Tag Archives: Leadership

Inspiring Your Team to Do Well [Film Friday]

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Leading a film is a lot like leading an army, except without the discipline. Hollywood is loaded with egos, agendas, and hard drugs. Everyone wants to make their rate, see his or her name in lights, eat well, and live the good life. It is extremely difficult to wrangle all the different personalities and angles. Getting everyone on board is very difficult most of the time, especially in low budget or strenuous circumstances. Even with genuine people, it is challenging to arrest their full attention.

There is one tried and true tactic for getting everyone on the same page. The same tactic will inspire people to work day and night to get the job done. The same tactic may even convince your team to cut, defer, or waive their rate entirely. Very straightforward: tell a great story.

If your team believes in the project, they will fight to the ends of the earth for it. A great story helps make a 20-hour day okay. A great story helps you accept the low pay or terrible catering. Of course, telling a great story is easier said than done. The best way to tell a story is to believe in it first. If you do not believe in it, no one else will. When you do, find a way to communicate to everyone why and convince them to believe in it, too. With enough love and passion, you can inspire others to help you bring the story to life. Perhaps they will fall in love with it, too.

Why Stress If It’s Not Your Fault?

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Perhaps harsh survival advice, but It is not worth hurting yourself over the failure of others. If someone else makes a mistake, why give yourself a heart attack? It is not your fault, so do not pretend like it. And it’s not your responsibility to clean up another person’s mess, whether you know how to or not. So relax; offer a helping hand, and take comfort in the knowledge that you are doing everything that you can to help. Do not stress.

If his or her failure effects you or makes your job harder, it does not resolve the issue to get upset. Anger, frustration, yelling, pouting, and blaming do not smooth things out at all. Stress is almost as unhealthy and contagious as the flu. Your stress will snowball into other people’s stress, which will only come back to hurt you more and make the situation worse. Objectify the problem, take new obstacles at face value, forgive the mistake, and move forward. Do not stress.

If the mistake was made under your leadership, then it is your responsibility. That is one of the risks of leadership, and you need to be prepared to handle the failures of your staff. That said, it is also your responsibility to facilitate recovery from said mistakes. Losing your cool will lose you the upper ground over your problems. Stay focused, think through the situation objectively, realign resources as needed, and act. Decision making is math, not drama. Do not stress.

Ambiguous Job Titles

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The point of a job title is to communicate clearly where you fit and what you do to others inside and out of the company. Clear job titles really help co-workers and clients navigate information and inquiries. Without question, the efficient trafficking of information is necessary to a company’s success. So why, then, is it so common to a) have no idea what your co-workers do and b) have difficulty finding the person responsible for certain categories of business? Well, because we fail to assign each other effective titles.

 Perhaps stemming from a conservative military hesitation from awarding rank, few business leaders give out new titles to employees – except on grounds for promotion. Corporate titles are status symbols and need to be earned. God help you if you try to pick your own. While I appreciate promotions, I do not understand the reservations business leaders have with re-titling employees to better-fit their position. “Well, if I change their titles, then they’ll think they should earn more money.” Just tell them no. It’s your responsibility as a boss to orchestrate and label your resources in a way that optimizes the efficiency of your enterprise. Employees can deal with it.

Infostructure

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Problem numero uno for companies of any size: communication. Far more important than expensive tech IT, companies need to optimize precedents for the exchange of ideas and information between employees and the outside world. Far too often, people who need access to information fall out of the loop. This negligence results in stress, delays, and broken product.

It’s worth time and money to sort out and establish systems for internal communication: who talks to who, where ideas go, who listens to what, who ignores what, where certain types of exchanges occur, when certain types of exchanges occur, and how it all flows together. Create small rules that guide efficient exchange. Paste them around the office and fall into a company-wide routine.

With enough strategy and planning, all employees will know everything they need to know and be on the same page all the time. Utopian? Not at all. All it takes is a little thought and organization.

The Mission Statement

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The most powerful tool in business strategy is your mission statement. It’s the philosophy that inspires your team, communicates your mission, markets your products, and makes you stand out. It’s a tool that gets everyone on the same page. Having a mission statement is not only good leadership advice, it’s just short of necessary to operate and succeed.

