Take responsibility for creating a collaborative atmosphere for your team...

I don’t particularly enjoy collaborating within an authoritarian leadership structure… And that is largely the structure we encounter in church: Leaders who feel it is their responsibility (or even their “divine right”) to make the final decisions.

I am fortunate to work with a pastor who trusts me to make good choices…

Several years back, however, I worked with a different pastor who was quite the authoritarian… He was the person who introduced me to the pitfalls of collaborating in this context…

In authoritarian settings, I have found my creativity squashed by the realization that, ultimately, the guy in charge was going make a decision… That his opinions were (by default) more weighty than mine, regardless of his level of understanding in the medium…

Frustrating.

Don’t frustrate the creatives under your leadership.  Frustrated creatives do not produce the best results… Often, they give up and go away before the produce any results at all…

Here are a few “do-unto-others” rules for leading collaborative efforts with creatives:

1. Start with a clear vision of purpose. A vision of purpose will allow creatives to flow in their creative gifts, not just in their artistic skill.  A few years ago, I worked with a graphic artists to put together artwork for our Holy Week activities. I told her the theme, asked for a clean, modern look and let he go to work. She came back with several great ideas. We used all but one of them.

In the end, it was satisfying for the artist and I was rewarded with an end-product that far exceeded what I was capable of even envisioning by myself.

2. Start with a clear vision of outcome. This is different than a clear vision of purpose. A clear vision of outcome requires little or no collaboration, only instruction. If you are looking for a specific outcome, don’t ask for creativity, just tell the artist what you want the end result to look like in very specific terms.

Most artists are accustomed to working under specific expectations. The basis of most commercial art is commission… Someone with resources hires an artist to create something specific.

3. Be a team player. This sounds obvious, but you would be surprised at how many leaders see themselves as apart from, or even above, the rest of the team. When you enter into a collaboration, you have to allow that some of your ideas will be trumped or even cast aside…

4. Remember that being the leader does not make your ideas better. This requires a cultivated humility… a choice to view others as more important and their needs before our own.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  (The Bible, Philippians 2:3)

When I direct a show, I have a few key moments that I want to play out just as I envision them. I lay these out clearly to the actors, musicians or technical artists… I will have other occasions, in the same show, when I specifically request collaboration. In these cases, I layout the theme or message that I want to convey and let the team run with it…

I also allow myself the artistic and human freedom to be wrong. Sometimes, the blocking or technical aspect doesn’t work the way I thought it would… Since the team is accustomed to having the freedom to collaborate, they can help fix it.

If your team does not get the opportunity to routinely question and critique your ideas, then you may not get the input you need to make your collaboration maximize it’s potential awesomeness.

As a leader, take responsibility for creating a collaborative atmosphere for your team… Then sit back and watch the magic happen…