“Face time.” It is a term common to broadcast journalists. It describes the reporter or anchor’s opportunity to deliver news on camera, eye-to-eye with the audience. In its worst sense, it is about ego and being “center stage.” In its best sense, it is about effective, direct communication. “Face time” is important.
News managers should pay heed to the term in its best sense. Employees deserve “face time” with the boss—personal, eye-to-eye, sometimes heart-to-heart communication. How much “face time” do your employees get with you? Are they getting enough? Probably not.
Here’s what face time isn’t:
The boss answers the phone or entertains door knock interruptions while meeting with an employee.
The boss avoids eye contact during conversations.
The boss avoids one-on-one meetings with employees.
The boss does most of the talking during a meeting with a staffer.
The boss delivers important feedback by email, not in person.
At one time or another, every manager has been guilty of one of these acts of commission or omission. It the bane of busy bosses. But the question is: are you a chronic offender? Are you even aware that you are routinely denying face time to your colleagues?
One editor in at a recent Poynter seminar got feedback from his newsroom, praising his knowledge and editing skills, but asking that he please, please look up from his computer when employees are working with him on issues and stories. In his mind, he was multi-tasking. To them, he was shutting them out.
During my tenure as a news director, I learned about denying face time the hard way—when a colleague I admired called me on it. Our chief photographer was talented, dedicated…and a good enough friend to tell me one day: “When I’m in your office with you, I never feel like what I have to say is important. You let any person who comes to your door interrupt us.”
I was stunned, but he was right. In my mind, he and I were partners in management. Together we served the troops. So, if someone knocked on my door while he and I were talking, I assumed the two of us should defer to the employee’s needs.
Problem was, I never shared that assumption with him. I just cut him off every time someone at my door said, “Excuse me, got a minute?” and in doing so, I insulted the chief photographer. I may not have intended to, but I surely did.
Ashamed, I apologized, and explained the assumption behind my actions. He understood that my bad behavior was rooted in good, if flawed, intentions. But I had to change. We agreed that from that moment on, he would tell me directly: “I need uninterrupted time” or, “I’m just dropping in to chat, feel free to take care of folks who drop in.”
I will always be grateful for my colleague’s candor. It taught me several good lessons:
Face time- undivided attention with lots of listening- is important to all employees, including your high-ranking middle managers.
When leaders deny people face time, they can feel unimportant and underappreciated.
People don’t know what your intentions are; they only know what you do.
If you are distracted, need to cut an employee off in mid-conversation or allow an interruption, explain, apologize and minimize such occurences.
At a time when some leaders lack budgets for raises, much less bonuses, consider this: it costs you nothing to give the gift of face time.
