GPB Will Seek an Outside Consultant for a Strategic Plan
Georgia Public Broadcasting’s board met for the first time since April today with newly appointed permanent CEO Bert Wesley Huffman laying out short and long-term goals.
Those include developing a strategic plan, maintaining (rebuilding?) quality relationships with all stakeholders, and a year one goal to “Remind Georgia of GPB’s Worth.”
“We want to get back to that conversation around how important various stakeholders are to the organization” Huffman said in the meeting. “…Those stakeholders in my mind, obviously donors… individual donors and also organizations that give to GPB. The Georgia General assembly… We want to work on building relationships there. And then other public media partners across the country and right here in Georgia. Making sure that we’re having good communication and maintaining quality relationships with WCLK and WABE as well.”
That would be a switch from previous CEO Teya Ryan’s tenure when GPB began directly competing in Atlanta radio with WABE which in turn upped its PBS affiliate from a secondary to full-service station.
Huffman plans to build out a leadership team below the C suite and is implementing quarterly all-staff meetings and regular cross-division conversations.
“Number one is to build out a self-reliant leadership team. I think that we already have that in many ways and we’re very fortunate at the top level… We’ve worked together for a long time. We all say we’re all looking for the same strategic vision for this organization. There is a lower tier of leadership though that has been lacking in the organization for a few years. So we’ve been going through the org chart and working to elevate some people. We have a lot of smart people in this company who have somewhere to go and we want to offer those elevation opportunities at that next level for some of those leaders…”
On developing a strategic plan Huffman said he’ll seek an outside consultant:
“We have never had at GPB a fully comprehensive strategic plan led by a consultant, someone without any kind of stake in GPB who can come in and bring together not only the leadership team … and the board, but also a very diverse cross section of GPB employees and involve stakeholders in the community: donor interviews, legislator interviews, conversations with leaders in both thought and corporate in Atlanta and across the state of Georgia. Those are very important steps that need to be taken to help us refocus and redefine the mission of our company.”
The refocus also involves a more engaged board.
“I see us pivoting these board meetings that we have on a quarterly basis, more toward less of these presentation type things, and more toward active conversations, brainstorming, bringing you into decisions that need to be made, giving you a little bit clearer snapshot as to the challenges that exist at GPB.”
That would also be a change from the past when the board seamed ceremonial and there was confusion as to when their terms even began or ended.
Huffman’s long — term goal of embracing digital innovation is still a tricky one, he said, as their core supporters may still use and prefer broadcast for another decade.
Huffman wants to seek out new audiences without losing their core supporters and increase the use of data for decision making.
Huffman again emphasizes community engagement citing as an example an upcoming fall Daniel Tiger event in the Mercedes Benz stadium parking lot that will include representatives from state services for needy families.
“We need to focus less on the sub brands, GPB television, GPB education, GPB radio and instead help donors, help stakeholders, help everyone in the communities that we serve understand that this organization is much bigger than one thing.”
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“And then the last thing I would say to you is that the idea here is to innovate, not alienate.”
“We take great pride in GPB being available to 99% of Georgians on television and radio. But at the end of the day, this service should be available to everyone and should focus on first and foremost, frankly, those who cannot afford it and get it for free. Because the work that everyone gives, the dollars that come from any of the various places that they come from that build GPB, all of those dollars are invested in ensuring that people who live across the state of Georgia who maybe can’t even afford cable in their homes, who maybe don’t have the Internet in their homes, they still get quality programming and important educational children’s programming and access to educational materials through their school systems that allow them the opportunity to benefit from this service.”
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“And so, we always want to remember that the work we’re doing is for the least among us. Certainly, there is oftentimes a mistaken identity that has placed on public media that it’s about fancy Masterpiece programming or that it’s about high thought NPR radio programming. And yes, it is about smart, engaging programming, but it’s also about being a resource to young children in corners of the state of Georgia who do not have the things that many of the children growing up in the metro Atlanta area have. And we want to focus in on that and make sure that we’re continuing to tell the story of every Georgian.”
There was no mention of the future of GPB on WRAS though presumably that would come up in any comprehensive strategic plan.
Statements like having good relationships with WABE and WCLK, who both predated GPB as Atlanta NPR affiliates, and putting more emphasis on serving often neglected parts of the state suggest GPB on WRAS could be revisited.
The move into Atlanta radio was Huffman’s predecessor Teya Ryan’s initiative and most identified with Political Rewind with Bill Nigut.
Both are now gone from GPB and neither Ryan nor Nigut’s names were spoken the entire meeting.
