force people to obey him, you earn respect as a leader or manager in a place via the display of integrity and inclusiveness. I think as a manager of a station, your role is different, you are the manager, that is official, but in terms of values, everyone in that station is the same, including the gardener, the driver, the cleaner etc. In other words, the values individuals give are quite different; everyone has certain uniqueness you cannot buy. Rebellion comes when people realise their opinions don’t matter to you or you tend to favour a group of people over others.
Colin L. Powell (1937-2021), an American statesman, diplomat and army officer, in his Thirteen Rules of Leadership advised: ‘Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it’. This ego is killing our media space.
I have also witnessed situations where some managers witch-hunt young presenters based on the fact that they feel threatened by their speed to stardom. Instead, why would those managers not drop the ego, support these young ones, explore their expertise to draw success stories? What is the fear all about? If a station is recording any success, who gets the credit eventually? Is it not the manager? The leadership style of ganging up against perceived oppositions has ruined the potential and prospects of many stations. A bitter soul cannot lead successfully, it will continue to exert energy on how to bring down or suppress oppositions rather than focusing on the success of such a station.
This is why I often advise entrepreneurs to allow free applications. If you need to recruit people, let it be open to the public, seek the help of professional, unbiased HR company and also be present at the interview sessions. Do not allow any radio or tv manager to lord employees on you. He will only bring in a set of loyalists who may form a clique even against the visions of such an organization. The fact remains, should this be allowed, there is a high tendency interest groups will emerge, those on the ‘LORD’s’ side and the rest. It then becomes the majority and the minority, consequently, team work will be lost.
Why are some station managers afraid of competent presenters? I guess it is as a result of low-esteem.
I know of a station manager who always reports his presenters to the station owner and be sure, he knows how to blacklist those presenters to the point of making them look as the villain. How then does a station grow under this leadership bareness?
A manager may not know everything but can harness the competence of others to achieve his goals for his station. I think one of the pertinent questions media owners should ask whoever they want to hire as managers, should be about goals and objectives, also, how they will achieve them. You will realise most projected managers do not have anything in mind.
In another corner, I have also witnessed a situation where a manager turns his co-workers against one another through artificial divisional tactics, having some staff members as spies who bring in reports from discussions and private interactions. You don’t know who your enemy is. Maybe I will share some experience on this soon.
Dr. Eyitayo Folorunso
Diamond FM, University of Ibadan