The panel featured Mary Gribulis from WMHT; Tammy Carpowich from KPBS and Max Duke from PBS. All amazing system leaders in their own right with diverse perspectives. Diving into questions, I overcame my nerves and soaked in what the panelists had to share.
It’s all too common at work that you’ll receive a green light for a project without having all the skills necessary to pull it off single handedly. Mary was given the chance to pilot a digital first production. Admittedly she said one of her weaknesses was a lack of knowledge about producing and editing. Mary asked the team of experts she works with at WMHT to help her out. Learning on the fly is a challenge, but by being open to feedback she was able to successfully produce the show.
Managing people is a large part of growing in your career and moving into a leadership role. When asked to take on additional teams at KPBS, Tammy said yes knowing it would be an uphill task. The newly formed Technology & Innovation department consisted of 60 employees, made up of several different teams. Many of these teams preformed tasks and operated in ways that were unfamiliar to her. Taking the time to listen and learn about these new teams was a key part of the transition. Another part was recruiting peer mentors. These mentors are not what you'd traditionally think of, meaning they weren't older or high up in the organization, rather they were extremely knowledge in their field. Some were even junior to her position. Their experience and expertise aided Tammy in guiding her new team and, as a result the station as a whole, forward.
Max boomeranged from WPBT2 to PBS, then back to WPBT2 and now back to PBS. Max originally worked at WPBT2, starting as their “web guy.” Building the website and managing early digital platforms at the local level is what brought Max over to PBS. Once at PBS, he worked his way up and eventually managed the SPI team. Shortly after that, he returned back to the station as VP of Content and Community Partnerships. Quite a leap from where he started. Going from being a peer to many coworkers, to being in a leadership position was a challenge. During that time he had to overcome his own self doubt. He reminded himself of the advice he often gave others, which is that he was hired for a reason. From that, Max was able to win over colleagues and guide the station in successful local partnerships and productions.
These are just a few memorable stories and highlights from the YoPro panel at TechCon. If you’re interested in reading more, thanks to the DMAC, there are collaborative notes from all the TechCon sessions. Check out what your peers found interesting from the panel, and learn more about self assessment tools, managing up, and advice the panelists would have told themselves during the experiences referenced above.
Special thanks to Cole Blaise, a Multimedia Producer at KCPT, for the awesome representation of the advice shared (see illustrated notes above).
