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Third Secret Being on the Same Page |
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Being on the Same Page
So, now that we have a sense for the HPO, what about the
importance of just plain goal setting?
As I pointed out earlier, proper goal setting cannot be
overestimated. The "win every day
philosophy" is nothing more than an exercise in goal setting. Let's talk about the first and most important
goal: the raison d'etre of the team, its
reason for being.
Teams are formed
because there is an objective to be reached.
Without a goal, there is no team.
There can be
collections of individuals who wander around together, but without a clear
objective, they will not operate as a team.
So, the inspirational leader has to first define the reason for the
team's existence. Then, he has to make
sure everyone is on the same page.
In 1998, I was working on the set of a film called
"Kimberly" as the maritime coordinator.
The film was set in Philadelphia
and my job was to teach the actors how to row and to choreograph the rowing
scenes as well as take care of the logistics involved. It was my first experience with film and it
was an interesting lesson in team development, specifically as it related to
getting everyone on the same page.
Ignorant as I was concerning the industry, I had assumed that film crews
operated as teams, moving from film to film.
Of course, that is not what happens at all. The producers and director come together, set
a location, hire the actors, and then put the word out for help. At that point, the other constituent parts of
the film come together from all over. In
effect, a team is assembled and gets to work right away. Having worked on many other films, the camera
operators, grips, key grips, costume designers, set designers, assistant
directors and everyone else associated with the production and fit into their
roles pretty easily. However, they
needed to be up to date on what was going on.
They needed to be on the same page.
And being on the same page meant understanding what the director wanted,
as well as what restrictions they were under based on financing and the
producer's limitations.
The script dictated most of that. The daily shooting schedule was derived from
the script and dictated the rest. The
director's vision was made clear to the assistant directors and they made sure
that everyone was where they needed to be when the director and the camera crew
got ready to shoot. Everyone knew what
the movie was about, understood the script and understood more or less what the
director wanted. They knew the reason
for the team's existence. It was to make
a movie. But the director's passion was
such that being on the same page meant not just knowing that a movie had to be
made, it was understanding that a quality movie had to be made. The HPO was making a movie that reflected the
best the team had to give.
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