We’ve all been a part of this situation in radio station strategizing. The research company comes to town to deliver the data, the consultant flies in, the corporate staff shows up, and the station team is in the conference room. And collectively, they’re all supposed to figure it out.
But while having lots of great minds in one room is a requirement for winning and carving out the plan, the plain fact is that having too many opinions can sometimes make it difficult to come up with a singular vision. Some voices are stronger than others, and there are always faces to be saved. As a result, you sometimes end up with an outcome that’s worse than bad broth – it often fails to live up to its potential.
Starbucks appears to get that. A new Fast Company article points out that in a company with thousands of employees, just seven people are responsible for evaluating the bulk of the 500 million pounds of coffee beans Starbucks buys. Now this little group represents a diverse mix of company employees, and a key to their evaluative process is not to talk.
As Major Cohen, senior project manager of Starbucks’ Global Coffee Engagement (how’s that for a title?), explains, “We know you like to talk. Just don’t say anything. We don’t want to telegraph anything to anybody.”
So they quietly taste the coffee, and if they run across something interesting, noteworthy, or potentially significant, they’ll move that tasting cup an inch – just enough for others to notice that there may be something going on.
That may – or may not – lead to a conversation about a coffee bean or blend that might ultimately end up in grande or vente cups in thousands of Starbucks stores around the world.
By “flagging” an idea without loading or biasing it, a process begins to form. And without lobbying, posturing, or debating, consensus forms.
While flying into Seattle last week, some of Starbucks’ “unusual practices” came to mind. With 149,000 employees, it’s fascinating that the lion’s share of the tasting is done by this very small council.
And that brought me around to many of the situations I find myself in every week where a group – sometimes very large – is attempting to hammer out a station’s sound, strategy, marketing, or all of those things.
That’s not to say that the team method that most companies, consultants, and researchers employ is flawed. But the obvious “too many cooks in the kitchen” line has become a cliché for a reason.
Thinking back to the days when I programmed, I appreciated my “committee,” corporate input, and of course my boss’ opinions. But in the final analysis, one vision has to emerge. And is usually the case with stations that are truly successful, it is the programmer (or brand manager) who has to step up with confidence in a plan.
Radio, as we know, has changed a great deal in the last decade or so in ways that are talked about a lot on this blog. From voicetracking to consolidation to syndication, the nature of how stations are programmed and how strategies developed have changed.
And with these changes, the role of the programmer has been diminished. There’s a lot to be said for hiring PDs with vision and letting them do their jobs. But the other side of this is that programmers also have to step up, assert their strategy, make sure its grounded in logic, and then confidently sell it to the team.
When that fails to happen, the committee takes over. And the end result isn’t always good.
So when we see a global company saying that while its procedures, systems, and growth patterns may look, act, and smell like other restaurant chains, the fact that the actual product itself – the coffee – comes from a tiny group of tastemakers who quietly connect with each other in a very organic way…
…we ought to pay attention to that.
Grande bold, no room, please.
Thanks to Lori Lewis for the heads-up. And congratulations to my friends and clients in Seattle on a great Super Bowl victory.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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I’ve found that every cliché you’ve ever heard is bang on. You just have to know where they apply. “Too many cooks” is a great example but it’s difficult to impossible for a singular voice to prevail when you take into account the power curve at most companies these days. Having the best vision is one thing. Having the opportunity to prevail and realize that vision is another thing altogether.
You are so right. Knowing it and doing it are two different things As someone who frequently wears the “chef hat” in meetings (and knowing all to well that I’m part of a group), you try to let things flow more organically and let programmers program, but the pressures are there. Thanks for an important observation.