The 6th Priority of an Artistic Director
This November, I’m launching a two-day programme of Coaching and Training that guides aspiring Artistic Directors through everything they need to know in their first year in the job, built around 7 priorities. I’ll be posting about one priority each day this week to give you a flavour of what we’ll cover in the Programme. Yesterday was Priority 5 - Planning. Today is Priority 6 - Productivity.
So you’ve imagined the ‘what’ (Priority 2, Purpose), you’ve empowered the ‘who’ (Priority 3, People) and you’ve strategised the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ (Priority 4, Planning). Now it’s time to make it happen - to force it into existence. This is the reality of Producing - no one is going to ask for it; you’ve got to make it happen and believe it will be worth it in the end.
Producers and the process of Production is the forge in which our art is made. The engine room, the factory floor. The relentless optimism, constant problem-solving and fluid communication of the Producer are all skills you will need to draw on as an Artistic Director if you’re going to turn your dreams and your plans into reality.
Making shows is a fundamentally collaborative practice. The skill of the Producer is to be the generalist that brings together the experts so the Director can marshal their collective ideas and skills into a coherent whole - on time and in budget. All of this whilst also thinking about marketing, press and participation - and potentially commercial exploitation, transferring or touring.
Great Producers are expert communicators, courageous decision-makers and indefatigable problem-solvers. They turn obstacles into possibilities and conflict into creation. Understanding how to draw on the skillset of the Producer and support them to do their best work relies on mastering these three practices:
Collaborative Producing: collaboration happens at every level; from your in-house teams working on the budget, schedule and marketing plan months in advance, to your creative team, Production team, cast crew and co-producers bringing the show to life so your Front of House team can safely look after your delighted audiences. Then you do it all over again. Fully embracing a collaborative Producing framework throughout your organisation means you will tackle every challenge and change as a team and leverage each other’s complimentary expertise to create something the sum of which is greater than its individual parts.
Decision-making and Problem-Solving: effective, timely and clear decision-making is at the heart of Productivity. Whether you’re involving many minds or making a tough choice alone, procrastination is rarely conductive to progress. Balance that with action bias - the temptation to act when sometimes doing nothing is the best decision. And these choices come at you from every angle - financial, aesthetic, practical, human and legal. Problems come in many shapes and it will take all of your resourcefulness, patience, proactive initiative and experience to galvanise your teams to navigate and solve them.
Effective communication: the seemingly simple task of exchanging information with another human being is, in fact, one of the most important and most difficult skills to master at work and in life. Empathetic listening is the cornerstone to effective communication and forms the foundation of trust, influence, persuasion, connection, conflict resolution and collaboration. Understanding different communication styles and preferences equips you to diagnose before you prescribe. Understanding the secrets to effective meetings, appropriate communication channels and public speaking super-charges your productivity.
If you’d like to learn how to hone these three key Productivity skills and more, Sign Up now to my upcoming 7 Priorities Programme for Aspiring Artistic Directors. Tomorrow, Priority 7: Progress.
