Building content making skills in onair teams: Natalie Pozdeev (Program Convenor, AFTRS)In a Radiodays Asia Masterclass for both budding and current content directors, Natalie covered the challenges facing this group of radio professionals.CD’s need their teams to
Make high quality content
Engage, entertain and inform their listeners
Be on brand
Keep all of the stakeholders happy…shareholders, managers, sponsors
Teams are not static, people move on, new faces come in, and team dynamics change over time, or the requirements of the team can change.CD’s have to be able to see potential.So where to start, and a Skills Gaps Analysis and Skills Development Plan allows CD’s to identify skills that need to be built as well as acknowledging those that already exist.Natalie says knowing what skills the individual team members already have “…is important because you want to be really efficient with your time and you’re not training them in things that they know how to do already, but you’re also not training for things that you don’t need them to have. Be very clear about what it is that you need people to do, and what they can already do.”Skills you team need will include
Physical Skills
Technical Skills
Social or emotional skills
Personality and attitude
Knowledge
Think about
What level you need their skills to be at i.e. Basic or expert level
How much the context matters e.g. different formats for music or talk
See Blooms taxonomy (Google)Once the skills gap has been identified, bridging the gap should include
Quality feedback. Impactful feedback that improves skills and performance
Set up the time, place, mood well
Encourage self-analysis and reflection
Understand individuals and frame the feedback to meet them where they are
Don’t cover too much at once
Safe experience. Set up ways to practice that are safe so they can make mistakes without them going to air
Scaffolding learning. Structure the development to build the skills step by step. Think tiny steps, not big leaps
Structure training. Look for suitable courses if these are applicable
Once this is in place, it is then important to notice and to encourage progress. […]
