After being at WFX last week, I talked with many technical artists about the concept of leading up.  How do you help your leadership understand what production in the local church is all about?  For my ministry and your ministry to survive, it rises and falls on how well you and I educate the decision makers at your church about what you and your team do.  Without this information, production is way too mysterious for senior church leaders to advocate on your behalf.  As important as it is for your leadership to get you and what you do, that is only part of it.

I have noticed that many tech people are introverts.  They also enjoy flying under the radar.  I’ll do my job, keep my head down and hopefully I won’t draw attention to myself.  I don’t like to be on stage and I would rather do my job by myself.  I would tend to put myself in this category.  Unfortunately for all of us who find ourselves in this place, more is required from us.  I am the leader of my team.  As a leader, my team looks to me to advocate for them; to stick up for their needs and to fight for what they need to do their jobs.  It is my job to clear the way for them so that they can be freed up to do what they are being asked to do and what they were created to do.

Even though my knee jerk reaction to life is to fly under the radar, my staff and the volunteers that serve with them are desperate for me to fly above the radar and be their advocate.  For me, I can tend to put my advocate hopes onto my boss and want him to do all the heavy lifting to the leaders above him.  In reality, I need to push the needs of my team up the food chain.  I need to be the one who shamelessly plugs the hopes and dreams of our production team.

I was in a meeting the other day where I realized that my desire to go unnoticed and put the advocacy hat on someone else had hurt my team.  In your situation and mine, no one understands the world of production like we do, no matter how much time you spend educating your boss.  No one cares as deeply as you do for the volunteers in your ministry, in spite of the fact your boss may come to your team Christmas party.  No one gets what makes the heart of a technical artist tick like you do.

Push.  Kick.  Praise.  Prod.  Insist.  Lift up.  Educate.  Recommend.

Do all these things in an effort to make your case known to the people in leadership above you, but don’t give up the responsibility of advocacy to someone else.  As a leader in production, you are, can I say, required to be your team’s champion.  No one else can do it as well as you can, no matter how inadequate you might feel.

 photo credit: jjlapierre

I have had a few conversations lately about the propensity of tech people to overwork themselves.  Many times our bosses are non-technical people and don’t really understand what we do.  As a result, when they tell us to go home and leave it until tomorrow, our first thought is that they doesn’t really get it.  I can’t go home, because if I do, something won’t get done and then church can’t happen.

There was definitely a season in my life when this was true for me.  I would be working 50 hours a week, then some new thing would get added to my plate, and I would just pile it on top of the full schedule I already had.  As I look back, much of this was motivated by a need to be accepted, to be the get it done person.  I’m here to serve and I am going make this happen.  I can be counted on.

I have a lot of thoughts on this subject, some practical and some theoretical, but this morning I was reading Gary Molander’s book entitled “Pursuing Christ, Creating Art” and there was section about where my identity comes from.  As a technical artist in the church, much of my identity comes from being able to do whatever is asked of me, or pulling off the impossible, or the best mix, or amazing lighting or the perfect edit.

Gary talks about the day he stopped being a full-time pastor; the day he realized that his identity had been wrapped up in his job function and not his true identity:  a child of God.  I can completely see myself and some of the people around me, getting to this place.  I put so much weight on my job performance and my ability to get it done that I overlook the fact that I am more than a task.

Do I have the courage to define myself another way?  Is who I am enough without any of the things I do?  God would say yes, but I am willing to let go of how I have been defining myself?

What about you?

 I would recommend Gary’s book to every tech person I know.  You can download a free chapter to check it out for yourself.

On Thursday of this week, I had an all-day meeting with our weekend production team.  When I put it on the schedule, I had really no idea what it was going to be about, but I knew that we needed to meet together.  On the day before, I had hardly given it any thought and it was cramming time, just to make it happen.  Where to meet?  What’s for lunch?  How do we get there?  What to talk about?

Later that night, while working on it from home, I thought to myself “Why are we doing this?”  “I don’t have capacity for this.”  “What if the day turns out to be awful?”  Contrast that with how I felt as we were wrapping up our time at the end:  “Why don’t we do this more?”  “I have to figure out how to make time for this.”  “This day was exactly what we needed!”

This contrast is so interesting to me.  The urgent vs. the important.  How the things staring us in the face squeeze out the things that matter.  The question is how can we get past the urgent to get to what is really important?

