Management Advice For New Program Directors

The transition in Radio from talent to manager is one of the most delicate and complicated situations you will ever experience. For months, or years, you have been in the trenches with your co-workers as a friend, confidant, and have (probably) griped about the Program Director and other managers. You've heard secrets and told a few. You know about every little feud and grudge. You've sat around in the studio, and out at remotes over the weekend and talked about everyone else on the station team. Maybe you've even thought to yourself about who would go, who would stay, and generally what you would do if you ran the Programming end of the station. Be careful what you wish for, because now you do!

Know that some of your former peers are cheering your promotion and are eager to work with you. That will feel good, but don't let their support lead you to do something that can kill you before you get started…gallop into town with guns blazing.

Why? Because just as surely as some are cheering, others are uncomfortable with your being named PD. A couple of them may have thought they deserved the job themselves, so they're feeling anything from hurt to bitter. Still others will simply have some level of anxiety about your going from “one of us” to “one of them.” Either way, these former peers are in a holding pattern now, checking you out.

What to do? Start the campaign to win them over by creating an atmosphere of stability and cohesion in your radio station where sound judgments about the future can be made -- by everyone. Look, the last thing you want in your new role is everybody jumping off the ship or even low-level griping.

You want people to settle down and function. The reason is simple. When and if there are changes down the road, you want to make them on your terms. You want a team of engaged supporters who buy in to your vision on how to improve the station…not the resistance of a confused or belligerent on air team and support people.

But here's the tough part…you have to campaign without compromising your new authority. Like President Bush, you have to run for office while holding office. It's a critical part in moving from peer to Program Director, and all effective managers go through it, often several times in their careers.

Getting this transition right is all about timing. Your kinder, gentler election drive won’t or can't last forever. Give it three to five months. If you haven't won over the skeptics by then, you never will. In fact, after a certain point, the softer you are, the less effective you will become. And you'll be fighting battles that do nothing but wear you down. Save your energy for bigger things and begin the process of moving out the people who give you problems and bringing in people who accept the changes that you and your core of supporters deem necessary.

Fortunately, the transition period doesn't last forever, and if you handle it right -- with a campaign and not chaos -- you'll be in a position to do what's best for your station, and yourself, and that’s lead from strength.

Oh, and something else, sell UP and sell DOWN. Sell up line to your boss, and their boss, while at the same time, sell down to your staff. Keep everybody in the loop. Most new PD’s say “I’m not going to play the political game” and the reality is that everybody does, and it is one of the most important things you will do.

Good luck! And keep me in the loop on how you’re doing in this new role. As they used to say on CB’s (citizen band radios) in the 70’s…”keep it between the ditches!”