After pay cuts, layoffs, and consolidation of jobs, your remaining employees may be living in fear, which is hardly a pleasant or productive atmosphere. Management consultant Kerry Dettwell offers some helpful tips, specially designed for radio station environments, on how to engage personnel and turn those frowns upside down.1. Job variety. Take a non-motivated jock and let him do mail room duty. Or have a sales person pull a couple of hours at the front desk answering the phones the receptionist you let go would normally handle. The new duties will challenge the bored, and offer a fresh perspective on just how exciting their normal duties are, relative to some other positions at the station. Who knows? If the additional duties are well tolerated, you may want to make them a permanent part of the persons' job descriptions.
2. Organized evening fun. After a 10 to 12 hour day, the tired and worn remnants of your staff will appreciate having a mandatory station gathering to go to, to be able to let loose and blow off some steam. Seeing co-workers socially will reinforce the joy of being alongside them in the workplace for so much of their lives.
3. Friendly competition. This is a big and boundless category limited only by your imagination. Workers love games and contests, so why not pit what's left of your jock staff against each other and see what happens? For instance, if your station runs Ryan Seacrest or some other outsourced programming, have a lip sync contest to see which jock can look most convincing when advertisers look through that glass window, expecting to see someone live at the mic during those voicetracked hours. Another idea is good physical exercise, too - See how many laps around the station a jock can do between the beginning and end of a commercial break. Keep track of their personal best times and offer prizes for most improvement. This way, increasing your spot load will lead to a more fit air staff over time, and they'll thank you for it.
4. Frequency swap. There's no better way to change up the daily routine than to orchestrate a frequency swap with another station in your cluster. This one really keeps imaging people on their toes, though the jocks also will love it. It's always a hoot to hear them ID the station wrong a few times, which is bound to happen. Be sure to record these instances for the holiday party blooper reel! Plus your listeners will love the surprise and variety a frequency swap offers. (Note: Clear this one with the FCC secretly a few days in advance.)
5. Sell your intellectual property. Got a staff that's in a creative rut? New ideas slow in coming? Then sell your station's intellectual property to a competitor. This not only generates revenue, but it lights a fire under your staff and makes thinking up different ways of doing things essential. The challenge will electrify even the most sluggish workforce!
