Sorry it's been a while. I just had an amazing weekend with thee only David, Dennis, and Mika! Days of endless walking, nights of talking and randomness, and non-stop eating. I should've had horrible explosive diarrhea every night, but somehow I didn't. Amazing. Anyways...
Lesson 7: Realize how much your actions matter.
So once again, this lesson is derived from a day at work. Today I went out to shoot an interview with one of my favorite photographers (well, really, the photographers in general are my favorite people at the station because one off, they're guys and consequently they don't breed and breathe drama like the women in the station and secondly they're just really grounded and fun to be around.) in San Leandro. I'm interviewing our interviewee and I can hear my photog's phone buzzing non-stop. Turns out one of my senior producers is repeatedly texting him asking him where he is and why he didn't leave the footage he had shot with her the week before. So after the interview raps up, I ask him to take some broll shots of our interviewee and he asks me to make a call to my executive producer to see why the senior producer is freaking out. My EP has no idea and doesn't seem to have a clue as to what is going on and tells me she'll call me back. She calls me back and asks to speak to the photographer where she proceeds to chew him out for not leaving the footage from last week even though the senior producer (who, to her defense is usually great and very sweet) had an opportunity to call the photographer before I took him to shoot my interview.
It somehow turned into the photographer's fault that no one asked him to upload the footage. It was the end of the day on a Friday when he finished the shoot and he was around at least for twenty minutes before we left for the shoot, so plenty of time was to be had for a call to the photographer. So we talked about how poor the leadership was on the team. My EP, as we've come to realize is just a bad leader. As you've seen from my previous posts, my EP is kinda crazy sometimes, likes to shift blame, and isn't in touch with the people she works with--she basically can't lead and can't manage...two very important traits for an EP and Newsroom Manager.
The funny thing though is that my EP and the others in my unit (all girls and most with big egos...I'm not trying to be sexist, but I really believe if more guys were in our unit, things would be A LOT easier...and if you are my daughter reading this...well, I don't mind that you have a vagina...just don't be a bitch, please) is that they DON'T have a clue that the way they interact with people is the sole reason why our unit is unorganized and isn't as cohesive as it should be. It's a constant clash of egos. People talk about other people behind their backs, people have attitude, people are bossy, and my boss especially lacks any tact and any people skills. I sit at Ground Zero in my newsroom. Between all the producers and my EP and have been at the epicenter of screaming, bitchy cat-fight after cat-fight. I can literally listen to a fight and pin-point where the the conversation took a downward spiral into a fight. I can even come up with a solution of my own and think of ten different ways to diffuse a situation that the women in this unit cannot seem to figure out. It's SO simple. BE NICE. There's never an excuse to be rude. But it's just a constant butting of heads. A simple disagreement over a shot or a line of track in a story turns into a huge fight and hurt feelings. THAT'S not how you lead! The perfect example was during the interview. Instead of coming off all hot and steaming at the photographer, my EP could've easily said, "Hey, Chris, I'm sorry, but we totally forgot that you had the footage still. Do you think you could feed it back to the station when you get a chance? We really need it." Instead of what she actually said "Chris. Why didn't you think to give the footage to Jess this morning? You should've at least told her you weren't gonna be back until later today. I really don't need this drama." (Keep in mind I had put the interview I scheduled in our calendar that we ALL have access to last week AND I announced I was taking Chris for a shoot twenty minutes prior to when I left--meaning plenty of time to have gotten the footage, but apparently no one listened or cared) See the difference? My approach would've diffused the situation. My EP's just made it worse.
So in the end we talked a lot about how poor of a leader my EP is and how the catty-ness of our unit just does nothing for our team...nothing positive at least. And like I said, no one seems to notice they are killing themselves and our product in the process. I hope you can realize that the way you conduct yourself, especially when you become a leader in your own right, that people aren't dumb. They know how they feel and they know what kind of person you are through the way you interact with them and what your actions show. That saying that actions speak louder than words? COMPLETELY true. You may not notice yourself how people react to your actions, but rest assured, people are definitely paying attention and for better or worse, really adds to how people see and judge you.
There you go. Not a very entertaining read, but an important one! Do what you do, but be ready for the consequences!
Also, I hope in the future when you're reading this, McDonalds is still selling 20-chicken McNugget meals, because those are delicious.
Bye,
Patrick
Pablo - Rock Bottom
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