We’ve already discussed MAM’s role as an enabler in broadcast operations change management and the subsequent areas where MAM can drive change. But none of these benefits will be realized if staff who will be using the system day in and day out have not understood and bought-in to what is an inevitable disruption to their normal practices. When production is ongoing, facilities are huge, companies are comprised of hundreds or even sometimes thousands of employees and staff, what must media organizations consider when it comes to change management? 

Explain what a MAM is

Sounds simple, but don’t assume that anyone understands what media asset management means. Most people will have heard of the concept, many will have experienced it, and not all these experiences will have been positive. Set a solid foundation for the impact on your staff’s routines by emphasizing the value of the change to them. Remove the technical complexity and explain how new workflows help them and their teammates to do their job more quickly and more easily, allowing more time for creativity and, ultimately, better programming of which everyone can be proud.

Start Simple

A MAM can be as simple or as complex as you wish, but nothing will deter people from using a system more than if it appears complicated from the get-go. Get users to buy into the process by handing them control. Work alongside the client so that they can manage the documentation of asset management forms at their own pace. Demonstrate how linking fields and glossaries can be especially helpful in accreting richness to the MAM’s search functionality without over-complicating the process. But most important to this process is starting; the longer you wait to implement change, the more difficult it will be down the road and, conversely, when starting off with a complicated configuration, the more difficult it will be to streamline things later on. 

Train Superusers

Train your facility’s key superusers in the creation, management and modification of asset management forms, and empower them, in turn, to champion the benefits of the MAM and to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with colleagues. Don’t treat training as a top-down tutorial, either. It is only natural to want to resist change, especially if this is seen as directed from above. Break down those barriers by involving the production teams fully in all decisions and by listening to their concerns. Find your champions and superusers in all levels of the organization.

Show Them the Future

In certain environments it can be difficult to convince users of the value of asset management forms since they feel that filling them out is a waste of time. Yet it is very important that forms are compiled accurately and comprehensively. Show them the future: communicate the value of MAM for tracking, finding and sharing content from the past. Illustrate with ‘garbage in, garbage out’ examples of the difficulties a facility can experience if forms are half completed, or not all. Emphasize that the benefits of MAM will not only accrue to everyone but will only increase in value for all with consistent data entry. What looks like a lot of tedious work and, even worse, a waste of time now will amount to a more seamless, integrated and content-rich media repository in the future.
 
Implementing a MAM is not a one and done process. It takes time, and while the benefits are immense, the installation can be somewhat disruptive. But by taking all of the above into consideration, you can lessen the impact while also creating some excitement around the change. After all, isn’t a unified and intuitive workflow the stuff dreams are made of in the broadcast industry? Can’t we all just live in a world where our assets are linked and organized logically, where our media organizations operate with speed and efficiency? Admit it, I know you’re with me on this one.
 
If you’ve recently been through or are considering a major change in your organization, particularly in regards to MAM, what are some of the challenges you’ve encountered? How do you deal with change management? Let’s talk! Contact us to talk change management, MAM, vent your frustrations, and more.