Advice to program directors who struggle with confidence or time in coaching air talent
Guilt is a horrible thing. It makes you hide to try to avoid the horrible feeling. Guilt lies to you, too. It tells you the cure is worse than the guilt. It’s not.
The cure is never as bad as the guilt.
So, let’s face it together if your air talent is not getting coaching like you know they should, it’s your responsibility to make sure it gets done.
Maybe no one is saying anything. Your boss probably thinks it’s happening.
The talent wants the coaching, but also feels that bringing it up is just asking for criticism.
You’re so busy that weeks and weeks pass by and it seems like days.
Maybe you don’t have confidence in your coaching ability. Maybe you think it’s the consultant’s job, or maybe you don’t have a consultant.
This is understandable. Evaluating song performance and rotations is a fairly straightforward art. Coaching involves subjective judgment, unpredictable people, and all kinds of messy feelings. It’s easy to put it off for a week, a month, a year.
You can keep going like this and nothing will change. Or, you can fix it. Right now.
Let’s fix it.
The first way we’ll fix it is by adjusting your expectations. If you think of coaching as a big commitment of time and energy, then as a busy program director it’s natural to avoid it. You think it’s a huge project or you do nothing. Let’s make it a smaller, less intimidating project.
Here are five simple things you can do right now and keep doing in just 35 minutes per week:
- Repent.
Agree that air talent coaching is super important and that you’ll do something about it.
- Commit to engage your air talent and their performance.
Commit to making sure they WILL be coached regularly. Be confident that consistent, small engagement can make a big difference.
Guess what! Two steps are done and you’ve taken hardly any time!
Now for the simple, practical 35 minute per week steps:
- Listen to 3-4 breaks with a pad and pen and write down what you notice. (That’s 15 minutes)
Write down things you like and why. Write down things you don’t like and why. Now organize your observations into three lists of two to four points each:
- List 1. Hugs – The stuff you liked and why.
- List 2. Grow – The stuff you think needs to change and improve, and why.
- List 3. Goals – A short summary of what to keep doing and what to improve in.
- Meet with your air talent and encourage them. (Another 15 minutes)
Start with a few true words about their value, strengths, and potential. Start positive because they’re nervous and convinced this is going to be about what they’re doing wrong. So, show them what they’re doing right. Let them know you believe in them.
They are doing art, and artists need confidence.
Then go through your Hugs, Grow, and Goals lists.
Sometimes use some audio to illustrate your points.
Major on the positive and let them hear and feel what they did right. Be blunt and brief about change and improvement, then finish with something positive.
- Follow up with a brief, positive email summary of your points. (There’s the final five minutes.)
In the email just summarize what you talked about from your Hugs, Grow, and Goals lists. The email is a reminder that reinforces your meeting. Keep it short and encouraging, yet straightforward about change and improvement.
Good things will happen from this 35 minute per week habit!
- Your air talent and station will improve and you’ll serve listeners better.
- Talent will not despise and avoid coaching sessions. They may even grow to sort of like it! (Maybe. We hope.)
- They’ll respect you for doing your job.
- It’s good for them to know you’re listening, paying attention, and that you will hold them accountable.
- YOU’LL grow in confidence as a coach.
- Gas prices will fall below $1 a gallon, ice cream calories will disappear, and peace will reign over all the earth. Amen.
Some additional points:
Is 35 minutes per week enough?
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- But it’s FAR better than weeks and weeks of inconsistency, neglect, and guilt.
“You said 35 minutes a week, but that’s just one day part! To do them all is two hours a week more than I’m doing now!”
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- That’s OK, make it a small step. You can still do just 35 minutes a week. Do the morning show every other week. Rotate the other day parts the other weeks.
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- So, a typical month would be: morning show 2 times, mid-days 1 time, afternoons 1 time. Make coaching an engaging 35 minute/week habit, then build on it later.
Do the coaching as close to the performance as possible (try for the same day).
- Immediate feedback is more valuable than feedback on forgotten performances from days or weeks earlier.
Keep your own running list of goals and improvements/issues.
- This list will end up far bigger than what you can address each week. One strategy is to keep three lists; major issues that take time, medium issues that take a few weeks, smaller goals that are a quick fix.
Consider doing coaching at random times, not on a set schedule, if this can work with your schedule and theirs.
- It helps with accountability for them to know you’re listening any day, any time.
