2015 Strategy. More of the same?

I was reading December 2009-End of Year note (attached at bottom for now) Mr. Lacroix sent out. I suggest you all  have a read too. That being said Mr Lacroix has announced the launch of a long-term strategy for the Corporation. Titled Driving towards 2015. Its in the early stages includes the usual cast of characters. Richie, Sylvain, Christine and of course they are already dipping into their newly freed $133 million to pay for the consulting expertise of Bain & Company. A company who proudly bullet points “We tell it like it is-even if management doesn’t want to hear it.” Wait till they get a load of Richard.

I don’t pride myself on stomping on an idea before its even totally evolved. I would like to ask Mr. Lacroix where and when do you intend to include input from staff. From the little I know of this project it is already looking like another CBCNN fiasco. Management and consultants channel surfing and saying ” We wanna be like them”.

I’ve got almost 15 years of news production  just here at the Corpse. I know what I’m doing. I know what works and what doesn’t. I also know that there is a depth of experience all around this building and country begging management to please hand us a bucket and let us bail some water outta this ship. The Captain and the Pilot are too busy looking at the charts dreaming of their destination while the crew is banging on the cabin door trying to warn them of the dangerous waters ahead.

CBC was once known for its production quality. Its crews were innovative before that became a consultants $1000 buzz word. This talent still exists. Use it. Its whats going to make the difference. More of a difference then blow hard town hall meetings and a badly executed  mangement wish lists.

I’m not telling not trust your Senior Bureaucrat I mean Management team but In my time here I have not seen many initiatives that included a basic consideration of  how things are really working below decks. I fear your process is corrupted by the agendas of your team. A fresh point of view will be a benefit to you in this project. I’m not ignorant to the fact that CBC is as much a political organization as a media corporation. Still times are bad really bad. Its time to be bold.

I heard you speak once.You shared an insight about your love of running. You said that its always on a mental level tougher to finish a race that passes the comfort of your hotel room then a race where your room is at the beginning or end of the course. The struggle being that one is  tempted to quit and go and relax. Well I fear some of those closest to you want you to go back to your room. They don’t want you to struggle. They don’t want to work hard.  They don’t want you to be bold.  They want you be content. They want you to think that staff are bereft of ideas and entrenched in a culture of rejection and need to be dealt with and not talked to. Its better to pay money out to consulatants. Cuz thats what the big players do. These ideas and people will be the ruin of all of us.

Consider these points of view or not but the simple act of  having your crew represented a the table will be the start of something good.

JFM

11 Comments

  • JFM says:

    Duck FFMFMO! They don’t like that kinda talk here.

    • Red Black Attack says:

      Actually we’re all about autonomy. Perhaps a future post about the failures of The Hub can talk about the potential of autonomous units within an awareness network that is part wiki and part google wave :-0

  • Fake Fake Meta Fake Meta Ouimet says:

    JFM makes one good point for CBCers, struggling blogistas, or (anon 8:56?) test subjects for some new type of rage-inducing steroid to think about. The best quality work from CBC comes from units where feedback from employees shapes the presentations – whether it’s a TV show, radio show, or a web feature.

    CBC really under-utilizes many of its tech sector people, who could almost all be making a bucketload somewhere in the private sector. When a feedback process comes laong, it’s always bloated and on loooooong timelines to gather everyone’s input and study it. And the collection of all that info is often done by *outside companies.

    It should be part of CBC’s retention strategy to let units have more autonomy. Let suggestions and direct problem solving come from the trenches, where the broadcasting(content) and technology(delivery) experts work.

  • PoonGirl says:

    Yawn.

  • Anonymous says:

    Hey Asshole, who are you speaking to? Your navel? Surprise surprise but not all readers of this site work inside the corpse. So if you want to reference something, post it first, like in the truth farm. Secondly, do you really think Hubert will read anything you post here? He’s not your audience jerk off. We are.

    • JFM says:

      I added the article. Thanks to my mom for writing in an clarifying my errror.

    • Fake Fake Meta Fake Meta Ouimet says:

      Hey dude, are you Joe Clark?

      • Fake Fake Meta Fake Meta Ouimet says:

        I mean – hey Anon 9:07 – are you Joe Clark.

        Sorry, I’m still learning about social networking.

      • Fake Fake Meta Fake Meta Ouimet says:

        Correction – Hey Anon 8:56 – are you Joe Clark?

        Sorry, I’m still learning about social networking.

        • Not Joe Either says:

          I think everyone has to safely assume that Joe is not coming back, and will not be contributing any labour to this site unless he clearly indicates otherwise. Whatever you want to say about Joe, he is who he is, and there’s some consistency there we should respect. I don’t feel it fair to ever assume he writes anonymously on this site.

          So let’s forgo further guesses about Joe and instead go back to thinking the real person behind this site is Tod Maffin.

          Look at the @teamakers account. It has Tod’s background!?

          Maybe he made a mistake while using HootSuite to update his many twitter accounts?

          C’mon now Tod, you’re Ouimet are you not? Just come out and say it so we can move on.

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