Let us start by commending Charter House for the great job done over the years. The growth has been steady, and the impact is real. A lot of jobs created as well as a lot of lives have been transformed and again the impact is real.
Like every other business establishment, Charter House started humbly with innovative ideas, did their networking well and today we can all see a success story. It was not void of opposition and challenges but equipped with the mindset to achieve and overcome. Today few friends are lost, and more enemies won in the journey to dominate the entertainment landscape of Ghana.
Now hear it that all is not well with Charter House!
We will not bore you with the opinion of disgruntled musicians or celebrities against Charter House, or the biased argument of dissatisfied media folks but will present herein as objectively as we can that the event house has one problem, and that is ‘Management’.
Perhaps the question on your mind is: How? How can Charter House have a management problem? But remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We will use the official website of Charter House as our case study and what it teaches us about them.
On the 5th of June 2013, http://www.charterhouseghana.com will be 10 years old, that is a long time, but if the truth be told, the present condition is only appalling.
We toddle with you through the site and then bring you back to the solution they must follow to remain that ‘giant’ we all appreciate them to be.
On the website is a header THE TEAM, comprising of a nine member top management group, the website fails to inform us of their various titles and positions. It also does not provide their qualifications and experiences.
A little of their profile is necessary to get acquainted with them. The placing of the photos may imply the structure of the organization, showing the husband first, wife and then the rest of the members but what is not clear is why the difference in the photos pattern.
The rest were on a green background. What was the need for a different background for the owners? Even the photos used captured them speaking at events.
Since it is a team there is a need for uniformity, there are certain mistakes reserved for newbies hence one can hardly judge this action or inaction as deliberate. What then is the motive for such action? Charter House management only can answer the question.
NEWS & UPDATE - The heading should be changed to ‘History & Archive’. There is no mention of their upcoming VGMA event, no mention of even the Night of 1015 laughs and music. Rather about Night of 1014 laughs but the annoying part is that when you decide to study the history presented before you or when you click to read more, nothing changes. It takes you nowhere.
SOCIAL MEDIA - You can only follow someone who has a destination or place. To demonstrate that Charter House is social they have put up YouTube, Facebook, & Twitter logos, inviting you to follow them, like them, or watch them.
Frankly speaking and at the time of writing, clicking on any of those logos is a scam because you will not go anywhere. However they have a Facebook page but it is not linked to the website.
GALLERY - There are about twenty five folders consisting of events and programs that one will hope to enjoy a rich collection of photos. However clicking on each sends you to one and the same photo. This is indeed ‘the afternoon of 1016 laughs’.
Remember we are using the website of this organization to understand them. The moral here is that no matter your dealings with them, no matter where you are coming from, what you click is your business. That you ought not to depend on what you are seeing as your guide because it is the same picture you will see.
There are broken links on the website, thus, suffice it to say that a company’s website represents them online and you know that the secretive manner of Charter House will not allow one to look into their offline activities. I wonder what else is broken there. It is from small and simple things that great things are accomplished.
If management of Charter House decides to shift blame to another for this, then you can identify another problem as lack of owing responsibility.
Also if by the time you are reading this, and they decide to act fast to fix the abnormalities so as to refute and discredit the writer, fret not. Our work is done as a change agent, and perhaps reasonable companies would seek our input in finding fault with their organization which crucial step necessitates development.
We have identified certain flaws with their website as a case study; therefore here are the 8 ways forward for change:
-Train & retrain your top management team
-Fire incompetent folks
-Try different decision making model
-Improve Accountability & Reporting system
-Honesty
-Hire the best brains
-The Couple should resign & assume a new role
-Get a new CEO
Charter House has a long way to go and will continue to influence the entertainment industry in Ghana, but if necessary changes are not effected, small and simple omissions will continue to compound until prudent competitors assume their acclaimed role as the leading ‘giants’ in entertainment.
