Fear Is Not The Best Motivator...

I remember a witch hunt disguised as a staff meeting to put a PD and his programming style on trial. The morning guy and I listened as the GM allowed each jock to air grievances in front of the PD. I added my two cents on a couple of things in defense of him and you would have thought I was speaking a foreign language. Most of the people in the room were never open to change or growth. Ironically, the station was up in the ratings. Objectively, if the GM was trying to teach the PD something, I don't think public humiliation was the right approach; he resigned shortly after the meeting.

Positive Feedback

Informal and frequent feedback can increase the possibilities of pushing an air staff forward. I always found this to work much better than letting a long list of things add up. If you wait for a formal face-to-face meeting, the staffer becomes tense and less apt to remember any of the positive things you might say. It is next to impossible to teach or motivate if the person is tense and nervous.

Mental Anguish Not Recommended

I had the pleasure of working for Publisher John H. Johnson in Chicago at WJPC. Although I was never invited to it, he apparently had a room on his floor of the Johnson building that was used to get to the heart of the matter with employees. I was told he would make you wait in the room until he was ready to proceed. Psychologically, this might have worked for Mr. Johnson, but I do not recommend using a similar tactic unless your intentions are to cause your employee mental anguish and possible loss of bodily functions.

Teach Don't Preach...

Giving people information to judge their own performance is much better than telling them what to do. Informative feedback can lead to self-discovery on the part of the air personality and lead to a healthier bond of trust with the person. There is a big difference between telling someone what to do and giving someone a roadmap to guide them. The latter approach will motivate them to come to you for more things to work on.

Conclusion:

The whole object of commercial radio is to win with the target audience. A star athlete performs to win within the framework of whatever the coach has set forth. The only way to get your folks into a winning attitude is to teach; some might not have the right make up for motivation, but those who do will help your station or stations to sound and operate at a much higher level. The negative folk will eventually be out-numbered and will eliminate themselves from your company.