Put the important stuff on the calendar.

In my example, I put it on the calendar and was forced to make it happen.  The closer the day got, the more pressure I felt to make it happen.  I kept putting it off until I couldn’t put it off any more.  Without the date set, I would have just put it off indefinitely.  Without making time for it, the less important things fill up all the time.  Make space for the important things, first.

The important stuff will probably require some extra effort.

I have to make room in my schedule to plan for the important things.  Unfortunately, most things that matter require more effort than just the stuff that comes across our path every day.  The fact I needed to spend time at home planning shouldn’t surprise me.  This leads to the next big learning for me…

Your efforts toward the important will have long lasting impact.

 This extra effort will pay off in the long term and is worth the price of short term inconvenience.  Spending the time now will get you to where you envision, but it requires effort to start down that road and keep you on that road.

After my experience this past Thursday, I am committing to putting stuff on the calendar, whether I am ready for it or not.  I have to make time and space for the things that matter, in my own life and for the life of my team.

photo credit: Sean MacEntee

What happens when the sum of the parts is not greater than the parts added together?  What does it look like when all the parts are amazing and the collection of those parts is just OK?  What is that called?  Some say antergy, while others say obsygy.  One person suggested “synergy” in quotations along with eye rolling.  The Miami Heat?

In either of these situations, egos, personal ambition, what matters to each individual, is placed over what’s best for the team, thereby forfeiting synergy.  Sometimes I wonder about stacking the deck to achieve all the exact right pieces, only to give up everyone working together to make something better than any of us could alone.

I saw 2 amazing shows this weekend:  David Crowder Band and U2.  While on the surface, both groups seem to have everything working for them, without need for synergy.  I would argue that in both cases, a great deal of humility is involved to create such amazing experiences for the people that come to hear them.

Bono trusting Willie Williams to create amazing lighting.  Larry Mullen Jr. trusting the show’s producer that getting out from behind the drum set and playing a djembe (or whatever that was) would be good for the arc of the show.  David Crowder trusting his drummer to lay down the perfect groove.  David Crowder’s bass player trusting David that a rock opera in the middle of a worship set is the right answer.

Each one of these experiences was loaded with opportunities for people to be divas or to have things their way to the detriment of the whole.  There were also chances for people to take a back seat to someone else’s creativity; chances for individuals to give up what might be best for them, for the sake of the overall effect; for everyone to place their collective visions into the middle of the table to be used the most effectively.

All this takes gobs of trust and guts to let go of your idea, your creativity, your vision, for the sake of synergy, not “synergy”.

Is your idea the most important?  Are you waiting for someone else to let go of their creativity before you relinquish yours?  Help foster working together by letting go and embracing the collection of ideas for the sake of the whole.

I had a moment last night with my 9 year old son that reminded me of one of my life mantras:

“Before freaking out, wait 5 minutes.”

He had been saving his money over the course of several months for an iTouch and it finally arrived.  At a certain point during the evening, he told me some of his friends had jailbroken their ipods and he was thinking about it also.  I didn’t really pay any attention to this idea until he had tried to jailbreak it himself and was now freaking out that his iPod wasn’t responding at all.

After fighting back the urge to ask him what he was thinking, I immediately went into troubleshooting mode.  Since problem solving with an unglued 9 year old isn’t really very effective, I started working on trying to determine if the thing was bricked or nothing was wrong with it.  Inside of a minute, I had it up and running without a problem.  I handed it back to my son and gave him the above advice.  Wait 5 minutes, then panic.

I have learned this lesson so many times over the years, it has become the normal first reaction for me.  I remember the exact situation when I thought to myself “I want to freak out like everyone else, but it won’t help anything.  So, I’ll wait 5 minutes and panic then.”

Most things can be worked out in 5 minutes.  I can’t think of one scenario that didn’t resolve itself or an alternative wasn’t devised within a few minutes, thereby making panic obsolete.  Either I am very forgetful, have amnesia, or this advice has been super helpful to me and the teams I lead.  The solution is less than 5 minutes away.

As a leader, people are looking to me on how they should respond.  If you want everyone to panic, then don’t wait, panic now.  In a large event setting, panic is contagious and is a very natural reaction to things not going exactly according plan.  I once worked with someone that ran everywhere.  They looked harried and flustered all the time, running from thing to thing.  I told them:  “Walk with purpose by all means, but don’t run.  Your volunteers can smell fear.”

