VIDEO: A Case for Chaos
...or rather, against micromanagement.
Working in Animation means we are working in an inherently creative environment. This begs the question - can you simultaneously run a tight ship while allowing for creative freedom?
In my opinion and experience yes, you can. Production needs to help build a solid basis for organization and processes that allows our creative and technical leadership to do what they do best – create.
To this end, Twyla Tharp, choreographer and author of The Creative Habit says,
“This, to me, is the most interesting paradox of creativity: in order to be habitually creative, you have to know how to prepare to be creative, but good planning alone won’t make your efforts successful; it’s only after you let go of your plans that you can breathe life into your efforts”- from The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp
Once we have provided the environment and support, we need to let people do their thing, and we get the best performances out of our teams when expectations are clear and we trust everyone to do their job.
Andrew Hill and Coach John Wooden offer an entire chapter on the matter in their book Be Quick - But Don’t Hurry!: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime, which is “Secret 8 - Game Time is When the Coach’s Job is Almost Over”, some key excerpts on screen including,
In fact, Coach told me that he hoped that “once the game starts, I could go up in the stands and the team wouldn’t miss me.” To some this sounds preposterous. I would suggest that this is one of his greatest secrets.p. 101[…] the result was the empowerment of the people who now had to go out and perform. It was actually an interestingly choreographed transition of power from practice, where Coach was in total control, to the game, where the players had to take charge. It was also an unspoken yet powerful way to communicate his trust in his players to execute what he had taught them.p.102Bill Walton describes this unique quality of Coach Wooden’s by saying, “people always had this sense that coach was conservative, a strict disciplinarian, a total control freak. But in truth he was about individual freedom, creativity, and imagination. He was about giving the responsibility to everyone else, to let them perform. What made it work so beautifully was that we all became extensions of his mind, his vision, and his dreams.”p.102
All this is why I’m personally deeply against micromanagement. Micromanagement is an easy trap for Production staff to fall into, particularly when we often are neither as technically informed or creatively talented as our artists. A huge part of our role is setting persons with these abilities up to succeed, not to take on parts of their roles ourselves.
Though they are talking about basketball, Andrew Hill and Coach Wooden effectively remind those of us in Production to stay in our lane saying,
“Managing creativity is a far tougher challenge that requires flexibility, the ability to react and change quickly as market conditions fluctuate, and the skill to empower and nurture fragile egos […] Everyone talks about the need to employ “out-of-the-box” thinkers, but managers must realize that most people with the capacity for original thought are not comfortable in tight and rigid structure. You need to find the balance between creativity and organization”- from Be Quick--But Don't Hurry! by Andrew Hill with John Wooden
Just because we are in Production doesn’t mean we have to leave all the fun to our artists. For me personally, allowing for a bit of chaos, or that extra something you can’t quite plan for, is what makes a gig in Production the most interesting for me.
Stephen R. Covey says in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
“As a teacher, I have come to believe that many truly great classes teeter on the very edge of chaos. Synergy tests whether teachers and students are really open to the principle of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.”Stephen R. Covey
I also find it incredibly fulfilling to watch and support our team’s learning and growth. While I never open Photoshop or Maya, I am personally not bothered that nothing I contribute to the show actually makes it onto the screen.
I’m content to just be along for the ride, inspired by Rebecca Campbell who says, “One of the greatest offerings we can give another person is to witness truly their gifts. When we witness the gifts of another, we are actually witnessing the soul and light in them”.
FURTHER LEARNING AND RESOURCES
- The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life by Twyla Tharp
- Be Quick - But Don’t Hurry!: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime by Andrew Hill with John Wooden
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- VIDEO: What is Micromanagement?
- VIDEO: 2 Ways to Handle Conflict at Work
- VIDEO: The Importance of Listening at Work
