So the ridiculous/idiot company I work for asked me to reinterview for my job and present a proposal on taking Afrique Newsmagazine "to the next level." Below is the proposal I wrote, although I was let go before I was even allowed to deliver it--because Afrique is the worst magazine on earth. You've seen from my last post that there are no editorial standards whatsoever. They currently have someone from sales, someone with no editorial or art skills whatsoever, acting as the editor-in-chief and doing layout.
Above all, Afrique suffers from three things: lack of communication, poor management and disinterest.
Lack of communication – No one at Afrique seems to know what they’re supposed to be doing at any one time. Chomba asked me several times if I could do the layout and I said I would try to give my best shot. I had my stories but didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing or how I was supposed to be putting the magazine together with just that. I was waiting for some direction as to when we were going to press or even what would be in the magazine. Then Shomari announces that he’s doing the layout.
Why? Not to put down Shomari but he has no writing skills, he has no design skills, and he knows how to use Illustrator even less than I do.
It was the same when it came to the media kit. Everyone kept talking about putting together the media kit but no one actually wound up doing it because everyone thought it was some else’s job.
Even worse, I had no idea when and for what reasons Jeremiah and Kate left. No one told me for over a week. The only way I found out was by finally asking Margie what had happened. Jeremiah had set out a plan for the issue and the one after and when he disappeared there was no direction from the top to replace that. This resulted in the rather ridiculous situation of having no idea when or if the publication was going to come out. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing or who was in charge of keeping the publication running. It’s difficult to reach above and beyond my responsibilities when I’m not even sure what those responsibilities are in the first place. Which leads me to…
Poor management – When I started working at Afrique, the company had 8 employees and was preparing to launch a second publication. We now have 3 employees, including myself, and we are barely able to produce one magazine. This is the fault of poor management.
Cat quit because the direction of Ethnic Family was arbitrarily changed at the last minute over her protests, after the stories had been written, after a media kit was made up, and after the magazine had already been conceptualized and approved for weeks. As you can see by the last month here, she was the person keeping this magazine running smoothly. When I asked her why she was quitting she came right out and said it: “the management.” Indeed, the single most egregious example of poor management is that Ethnic Family was never launched. At this rate probably never will be.
Another example of poor management, and maybe the most ludicrous thing that’s happened since I’ve been here was Chomba’s repeated demands that I be here at
Management has offered no clear direction in the wake of Cat, Kate and Jeremiah’s dismissal and, in fact, seemed unconcerned about finding new writers and coming up with new stories to put together a September issue. Who is the editor now? Is Shomari? Am I? Who is writing for this publication? Heather B. Duke?
As near as I can tell, the managerial direction at Afrique consists only of time-wasting, recriminatory and condescending meetings that drag on and on with no apparent point. I have never left a meeting at Afrique with a clear understanding of what my responsibilities were or my timetable for completing them . This is especially true of meetings where the publisher was present, as he would arbitrarily change plans and deadlines and dismiss all criticism.
Disinterest – The biggest problem with Afrique, the problem that inspires the communication and management problems, is a lack of interest. The management seems distracted by other things. Indeed, Afrique seems like an afterthought. A publisher who cared about the future of his magazine would have taken charge to offer some direction after the loss of his editor-in-chief. He would have at least chosen a replacement. Jeremiah seemed to be taking on this role but within a week he was gone too and the November issue was left to drift.
In my short time here, employees have been asked repeatedly for proposals or plans to save the company. No one can do that but you. Usually when these plans are presented to management they are dismissed. At the next rambling, recriminatory meeting, the employees are then told they are not working hard enough. The problem as I see it is that the management does not inspire hard work in its employees. When you ask employees to be here by 9 but don’t show up yourself until
I’ve constantly heard talk of how much better the magazine was run, how much more money it made, when you and Chomba did it alone. And yet, you leave the business to be run entirely by amateurs and students rather than taking control yourself. No one is going to care about Afrique as much as you will. How are your employees supposed to be inspired to reach above and beyond to make this magazine succeed when they don’t see any leadership? Why not train them to do a better job? Why not take them under your wing for a few days and show them exactly what to do and how to succeed instead of laying out endless meetings that go nowhere and offer no real direction?
You asked me for a proposal on how to take Afrique to "the next level." The only way to do that is with strong leadership and direction from the management. Only you can save this company. No one else can: not me, not Shomari. Just you. Otherwise Afrique will go exactly where Ethnic Family did: nowhere.
