CASE STUDY
Coaching an Abrasive Male News Anchor
Marcus is a popular news anchor in his state. He is widely respected by his viewers and his staff for his ability to get to the truth during interviews, no-nonsense delivery, and knowledge of politics. His style made his show the most viewed across the state, meaning he brought in more advertising dollars than any other news anchor at the station.
Marcus’ journalistic talents didn’t work so well for his team, however. He focused on getting to the bottom of who made mistakes, used a tone that was condescending, dismissed people, argued to win, and had emotional outbursts.
Out of 382 comments collected, 265 of them – 69% – were negative.
Examples of his feedback included, for example (actual feedback):
BLOWS THINGS OUT OF PROPORTION
- “He escalates his language in how he describes a scenario. I don’t think his word choice is an accurate reflection of what happened.”
- “He takes things so far. He can take a little negative information, turn it into a larger conspiracy or flip information that we all heard and change it in a completely different way. It’s like, wait a minute, that is not accurate.”
- “I have witnessed him getting into screaming matches with people, management included.”
LACKS SELF-AWARENESS
- “He’s surprised at times when people feel that they can’t work with him because of the multiple times that he’s been negative towards them. He doesn’t see that connection.”
- “He is one of our main anchors. When people receive negative feedback from him, they take it personally and he doesn’t realize that.”
- “I think he can be blind to how he says things and how it’s perceived.”
SHOWS FAVORITISM
- “You have to prove you are also smart and good at your job before he lets you in the inner circle.”
- “If he judges you as worthy it can feel very very good to the individuals in that circle. It can be seen as an exclusive circle.”
- “He definitely has favorites he cares for more and interacts more. You’re either in or out.”
After three months of coaching, Marcus’ peers were reinterviewed to learn about his improvement. This time, only 16% of the comments were negative (31 out of 188).
His new feedback included, for example (actual feedback):
MORE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
- “He offered some good critical and helpful feedback without feeling belittling – he was truly trying to help and provide some of his perspective on it, so that kind of growth is helpful.”
- “He’s definitely gotten better at feedback. He’s going through what’s in the show a little earlier. If he does have feedback, we know about it a lot sooner, so that’s been helpful.”
- “The way he gives feedback has changed. He used to be a lot more snippy with things he didn’t like with scripts.”
MORE KINDNESS
- “He’s better at communicating – he’s always been direct and I appreciate the fact that he’s direct but he’s been kinder. He’s been polite while being direct which is a good thing.”
- “He’s been very kind lately. He’s always been polite and respectful, but he’s shifted more toward kindness.”
- “I genuinely believe that he has become more aware that the success that he’s seen is a large part because of his own talents and hard work, but also because of the people around him and that acknowledgment is important and should continue.”
STARTED MENTORING OTHERS
- “He’s been working with younger reporters and has been trying to get them more involved. The fact that he’s engaging with these people and meeting one-on-one with people, that coaching could go a long way.”
- “He’ll be like, “Hey, I saw you wrote this. I wrote it a different way. Take a look at the way I did it and let me know if you have any questions.” He’s nice about that, so that’s changed.”
- “His communication has been really good lately. If something is in the show that he doesn’t want, instead of saying, “I don’t want that there”, he’ll explain it which makes me feel like I’m learning a lot more.”
Feedback before and after coaching:
Marcus’ changes were well received by his team, and he continues to be a better communicator and leader in the newsroom.
These changes are a triple win. Marcus is more effective, everyone else is more efficient, and the channel itself is at less risk for employment lawsuits.
“Marcus is doing much better, and we believe the investment we made was money well spent. From what I have seen in the past year, I would say he is in a much better place and thriving.”