In the classic 1995 film Apollo 13, which chronicles the attempts to rescue astronauts whose shuttle befell catastrophe while attempting to reach the moon, actor Ed Harris utters one of the best leadership lines that could ever be applied to a critical situation when troubleshooting and problem-solving are paramount.
Portraying NASA engineer Gene Kranz, the real-life Chief Flight Director tasked with helping the astronauts return safely, Harris admonishes his team as they work rapidly to find a solution.
“Let’s work the problem, people,” Harris (as Kranz) says. “Let’s not make things worse by guessing.”
It’s such a perfect reminder and applies so well to the world of live worship production.
When things go sideways, it can be easy to quickly guess, assume, or jump to conclusions, especially when senior leaders are desperate for answers and direction.
But doing so may ultimately do more harm than good.
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“Pride never fixed anything, it never learned anything, and it most certainly didn't help anyone.”
–Joey Harris, Multisite Production Director for Northview Church
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“Pride never fixed anything, it never learned anything, and it most certainly didn't help anyone,” cautions Joey Harris, the Multisite Production Director for Northview Church, a ministry based in central Indiana.
“On most occasions ‘faking it till you make it’ doesn't help anyone if it's coming from a place of pride. However, that doesn't mean you have to know what's going on. Projecting confidence isn't necessarily a bad thing if the situation calls for it. You don't want to take other people out of their headspace by them being worried about what's going on,” he adds.
When (not if) problems arise in live production, the most critical first step is for those in the driver’s seat, like a production manager or tech director, to be able to take a deep breath and stay calm.
It’s like the old metaphor about being a thermometer or a thermostat: one reflects the temperature of the room while the other one sets it. So in a high-stress moment when something has gone wrong, am I reflecting the angst and anxiety that others are feeling, which may cause that negative energy to snowball, or do I have the ability to reset the temperature of the room by projecting calm confidence?
Having confidence that I can solve a problem may not initially mean I know exactly what the solution is. But to Harris’ point, probably the last thing I want to do is end up creating more stress for senior leaders who already have enough to worry about. If I can provide some reassurance that our team *can* find a solution, that may help defuse the tension in the moment.
Thus, communication in the moment becomes equally important to actually working through the problem.
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“If you want to rely on volunteers for mission-critical elements of service you must set them up to win, otherwise we all lose.”
–Joey Harris, Multisite Production Director for Northview Church
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When an issue arises, who all needs to know about it because of how they or their team might be affected? Senior leaders, worship pastors, and facilities managers all might need to be in the loop, but maybe not all of them need to know right now. So are there certain people that always need to have real-time updates about a problem being diagnosed and others who really only need to know after it’s been worked around so they’re in the loop moving forward? Not everyone needs every detail in the moment.
Also, is there a clear communication path, even inside the tech teams? If a volunteer encounters an issue, do they know who to share that with, and how to pass along that info, especially if a technical staff person isn’t present? And once I or my leaders get information, does everyone know who to communicate that with?
“A paper trail is massively important as your church grows, not because you can cover your back but because there is always so much going on it helps keep everyone on the same page,” says Harris. “Word of mouth is where things get tricky. On one hand it's never a good idea to communicate too much this way because you're relying on memory to keep everyone on the same page, and everyone knows how the game of ‘Telephone’ goes.”
Slack, Teams, and GroupMe are common tools that allow one-to-many communication channels for ministry teams, and even group texts are options if need be. The important part is just making sure there’s clarity on who to keep informed, and how often.
At that point, it’s also about knowing what to communicate. Some senior leaders may want to know technical details because it helps them better understand the intricacies of a workflow. Others may not understand it at all and just want to know if things are working. This is a great conversation to have in a non-stressed moment, just so a tech team leader knows what the expectations are regarding how and what he or she communicates.
And as a leader myself, does my team know what information I want and need in the middle of a crisis? I need details so I can help understand the dilemma and help fix it if needed, but I don’t need my team assuming or guessing anything about a problem or a solution, because that may introduce a “red herring” that ends up being chased or pursued fruitlessly.
Just like communication should have a planned workflow, so should the actual technical troubleshooting process.
Sometimes the old “turn it off and back on again” adage is really the best first step, but if a device has onboard logging, then a power cycle could wipe those logs and erase any history of the issue. So does the team have clarity regarding what the first step should be on certain devices?
