Board Blog: Is your org chart out of touch with time?

I’ve been telling my students for years that WPTS is not just a radio station, but a multi-platform content provider. As much as my students use that phrase to make jokes at my expense, they know that I’m right — more today than ever.

Greg Weston, CBI Immediate Past President

It’s not exactly breaking news that the barriers between different media are breaking down. Nobody’s doing just one thing. Radio stations recruit writers and newspapers hire videographers. Everybody does social media. All media are multi-media.

One overlooked key to flourishing in this new media era is making sure your organizational structure keeps up with the times.

At WPTS, we have always been structured more or less like a professional radio station — Station Manager, Program Director, Promotions Director, Music Director, etc. That’s not good enough anymore.

We’ve found that many multi-media tasks were in nobody’s job description and others could fit in everybody’s.  But editing job descriptions isn’t enough; to truly flourish in areas like podcasting, vodcasting and social media you’ll need to create positions dedicated exclusively to them.

When was the last time your media outlet reviewed its leadership structure? Do you have a position specifically focused to social media? If you’re a radio station, do you have someone focusing on video content? What about podcasts? Is there anyone charged with making sure your message and “voice” is consistent on all platforms?

The key to remaining relevant in today’s fragmented media environment is to be wherever the audience is. That can only happen if your organizational chart is as current as your playlist.