The flexible workforce at work
Tod Maffin, a staffer at CBC in Vancouver has been on the leading edge of the future for a long time. During the lockout of CBC staff, he has been one of the movers and shakers behind delivering podcasting to a nation hungry for decent national public radio.
Today he put up a podcast on future of Canadian public radio which is a brilliant elegy to a future that seems to have been lost (only Maffin can create elegies to lost futures!).
What I love about the podcast is the way Maffin contextualizes his love for radio in the story of his own life (with audio snippets). But the power punch comes at the end when he points out just how much internet broadcasting, blogging and news gathering CBC employees are doing while locked out of their real jobs. The CBC management says that the lockout is about the fact that the corporation wants the ability to hire a flexible workforce, and Maffin openly wonders how much more flexible a workforce you can get. CBC lockout podcasts are top rated for downloads, locked out staff are making radio on community and college stations across the country and landing big names for interviews while the management at CBC struggle to put together a days worth of programming that is increasingly lifted holus bolus from the BBC.
Maffin’s point is well taken, and his podcast contains several ideas that, if management hears them for what they are, provide a basis for a rejuvenated and effective multi-channel public broadcaster that builds on the flexibilities and learning capacities of its front line staff. The challenge for CBC management now is how to create a workplace that is in fact as flexible as the people who work there.
What’s interesting to note in general about the CBC unplugged podcasts is how the power of conversation in public is strengthening the case for the things Maffin is talking about. Those involved in traditional labour-management dispute should take note. The old dualities are falling apart and complexity and conversation and openness are arising.