Having some semblance of documentation can be a critical first step in solving issues.
Gary Pennington is the Technical Support Manager for the Central Production team at Birmingham, Ala.-based megachurch Church of the Highlands and has been managing teams and processes in similar roles there since 2018. Having a robust resource library available for volunteers to access has been a high-priority item for his team.
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“Having a distraction-free environment should always be our goal, and if proper preparation prevents poor performance, then preparing early and for the worst-case scenario will allow you to handle any unexpected issues.”
–Gary Pennington, Technical Support Manager, Church of the Highlands
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“We have campus one-lines, service checklists, and Standard Operating Procedures [for gear and service roles] available on Dropbox,” he notes. “We try to provide documentation or videos to any new or complex workflow to ensure it’s implemented successfully.”
A resource library can include things as simple as manufacturer manuals and PDFs of gear, signal flow charts, iPhone videos of how gear is set up or programmed, and even a pre-service checklist or how-to guide of the proper way to prepare equipment and/or roles for a service or event. Any of these items can then be referenced later when trying to troubleshoot.
Of course, sometimes the best troubleshooting is actually when a team walks through a proper maintenance plan or setup process ahead of time. Having a regular schedule of changing batteries in wireless mics will eliminate the issue of them dying during a service. Following a checklist so team members remember what to do before a service starts will reduce the likelihood of a projector not being turned on.
“Having a distraction-free environment should always be our goal, and if proper preparation prevents poor performance, then preparing early and for the worst-case scenario will allow you to handle any unexpected issues,” says Pennington.
Northview’s Harris agrees, adding, “If you want to rely on volunteers for mission-critical elements of service you must set them up to win, otherwise we all lose.”
“In January, we did a ‘Worship Tour’ where we had one worship team travel to all our campuses for a worship night,” he recalls. “We did nine events at nine different campuses in three weeks. As a team we sat down a month before the first event to discuss patching, routing, inputs, and outputs for audio. Together we developed a plan and then made sure each campus was set up before the event the exact same. At one campus we ran into an issue where someone's ears weren't working correctly and so we followed our master signal chain documentation and found the issue. It didn't necessarily save us time, [but] it saved panic. When a lot is happening it's not the big things that get you, it's the small stuff.”
Preparing for the worst-case scenario in the calm before the storm can often help make the troubleshooting process happen more smoothly. When people know their roles and responsibilities, the communication chain of command, where to find helpful resources, and how to implement a Plan B, it can remove the stress and chaos of the moment and allow things to continue effectively.
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“So anytime you're asked to troubleshoot an issue, make it about the person first. Empathy is the greatest weapon to breaking down the classic ‘tech guy’ stigma that has been well earned over the years.”
- Joey Harris, Multisite Production Director for Northview Church
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“As a production ministry, we are a support ministry,” Harris says. “Our job is to provide the most conducive environment to people encountering Christ and if we don't have our stuff together it completely shifts the mood of every other ministry working inside that event as well. So anytime you're asked to troubleshoot an issue, make it about the person first. How did this issue affect their ministry? Empathy is the greatest weapon to breaking down the classic ‘tech guy’ stigma that has been well earned over the years.”
Having a communication plan in place is critical: who needs to know, what do they need to know, and when do they need to know it?
Is there a regular process of doing preventative system checks to avoid any potential issues? Are workflows documented and accessible so team members can find them when needed? Is everyone clear on what the backup plans are in the event of certain catastrophes, and are those regularly discussed and practiced?
But perhaps most importantly, when we’re “in the moment” of an issue, how is my emotional state as a leader, and am I projecting calm or chaos? Am I allowing my team to fall back on their training and work thru things on their own, or do I have a tendency to try and jump in to fix things myself?
The troubleshooting process can be a great teaching moment, both in the middle of it or after the fact during a post-mortem, but it takes intentional effort to choose to be hands-off at times.
“Rule number one as a production team is ‘never be on the branch by yourself,’” Harris adds.
“Learning when to jump in and help and when to let the team handle it is one of the toughest jobs in the leadership business. The time your expertise saves usually isn't worth the side effects it causes. Be who [your team] can't be, shield them from outside forces, cheer on your belief in them, and allow them to learn and grow in their job like you did when you didn't have the burden of leadership. Leadership requires self-control and to give trust regardless of how hard that is. It's a struggle no doubt, but it's worth it.”
