Chibamba F. Kanyama
LESSONS FOR BALLY FROM MY ZNBC STRATEGY
My appointment as ZNBC Director General in March 2012 was made without my consent but I went there anyway after the Minister told me, ‘I have now made the announcement. The PS is already at ZNBC waiting for you. From now on, you are in charge.’ On this, SABMIller Africa Managing Director asked me to temporarily take up the appointment as the company negotiated with Government (to have me seconded and not employed, a strategy that failed).
Huge expectations from the public accompanied my appointment. People expected immediate world class content, objective news and improvement in signal/picture quality.
The inside reality pointed to a total overhaul if I were to meet these huge expectations of ‘Chibamba Kanyama is there; things will finally change.’ The Corporation was in huge financial deficit, unpaid pension arrears, liabilities with content providers, discontented and somewhat politically connected staff. Literally everything was offline.
My strategy was twofold: install systems capturing finance, HR, marketing, content/programming. Systems would form a strong foundation for long term sustainability of the organisation as well as enhance professionalism. I calculated it would take a minimum three years for fruits to start showing (I was there two years four months). I communicated this strategy to management and staff very clearly.
The problem, however, was that the public wanted IMMEDIATE solutions and results. I had to manage the transition by adopting another strategy I called ‘low lying fruits strategy.’ The public did not care about my long term objectives and what I considered to be ‘most impactful strategy’ of instituting systems that would make ZNBC win for many years (it was instant results with no systems verses long term and sustainability oriented strategy).
The low lying fruits strategy included making news bulletins shorter (from 55 minutes to 35), bringing forward the 22.00 bulletin to 21.00 to enable the working class driving home at 19.00 watch a detailed TV news bulletin; feature opposition voices (HH featured for the first time on Radio two for an hour long live interview at ZNBC studios); make live parliament discussions (for which I was heavily censored), re-introduce Sunday Interview; improve on news reportage (sounds bites to be shorter and crispy) and improve radio signal to rural areas ahead of digital migration (also installed transmitter in Ndola as the entire area could not catch ZNBC/ same as Chilanga. This low lying strategy did not mean much to what we wanted to achieve but it meant a lot to this expectant public. It was like,
‘Let’s give them a starter meal (appetizer) while we prepare the main meal which will take a long time given the circumstances we find ourselves in.’
The high levels of expectation for the UPND to deliver is not only benchmarked on the election promises but on the high levels of poverty. In addition, there is a strong and growing narrative being pushed from other interested parties for the government to deliver today and not within five years, the period of its mandate.
The 2022 National Budget provides some of these quick wins but government needs to up the game by being practical and communicating more and more. Some of us who understand what it takes to restore economic stability communicated three months ago that it will take a minimum 36 months for signs of recovery to show (and I still stand by that provided there is focus on the part of government). But many people are impatient and are not ready for that. If it means satisfying present needs at the expense of long term sustainability of the economy, some are ready for that.
The best approach, therefore, for Bally and his team, is to have a two-fold strategy: identifying the quick fixes that offer short term gratification (but give an IMPRESSION things are happening) and a long term strategy that fixes the economy for generations to come.———–
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