You may or may not be a Radio 1 listener – either now or in the past – but no doubt you know it prides itself on being the flagship station for pop, and that the Breakfast Show (currently hosted by Chris Moyles) attracts the biggest listening audience. Interestingly, it’s being challenged now by Radio 4’s Today programme, which has only a few hundred listeners fewer than Radio 1 - so either Radio 1 isn’t getting it right, or Radio 4 is.

 

A similar thing happened to Radio 1 almost two decades ago in 1993, when a new broom was brought in to shake up the station, in the form of new Station Controller Matthew Bannister. At the time, Radio 1 was somewhat in the doldrums. Being challenged by the more “down-with-the-kids” Capital Radio, it looked a bit tired. But the radical changes Bannister made at Radio One went too far. Dave Lee Travis (DLT) resigned on air, while other DJs, like Simon Bates, were dismissed. Bannister tried to make the station less personality-led and make it appeal once again to the younger audience. But he was criticised for his savagery.

 

Effectively, he had an end game but the means he used to go about achieving it had a damaging effect on employee motivation and employee retention. He also alienated many listeners and numbers dropped, so much so that some predicted Radio 1’s demise – of course the station survived; then at least. Now it has a new challenge in the shape of Radio 4..!

 

In every business new managers come and go, bringing with them new – and old – ideas. But before anything is implemented staff need to understand the changes, their effect and their impact. For any initiative to work, and most change initiatives do not, you have to win a critical mass of supporters. Some research puts that at 49% of the workforce. Still you might want to ponder – if all your employees are not pulling in the one direction, just how far do you expect to get..?

 

The communication and implementation of change is part of what we offer at Be More Effective, so please get in touch if you’d like to chat further.