In a high pressure environment, panic only leads to more potentially going wrong.  During a large event when most people are already on edge, panic or an over-reaction from the leader can just send people into a tail spin.  People need to stay focused on doing good work and if the leader is freaking out, they are going to be focused on reacting to you.

How do you respond in pressure situations?

How do you lead your teams to respond?

photo credit: wader

As some of you know, I am slightly obsessed with all things Winston Churchill.  An indicator of that obsession can be measured by the fact I am currently reading volume 6 (of 6) of the history of WWII, written by ‘ol WC his-self.

Currently it is the winter of 1945, and the leaders of the big three allies have gathered in Yalta, on the coast of the Black Sea to meet and plan the future of the world.  During this trip, Churchill is taken to review some of the troops that have fought so valiantly for the freedom of western civilization.  Here is what he had to say about it:

At the airfield a splendid guard of honour of troops was drawn up.  I inspected them in my usual manner, looking each man straight in the eye. This took some time, as there were at least two hundred of them…

Can you imagine being one of those soldiers?  I have to believe that they never forgot that moment of eye contact with Mr. Churchill.  I am also amazed by him realizing the importance of making meaningful connection each person, especially ones that are giving so much of themselves to a greater cause, especially ones that he was responsible for leading.

There is something so vulnerable about looking someone in the eye, almost like you are allowing someone to look into your soul.  In Germany, when you raise a glass in a toast, you look into each other’s eyes as a way to say you are glad to be together.  We do this on my team when we are having communion together as a way to say we are in this bigger thing together.  As someone with personal space issues, it is definitely uncomfortable to hold eye contact with someone for any length of time…that’s my space!

There are 2 things about this story of Winston Churchill that struck me:

When was the last time I honored someone with words or an action, for the work they have done?  Regardless of how much time it might take?

When was the last time I looked them in the eye when I said it?

For my team, for your team, communicating value to them, is really important.  Look them in the eye when you give it, regardless of the space  it invades.

photo credit: simononly

During this Easter season, I have been wrestling long and hard about what matters more: process or product…again. This time, from a different angle.

Do I push the process and as a result making it less ideal, so that the product can be better?

To me, the process is something we set up as the ideal situation, something to shoot for.  We should then be flexible based on the needs of the moment. If I know that something could be better, but we would have to tweak the process, why wouldn’t we do it, regardless of the process we have set up? On the other hand, the stress and extra work that comes from throwing the process to the side, might not be worth the benefits of the final product.

So do I stick with a product that is potentially less than ideal so that the process can be ideal? Or do I push on the process to make the product better? I don’t know.

I was talking to a group of leaders at Willow Creek the other day and I posed the question of which is more important, process or product. Their response was classic. The answer was there is no right answer (thanks for nothing). They are both important, and it is the job of a leader to make decisions based on the unique circumstance of each case.  The balancing act between process and product will never go away. It is my job to walk the tightrope all the time, to determine when the process is the most important or when product wins out.

When I signed up for being a production leader at a church, I had no idea that it would involve walking a tightrope every day, but that is what I am called to do. I have been learning it is key for both process and product people to know that I value both and am committed to the tightrope walk.

If you are walking the tightrope everyday, and wondering if one thing matters more than another, take heart; you are not the only one.  It is the role of a technical arts leader to keep up the balancing act.

This week, I have noticed that I have been letting myself get pulled in whatever direction happens to be pulling at a particular moment. I love to be available and to have time for people and issues that need attention. The trouble with this, is that it isn’t strategic in any way. When I am living this way, I am not really leading, but I am being led by immediate events around me. I being mildly effective.

Getting involved in events around me isn’t a bad thing, but is it the best thing? I have been working on where to lead the production team and instead I have been responding to events and not leading the way I would if there were no external factors.

I love history, and I read a great biography of Eisenhower by Steven Ambrose.  When Eisenhower was president, he led the world when it came to defense issues; the world looked to him, he set the course and the tone.  When it came to civil right issues, he only reacted to what was going on.  Instead of leading the way toward desegregation, he was only sending out the National Guard to respond to the issues of the day.

I don’t want to spend all my time putting out fires.  I want to be strategic with my time and with the opportunity to lead.  I don’t want to be dragged around by circumstances, I want to choose the circumstances to engage with and to lead with all diligence.