A Course in Production Lesson Seven: Best Practices for Good Employees
15 ways you can be a good employee, even if you are new to or struggling in your current role.
I always tell my teams that even if you are struggling in your current role (maybe you are struggling with motivation, maybe you are in a bit over your head), you can still be a good employee at the very least. For example, even if you are struggling as a coordinator, you can still do a lot to be a valued member of your studio.
So what does it mean to be a good employee, even just as a baseline measure?
I’ve complied a list, based on conversations I have had with other production staff, my supervisors, and my own observations of what comes up time and time again as positives in performance reviews and conversations. Remember - all points apply to Production staff just as much as it does to artists.
15 practices of good employees
- Attitude is everything
- Do the time
- Be professional
- Being kind and helpful to people of all levels of skill
- Time management
- Organization
- Know your rights as a worker/employee
- Take notes!
- Responsive to work communication
- Committing to an inclusive and diverse work environment
- Staying up to date on the latest and greatest for your role
- Ability to recognize your own learning and communication style
- Ability to receive constructive criticism and offer constructive feedback when asked
- Teamwork
- Giving back to your communities
Let's take a closer look at each of these points!
Attitude IS everything
Be positive, helpful, willing to learn, have a can-do attitude. Support your team, be patient, and remember to say please and thank you!
I can personally think of several instances where I’ve been discussing someone’s performance with their supervisor or a colleague and even if the person in question is struggling in their role, if they have a good attitude, it makes all the difference. We are always willing to work with someone who wants to be there and is pleasant to work with.
Do the time
Make sure you are doing a full day, whatever that might mean for your studio. Don’t take more breaks than you are entitled to, and if you go over by accident, let your supervisor know and have a plan to make up that time.
Also, don’t be one of those people who gets to work and goes for a coffee break first thing. Are you at work to work, or are you there to have coffee?
Lastly, make sure you have mastered your current role before you go and ask for a promotion or raise.
Be professional
Being professional doesn’t mean wearing a suit and tie to the office when everyone else is in sweats. It means being conscientious of the code of conduct at your studio (which is usually in your employee handbook) and remembering that the primary reason you are there is to work.
Being kind and helpful to people of all levels of skill
Even though being in production is a position of power of sorts, don’t be a snob. Be a team player and helpful to people of all levels of skill, not just those who can help promote you (i.e., no one likes a sycophant).
Time management
In Production, even if you are not in production, we all work to a schedule and delivery date. Be good at time management. If this is something you struggle with, try setting reminders to yourself in your phone (via whatever calendar app you use), the pomodoro timer, keep a planner or notebook with your schedule and deadlines, get yourself a whiteboard to write reminders on, etc. Also, experiment with all these things—these methods won’t necessarily work for everyone, keep trying until you find something that works for you.
Organization
Organization (and time management above!) is a learnable skill! A lot of people think that you are organized or you’re not, but that is not true, organization is something you can continue to learn and improve upon.
Very basically - come to meetings or dailies prepared, know what the meeting is about, and if you have been asked to do something beforehand (review and outline or a design package), do it.
Know your rights as a worker/employee
Be proactive about this, do your research and know your rights. It’s your career and it’s worth protecting and guiding yourself accordingly. Check the BC labour board, your union if relevant, even your career mentor.
Remember, no matter what your level, you may always have an employment lawyer look over your contract (at your expense, not your employers). Read your contract throughly. If you have questions, ask your Producer or HR team before it becomes a problem.
If you see something at work that makes you feel unsafe or presents a safety hazard, say something to your Producer or Health & Safety Committee.
Take notes!
Production staff are gatekeepers of information. Good note taking is key to this. However you do it, make it consistent and be responsible for disseminating notes as required for your position. Take notes to cover your own butt, take notes so that you don’t make people explain things twice to you.
Responsive to work communication
Keep an eye on all of the communication services that you are responsible for and active on, whether this be emails, instant messaging apps, your Shotgun inbox, etc. Production is the first line of information, you should know what is going on.
I read somewhere once that the the longer it takes you to get back to someone on your team, the less trust they have in you. If you leave a message hanging for a half hour or don’t answer it at all, that is bad news.
