You Have To Be Mad To Work Here But It Doesn't Help
In the past 48 hours I met up with the woman who runs ±«Óãtv Radio Ulster and the man who runs ±«Óãtv Radio 2. I enjoyed seeing both of them but the woman - Susan Lovell - seemed to suggest I needed a management coach while the man - Bob Shennan - seemed to imply I needed psychiatric help.
Or maybe I'm just paranoid.
Susan, to be fair, was simply extolling the virtues of the ±«Óãtv's coaching scheme which she joined last year. By all accounts it has changed her outlook on work and now she offers coaching to staff throughout the ±«Óãtv. Apart from anything else, the scheme ensures that this aspect of training is provided internally by people who know about broadcasting rather that by expensive external trainers who work mainly with commercial organisations.
I told Susan about my own experience with an external coach many years ago. It was useful, up to a point, but then I began to dread my fortnightly appointments. I didn't really get a lot out of talking to a stranger about my work issues and having him suggest obvious solutions that I had already arrived at. Then I started to feel that my issues were fairly petty and was almost tempted to make up some more complicated dilemmas so that our conversations would be more interesting.
Anyone who ever attended Catholic confession as a child might recall the temptation to make up interesting sins to confess...which would have been a sin in itself, of course.
Meanwhile Bob Shennan was in Scotland with his team to hear producers pitch their programme ideas for Radio 2. When I was giving him the guided tour in the morning he used the term schizophrenic to describe the dual role we have at ±«Óãtv Radio Scotland. We not only run a radio station ourselves but also act as a production company providing programmes for other ±«Óãtv radio networks. I had never thought of that in terms of a split personality, but I suppose he's right. Our programme-makers spend a lot of time trying to understand the different needs of the different stations.
No wonder some of us seem slightly eccentric.
Perhaps we all need some coaching.
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