Not too long ago, I don’t think I would have said that I value collaboration. It used to bother me. I wanted to edit videos on my own and not let anyone see it before I was finished. After all, how could someone else’s thoughts on my half-finished project be constructive if they don’t know even know what I still plan to do with it? But then I started realizing that other people actually have a pretty good sense of where I’m going with a project, and their concerns are usually pretty legit. Here are some reasons I love getting other people in on my works-in-progress:
· I waste less time. Left unchecked, I have a tendency to put a lot of energy into trying to make a bad idea work, rather than throwing it out and looking for something better. If I can’t sell anyone else on my idea early on, then I know I need to move on to something else.
· Better solutions come along. As hard as it is to change direction mid-project because of someone else’s idea, I have to admit all my best work is a result of giving heed to others’ concerns and ideas. I once completely trashed what I thought was a good script because someone convinced me it was missing the target. While the video would have been fun, it wouldn’t have served its purpose. We ended up with something much better.
· More confidence, less anxiety. A wonderful benefit of letting others in on your work is that there’s less panic when you start to doubt yourself. And I always doubt myself. Just think of the encouragement you get when someone else sees your work and they actually like it. My main fear for letting others in what I’m working on is that they won’t like it. But I’d rather a few people not like it and then fix it than an entire audience not like it.
We’ve benefitted so much from team collaboration through feedback that it’s become a regular part of our schedule. Several days a week at 2pm is a video review meeting. This is where we grab anyone who’s available and gather around a computer to see what everyone’s working on. Sometimes it’s quick, but great stuff always comes out in those meetings.
What are the ways you keep others in the loop for your projects?
June 8th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I would love to collaborate more, but I am the entire media production team
some of you may know what I mean. My problem is that a lot of the ideas that I have or projects i am working on, if commented on by a pastor or other team leader, really don’t make sense. They make strange comments or suggest changes that are REALLY out of place, and frankly would look horrible. I think that is why I can relate to your “hiding out” when it comes to projects. I guess I am asking, how can I find real, creative, helpful insight in an environment that is not. 
Any comments would help.
June 9th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Paul, I would suggest sending videos out to your friends outside the circle and get honest feedback. The one’s who you truly value their opinion and they may agree/disagree as outsider looking in. You’re artsy friends, your business oriented friends. May even people who aren’t good friends but may have an interesting perspective. Remember our audience may only see this once? They don’t have opportunity to play it over and over and over like we do editing. There are times where we’ll grab random staff who have nothing to do with production to get their initial reactions. Think of it like a focus group. Good luck.