If you don’t have time at the present to answer the message or your are really focused on something, that is okay — tell the person you’ll get back to them in 5, 10, X minutes, and to nudge you gently in an agreed-upon time if they don't hear back from you.
Committing to an inclusive and diverse work environment
Animation is a very diverse industry. You don’t need to be a politically correct superstar. You just need to be thoughtful and considerate. Leadership and artistic talent comes from folks of all backgrounds and walks of life. Don’t make assumptions, start with an open mind and be kind.
Staying up to date on the latest and greatest
If you are in Production, you will observe that your teams, generally speaking, have to do a lot more to stay current with their work. It might be something new and exciting coming out of SIGGRAPH, it might be a new version of the rendering or compositing software, etc.
This is something we in Production don’t necessarily have to contend with as much or in the same way. Just the same, we can stay sharp by keeping our management and leadership skills sharp - this might look like reading a book, taking a course, listening to a podcast, joining a professional group in your industry, or touching base with a mentor.
Ability to recognize your own learning and communication style
It’s just good to know where you’re at, and generally, if people know what works for you, they will often adapt their teaching style accordingly.
I have one friend in the industry who had a role that involved training new employees every quarter, and one of her very first questions to her new teammates was asking them if they are “a thinker or a doer”. She adapted her teaching style accordingly for maximum efficiency—she wanted her team to learn and grow quickly not just to get them off her hands, but so they could get up to speed and get out there, prepared and ready to carry out the responsibilities of their role.
Ability to receive constructive criticism and offer constructive feedback when asked
This is something I struggle with a lot- I’ve never been good about receiving criticism, and its something I have to conscientiously improve upon. In the animation industry though, being able to receive and offer constructive feedback is critical.
Just think of our artists, they are always making a shot, a model, a rig, a fix, and they have to do so on a tight schedule and knowing that their peers, supervisor, production team, art director, CG supervisor, other supervisors, might have feedback that they must go back and incorporate. Be inspired by this and embrace it in your own work.
Even in Production, we may be running out meetings inefficiently, taking confusing notes in dailies, or putting reference in a spot that is not intuitive for our artists. Be open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
Teamwork!
Without our teams, there is no show. Without a show, we are all out of the job. You can’t do well in animation and be resistant to teamwork, it is so critical to this industry that you literally can’t do your job without an aspect of teamwork.
Our different departments have to work with one another, and in Production we set the standard for what’s acceptable.
Something consistent in all of my worst experiences in production is when individual egos become the focus rather than the show or studio.
If you come in to animation thinking about your own reputation and career only, that is not acceptable and you are better off working in another industry or perhaps trying freelance.
Give back to your community
This is an interesting one and I offer it as sort of a greater citizenship point. If you are willing and able, please give back to your community.
Give your time or give money. In animation we often work a lot of overtime, so this can be tricky. Maybe you can volunteer for a weekend-long conference or for your studio’s own culture club. Maybe your high school is looking for speakers for a career fair night.
Speaking for myself, I have not been able to give my time in recent years by volunteering since I’ve been doing a lot of OT, so I have instead donated to Women in Film and Television, an organization that helped me gain the experience necessary to get into animation.
Lesson Seven Resources
- 8 Skillshare Classes to Inspire and Teach You a New Skill Right Now over at Wit & Delight
- How to Increase Productivity with the Pomodoro Technique also at Wit & Delight
- Big Mouth, Central Park Casting Changes: Conversation About Race and Voice Acting Finally Seriously Happening by Princess Weekes over at The Mary Sue
- VIDEOS: Black Women Talk Systemic Racism and Injustice in 12 Powerful TEDWomen Talk by Pat Mitchell
- Host Your Next Virtual Meeting with Backgrounds from Open Collections by Pat Chen over at the UBC Open Collections
- PODCAST - Season 2, Episode 40 of Don't Be a Jerk at Work: "Pay Your Dues Or You Lose"
- Gender Neutral Language Sheet via Qmunity
- Queer Terminology from A to Q by Qmunity