I feel like the mission statement is business strategy 101, and I should not need to explain this to people. But alas, it has come to my attention that many companies (including the company I work for) use no such tool. Crazy to me. It’s so simple, so inexpensive, and so effective. All it takes is a few words. Seriously, people. Write a damn mission statement. No excuses.

You Have the Right to Change Your Mind

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But if you are leading a team under your direction, you must justify your change to them. Teammates need to understand why they are supposed to scrap work in one direction and turn the other way. Teammates need to be told their contributions have been valuable and that future contributions will be even more so. Teammates need to be appreciated, encouraged, and supported so that they do not burn out. Teammates need to understand the bigger picture so that they can have faith in you and follow along.

Executive orders and commands hurt your authority more than enforce it. If you choose to rule that way, tell everyone why you are making your decisions. If you do not take the time, no one will be on the same page. No one will see your point of view. Everyone will be lost and confused. You will have a mutiny on your hands.

Attitude Upon Completion

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Nothing will ever be perfect, so get used to it. You can always do better. But you will make yourself sick and depressed chasing perfection through life. And you will pain the people who support and work hard for you.

Look back on your accomplishments and accept that you did your best work. Wear a smile on your face and offer thanks to anyone who helped you out.

Do not settle for less than amazing work. But be careful striving for more than that.

Perfection may be the path to ruin.

Talent Is the Most Valuable Resource

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People are important. To a business, their skills are important. Skills + People = Talent. Talent should not be undervalued or underappreciated.

I understand that most businesses and projects must start small to afford necessary tools and have room to grow. Money runs out, and you need to work within your budget to avoid the crash and burn.

If you ask for a favor, make sure to repay the favor with a service or a raise. Raises demonstrate that the sacrifices made are appreciated. Appreciation is key. If you do not demonstrate appreciation in some way, your talent will burn out or resent you. Your “savings” from not paying them more will end up costing you more long term. You will run out of favors eventually and you will fail.

If you cannot handle giving people money, do not be an employer for a living.

The Difference Between Collaborators and Commanders

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Commanders give orders first and seek approval of their ideas later. Collaborators seek approval of their ideas first and reach a consensus on orders.

Sure, commanding may be more efficient. But you risk leaving your subjects unappreciated, making mistakes through myopic perspective, and unhinging your decision-making credibility.

Want someone to do something for you? Outline your perspective and proposed course of action to collect feedback first. Do not make demands, executive decisions, or boss people around. Ask for and value the other person’s opinion. You’d be surprised how many people are inspired through collaboration and end up doing what you would have ordered them to do in the first place. All it takes is an open mind and a little respect.

Film Friday: The Key to Becoming a Successful Director

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Writing a screenplay, filming shorts, building a reel, exhibiting talent and advertising yourself as a “director” are NOT enough. Film is a collaborative art and it takes a strong core team. The key to becoming a successful film director (or any key-level position) is to surround yourself with talented people who can only see you as a director.

True for any profession – surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams. Family and significant others are a good start, but you need professionals who can support you and your vision. Convince the industry you are best at doing one thing above all else.

I have mentioned this before, but it has to do with portrayal. If people see you as a good assistant, they will only see you as a good assistant. Best camera operator in town? Good luck getting calls for anything else. If your agent values you as a writer, hard chance earning a push toward the big chair. Show everyone you are a good director, and they will only see you as a good director.

Start on your level. It is far easier and more effective to prove it to peers who will recommend you than to a studio executive with your reel or a script. Your network is your net worth. A friend’s “I know this great director” is far more accelerating than “I know this talented guy who is working at an agency.” If your friends don’t title you a director, no one will.

Best to build your team on level, too. You need at bare minimum a producer, director of photography, production designer, sound designer and editor who can vouch for you. Part of your marketability as a director are the talented chaps you have in tow.

If you are not building relationships with collaborators, getting constant practice or stuck working a 60-hour week, I strongly encourage you to quit your mediocre day job and get busy because you are wasting time. Don’t tell people you are a director, be a director. The only person who will believe your lie is you, unless of course your lie comes true.

Share this with peers you believe in and encourage them with your vote of confidence. Success in collaboration is a two-way street.