Getting Around in 2006

(click here for podcast version)

Having taught camera and picture editing techniques to hundreds of professionals in different regions of the world I have learnt that bad work usually occurs because of one, or two of two reasons: basic skills are lacking or need refreshing; and the lack of motivation, attributed usually not only to poor salaries and working conditions but also poor team work. The former, is easy to address, it has become one of my finer skills to teach, it is the latter I have had difficulty with but which I am finding solutions to which I want to share.

The problem with improving camera and picture editing skills while there is poor motivation in the air, is that the issues are not with basic skills – although basic skills still need to be addressed – the issues lie in vertical and horizontal areas. Horizontal - solution rest with team efforts, quite often in a news room: with the reporters and news editors. Vertically, the solution rest with management who fail to keep teams communicating and who fail to come up with motivational incentives. The obvious solution is to arrange a training programme for the whole team including management.
In Syria recently I solved a lot of team work troubles by getting my course participants to teach the ABC's of their job to the rest of the team and visa versa. We also left ample time for discussion. This brings out any burning issues reporters, camera operators and picture editors have while working together. This method has proved to be effective, and solved the team work issues for TV stations I worked with in Syria. However in a working TV station it is not always possible to have the cooperation of whole news teams at once, particularly while they are delivering hourly news bulletins. Or as in the case of Macedonia, participants had come from all parts of the country – away from their teams. In situations like these, how can one solve the issue of motivation?

Working as an international consultant is not much different to been a bumble bee, except your garden is the world. One picks up ideas and spreads them across continents, using them as solutions for re-occurring problems such as this one of motivation. I have come to refer to my Nigerian students method when participants complain about team work and salary. The Nigerians have amongst the poorest working conditions in the world. Their salaries are a pittance, they work on antique dated equipment and they're at the studio seven days a week. Nonetheless this doesn't phase them. They work within their environment and motivation for them is like a crest of a tsunami breaking over their right ear. Thompson and Kikki are two of three picture editors I taught on a BBC World Service Trust pilot project leading towards the April 2007 elections. They call themselves the three musketeers and they have their "turf layed out". They taught me the expression “weting the soil” to cool the feet of those they need something from. With the African sun always so high, the ground heats up quickly to piping hot. To please an individual one can water the earth that this person is about to step on to cool the soil for them. This is of course only an expression and now I often mention it to my course participants around the world where team work is an issue. My interpretation of “weting the soil” is to spend time building a relationship of respect with team members in order for them to respect each others’ professionalism.

That's team building what about salary? On the seven day week in Nigeria, the boss of course doesn't work all week. This gives Kikki and Thompson an opportunity to freelance on company equipment. It's the way things work in Nigeria and as it happens one of the musketeers' clients on Sunday is the boss working for his own freelance clients. The day I was there he was making a party political promotional video.
The solution for motivation on this particular area of salary is not to teach corruption, it is to find answers within the environment and culture that participants are working within.

At the end of the day basic skills have to be in place but quite often the reason for poor production lies in lack of motivation. The best way to address it is to deal directly with those who can solve the issues at hand. However, it is also up to the individuals, in my case the camera operators and picture editors I train to initiate change themselves and to find solutions to solve their own motivational issues.