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In This
Issue...
 The Real World At MTV
A New American
Revolution
Basic
Training
Bringing Values To
Life
Features...
Peter Block Column
Views for a
Change
Pageturners
Briefcases
Sites
Unseen
Diary of a
Shutdown
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 The Real World At
MTV
Traditional Human Resource Systems Help MTV Rule the
Road
--"Real World,"
"Road Rules," and "Total Request Live" are shows most
commonly associated with MTV. In fact, MTV is one small
part of the MTV Networks which owns and operates numerous
cable television programming services. MTV itself is the
world's most widely distributed television network reaching
350 million homes in 83 territories. Other services include
MTV2, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, TV Land and the The
Digital Suite. In addition, MTV Networks operates MTV
Networks online, a portfolio of leading internet
properties, and is currently building the ultimate online
destination for kids and music fans.
--One would hazard a
guess that their "people" practices are equally innovative.
And to some extent they are. But the world of auditing,
control and performance appraisals does exist. After all,
as Maude DiVittis, vice president of education and training
tells it, "We are still a business." And a successful one
at that. But for an organization where it appears everyone
under 30 with a good idea wants to work, the challenges are
unique and demanding. With everything from state-of-the-art
mentoring programs to a unique tuition reimbursement
program, innovative and colorful use of space,and open
pantries with free food and beverages, MTV doesn't
necessarily stand for a Managed Traditionally
Venue.
--DiVittis joined
MTV as director of sales training. In her role she meets
practically every employee, since the first day at MTV is
spent with her education and training office's "Ignition",
the company's weekly orientation program. DiVittis recently
talked with News for a Change Editor Bill Brewer about life
in the fast lane at MTV, creating and maintaining a culture
that recognizes smart people and good ideas from that can
come from everyone and what keeps her up at
night.
NFC:: What were
some of the issues you dealt with when you were at
Nickelodeon in terms of organizational development?
DiVittis: The goal was
to increase the overall organizational effectiveness. I did
this by encouraging individuals who were responsible for
managing others to demonstrate really sound business and
management practices so they were effective in running
their departments. A manager is going to influence the work
climate, the work environment. They're going to influence
an employee's chance for success. They need to set up
employees for success. It had a lot to do with managing
expectations, communicating job expectations, assuring that
there was ongoing feedback.
NFC: So the manager is
responsible for the workers, for ensuring their success,
instead of the workers being responsible for their own
success? Or, as opposed to a manager being clear about the
work, making sure you have the tools that you have the
training, and facilitating for your success, but your
success is not my responsibility.
DiVittis: One challenge
we often face in our organization is when a manager gets
promoted, and has the new responsibility of managing
another person. They may have had no experience in doing
that and when they get promoted, they are promoted based on
one skill set. Then they're put into a new role, where they
may not have necessarily developed a skill to effectively
manage another person. So I think that it's the
responsibility of our organization to provide the manager
with the tools and the support to be successful in managing
another person. I think that a critical success factor is
to have a supportive boss; communicating job expectations
and giving feedback. But, ultimately it's in the hands of
the employee to navigate their way through. I am in full
agreement that it is the workers'
responsibility.
NFC: And how might
these managers give feedback?
DiVittis: We have a
performance review process that happens on July
1.
NFC: So the month of
June you have a lot of high performers-right?
DiVittis: Even though
the formal review happens on July 1 there should be no
surprises. Giving feedback should happen on a day-to-day
basis, day in and day out. People should recognize where
they stand and where their strength is and where their
areas of development are. So by the time July 1 comes
around again, there are no surprises. It just happens to be
the more formal process in the organization to do the
formal review, but reviewing really happens day in, day
out. For instance, we are currently doing this whole
initiative with one of our largest functions and our goal
is to promote healthy dialogue. We need to give people the
tools, understanding and awareness around what that looks
like. So it takes on the form of sensitivity training. It
talks about promoting good listening skills, encouraging
awareness and understanding, seeking first to understand
where that person is coming from. It's not about you
telling them what your point of view is.
NFC: MTV is
leading-edge, creative, outside-the-box thinking. But what
I'm hearing is a very traditional structure. Aren't
creative cultures difficult to manage?
DiVittis: Oftentimes
people will look at a creative company, and say, "Oh it's
really different." But we are a business. All functions are
represented. Yes, we have accounts payable. We have a
payroll department, human resources, research, law and
business affairs. We are a business that needs to have some
sort of architecture. We have an incredibly fun and
creative work environment. And our culture is probably our
greatest asset. People want to work here because of the
environment. If you look at the physical space and how
things are laid out, if you look at the type of work that's
being done-people love it. People go, "Wow, that's
great."
NFC: What's different
about the physical environment?
DiVittis: For example,
Nickelodeon's floor space is designed in a way that's
relevant to its audience. You walk through the halls and
you'll see giant, inflated, orange beach balls. You'll see
our on-air product, the channel itself. So you'll see
televisions situated in every hallway and every crevice
continuously playing our product. You'll see large
chalkboards from floor to ceiling, where people can just
scribe whatever they want. You'll see a meeting space that
is fun, based on its colors. It's creative, based on its
layout. It's open. It encourages divergent thinking. I
think that your environment impacts how you think. I think
your environment impacts how you approach your business
environment. It impacts how you approach your problem
solving. We have open pantries, which provide free
beverages, coffee and food. All of these things create a
really worker-friendly environment. It encourages
interaction and dialogue.
