"People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care."
I heard this quote at an event today and I have to confess that I rolled my eyes. I’ve heard it so many times that it seems super cliche. It might be because I’ve heard it from people who I don’t really believe mean it. Which I guess proves the point.
I’ve been with a great crew on an event this week and I had an interesting conversation with a creative director who was responsible for a few creative elements in our general sessions. What we do as technical/creative artists happens in a stressful environment. Things not going as planned. Not having enough rehearsal time. Doors open before we’re ready. Is it even working?
It can be so easy to give into the intensity and have it leak out on the people we’re working with. Short answers. Moving too fast. Yelling to the stage from front-of-house. For many of us, our team of volunteers are affected by this leaking. I know it is easy to think, “We need to fix this probably as fast as possible. I’m not really yelling, I’m just intense.”
While I believe thatwe need to be competent at the task we have in front of us, I think that is the easiest part of what we do. What we need to be good at is handling the stress of our environment and leading our teams through it. Instead of our stress negatively affecting the people around us, we need to learn how to channel that stress into finding solutionswith a positive attitude and kind words.
In the short term, there is aproblem to solve. In the long term, how you solve it will determine what matters most to you. Reaching for perfection at any cost, or a culture of honor and continual improvement. the long term, how you solve it will determine what matters most to you. Reaching for perfection at any cost, or a culture of honor and continual improvement.
I want to be on the team of honor and continual improvement. I want to be a leader that shows honor and is pushing for continual improvement.
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