Meet with your team on a regular basis, pulling every last ounce of perspective from their minds. The principle here is asking: “What does this person know that I may not know?”
Each morning at 5:30 a.m., Twyla Tharp's alarm clock rings. She proceeds to put on her workout clothes, steps outside, and flags down a taxi to shuttle her to the gym. In the quiet hours of the morning, Tharp uses this time to prime herself for the day's work–work that will stretch both her internal and collaborative spirit. She works with composers, designers, fellow choreographers, directors and, of course, dancers themselves–a constant push and pull of creative struggle, compromise, and vulnerability. And she's been doing this ritual for the better part of her life.
Tharp, an internationally known choreographer, has worked with some of the most prestigious dance and ballet companies in the world, not to mention scores of Broadway and film productions. Her collaborations include works with Billy Joel, Jerome Robbins, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Frank Sinatra, among others. While her individual achievements rank among some of the most notable, she's learned something that remains elusive to many: the habit of collaboration and why it is essential to her life and art.
At this point you might be asking yourself, what does dance and collaboration have to do with the church and production? It actually has everything to do with it. We've grown up in a culture that praises individual achievement–the MVP, the coveted trophy, the person who did everything by themselves taking sole credit. Sadly, this fantasy perpetuates a skewed sense of reality. Yet when you look at the real driver of innovation, growth, and creativity, it always points towards a collaborative approach. And it's with this approach we can push ourselves and our teams toward greatness.
It's in our DNA
From the time man has walked on this earth, collaborating with one another has been pervasive. Helping a fellow man, leveraging talents and abilities, and encouraging the community for these interactions to happen was an every day occurrence. Somewhere along the way, though, our habits of isolation fueled this praxis into deterioration. In nature, every ecosystem depends on multiple parts making the entirety function. The joint effort keeps the gears spinning and produces more than an individual sector ever could. And it's not just nature that has this figured out.
How do you explain the architectural monuments and feats of engineering, both past and present? Or the championships won by sports teams all over the world? Think about political campaigns and the grass-roots organization of leaders, volunteers, and people from all walks of life who get each candidate's message out to the public. That's collaboration. And it takes place each and every day, right in front of our eyes. But is it really as easy as it looks?
In nature, every ecosystem depends on multiple parts making the entirety function. The joint effort keeps the gears spinning and produces more than an individual sector ever could.
The staff conundrum
Perhaps we can begin to think of a church and its production staff in terms of a startup company or small-scale ecosystem. While there are always exceptions to the rule, the majority of church staffs are lean and operating without excess. Typically, most positions have one person for each role. And we depend on each person carrying his or her weight–not to mention many of these roles are wearing several hats in the process. Although, in this scenario, most individuals are maxed out with their workloads, and it's this exact situation that breeds excuses—killing the environment for collaboration.
We hear it every day: there's not enough time, not enough resources, too much to do, scared to try something different, too many meetings. And the list goes on. Circumventing what we see as roadblocks and realizing the potential knowledge of our colleagues around us takes discipline. And that discipline comes in the form of commitment and habitual routine to forge working relationships.
Now, what we're talking about here is not a jovial circle where we all do each other's jobs. Nor are we talking an environment where our priorities become altered. What we are talking about is pulling every last bit of potential from each person. As Tharp says, “In a healthy environment, a good collaboration will extend your strengths.” So what, then, drives this healthy environment and where do we start?
Commitment and change
A common white elephant in the room with any organization is that many resist change at their deepest core. Unless the ship is sinking, the status quo will continually be defended along with the classic phrase, “Well, this is how we've always done it around here.” It's one thing to have core principles, it's another to stay stuck, doing the same thing year after year, assuming innovation and growth are happening. Collaboration is key to keeping this in check, forcing us to think and act differently.
A practical example for church production comes with design aesthetic, i.e., think stage and lighting design, use of video screen content, etc. If your church is fortunate enough to have a full-time graphic designer, video editor, or both, they should be the first people on your list to meet with on a regular basis, pulling every last ounce of perspective from their minds. The principle here is asking: “What does this person know that I may not know?”
There's a reason talented graphic designers are good at what they do. Understanding size, proportion, clarity, intent, and branding is their bread and butter. The same rings true with videographers. Color, hue, framing, and perspective run thick in great video structure. They will see things differently, from a vantage point, because they view it through a lens not structured through obvious uses and methods found in the technical world. I'm willing to bet most production folks have not run through this gamut of thought on a continual basis, challenging the paradigms of our job world.
So make it regular. Seek out others on your staff and commit to a consistent time for a joining of the minds. Get clear on your purpose—then start. The process is not about hitting a home run on day one or thinking this will be a magical pow-wow. Consistency is the key; everything else will flow from that. And while we're at it, you better believe there is going to be disagreement and differing opinions. Embrace it! This is the flushing out of mediocrity, the removal of bias, and finding excellence with great fortitude. Nothing changes when everyone agrees, but the more you understand the normalcy of healthy debate, the greater your interactions and collaborative spirit will be.
A new perspective
In 2007, Dell Inc. launched a website called IdeaStorm. It was a way to capture ideas and opinions that were most relevant to its customer base, from the customers themselves. Since then, the company has used almost 300 suggestions, incorporating them into its products. For a business that has all the money and resources to hire the best talent in the world, Dell knew that they needed insight from a broader perspective.
Coming back to Twyla Tharp, she readily admits the fear, uncertainty, and process that plagues any sense of collaboration, which she brilliantly captures, saying, “People are people. And people are problems. But–and this is a very big but–people who are practiced in collaboration will do better than those who insist on their individuality.”
How can you foster this necessary aspect of your life, career, and team? Start tomorrow and make it a habit.