NFC: Getting free
beverages and having a brightly colored office might be
great for six months-but in terms of long-term commitment
and doing great work-there has to be something else
there?
DiVittis: You're right,
the physical space or the free beverages are very surface.
The depth, what keeps our employees there, what keeps them
rooted, I think is their relationships, their ability to
learn from others. We started a formal mentoring program
that has been very effective for us. We provide them with
ongoing professional development and training. We do that
through classroom work and coaching. We do that through
supporting their career development. They may come through
the door and be very successful in one area, but then want
a new challenge and growth opportunity and we're able to
support that as well. We have a whole internal job posting
process. Every Tuesday, jobs are posted both online and
physically placed on each floor's reception area. People
can pick up a stack of the job postings. We assure that
every job is posted prior to looking externally. Internal
communication is key. One thing that's pretty commonplace
is what we call "town hall" meetings. Functional area
leaders and channel presidents run the meeting and publicly
review work of on air promotions and new programming and
creative work that's been completed. This forum also allows
for department heads to speak and publicly recognize
individuals. It's also a forum where they introduce new
people to the organization. It's very effective and keeps
folks connected.
NFC: What you've
described is like a pep-rally. And we know the excitement
generated by pep rallies lasts for about 30 minutes, or if
you're lucky, until the next morning. But the name "town
hall" implies that if there are issues to discuss this a
forum to bring them out. What kinds of empowerment
principles are present in your organization?
DiVittis: I think our
employees are very empowered. There are forums for sharing
ideas, if someone wants to pitch a new idea or they have an
idea for development. We have so many success stories. One
of our biggest successes right now is "Blues Clues." It's a
phenomenon. It's been existent for four years. It was
created internally by a coordinator. She is the co-creator.
People will knock down our doors to come work at
Nickelodeon. They know that it's a culture that recognizes
smart people and encourages good ideas.
NFC: And how do they do
that? If I come to work there and I have a great idea for a
new program...
DiVittis: You can go
and pitch the head of development and there is a forum to
do that. So at certain times of the year you can do a
formal pitch and say, "Here's my idea. Here's what I want
to do."
NFC: What's the
greatest challenge you face today in your job?
DiVittis: The
biggest challenge that I face, I can tell you quite
honestly, is not being a victim of our own success. We've
had a lot of successful programs; there is a lot of need to
support training and education in our organization. Just
being able to meet those needs.
Our
challenge as an organization has to be around retention
because it is such a competitive marketplace which
heightens the importance of human resources all the more.
The United States and New York City have the lowest
unemployment rates since 1970. So the biggest challenge
that we face as an organization is the retention of a
talented and diverse workforce.
NFC: And what's your
strategy for that?
DiVittis: Our strategy
is to provide all of these support programs that encourage
retention.When people talk about what makes them stay or
attracts them to a workplace, and we hear them say, "It's
having a manager that's effective, having a manager that
can teach me something," that means providing training to
new supervisors. That means having mentoring programs. That
means having opportunities to learn and grow, whether it be
through internal workshops or supporting their external
education.
We
have a terrific reimbursement educational systems program
unlike any other organization. We provide the money
up-front. We have a very young population and they want to
earn their undergraduate degrees. Taking an undergraduate
class at NYU costs $684 per credit hour. What 24-year-old
can afford $2,100 up-front? Our organization affords them
the opportunity to take up to six credits a semester and
we'll pay for it up-front. Then the employee closes out the
loan by providing the organization the passing grade. That
to me is being flexible.
That
to me is providing a benefit that meets the needs of our
population. So when we talk about attracting and retaining
diverse talent, it is understanding and addressing the
needs of our employees.
NFC: One last question:
What keeps you up at night?
DiVittis:
Unfortunately, human resources is not exactly a destination
job for business leaders, and HR's offer of top talent
remains uncompetitive. It keeps me up at night because here
I am, I've made a conscious choice to work in human
resources and have a passion for my work. I come to the
table with a solid business background, experience in sales
and marketing and an MBA from Columbia University.
Oftentimes, I look in the function and realize that we need
to shift our thinking. We need to shift human resources
from being transactional to focusing more on strategic
business leaders and partnering with the
business.
The
good news is that our organization places high value on the
function of HR. We must be able to deliver to the business.
I feel that our organization's greatest investment is in
it's human capital. I think business leaders are now
recognizing the importance of human resources. I believe
that we're now on the radar screen, and the issues that
business leaders are most concerned with, a majority of
those issues are now around human resource capability.
Human resources needs to adopt more strategic skills and
emerge as a business leader, not as transactional. To be
more consultative. So we need to attract really top people
into the human resources function and make it a destination
job.
NFC: What motivates
you?
DiVittis: At work, it
is having a great boss who is supportive, respected and can
teach me something. I currently have an incredible boss who
is the consummate HR professional. This is what keeps me
motivated and provides me great job
satisfaction.
June 2000 News for
a Change Homepage
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