How can I make my team brilliant?

I had the amazing experience of entering the 48 hour film competition held here in Melbourne this last weekend (www.48melbourne.com.au). I feel so proud of my team: family, friends and work colleagues (ranging in age from 10 to 85). Many were complete strangers and yet they all pulled together to be a great team.
It was an insane weekend, and it made me wonder why we would subject ourselves to such pressure and exhaustion, on a weekend, for something meant to be fun. And it’s all voluntary, no one gets paid, people give up a good slab of their weekend.

As it turned out, despite the challenges and stumbling blocks we encountered, we managed to have fun and complete the project and hand it in with only one minute to spare. Let me now look again at what makes teams work brilliantly – as ours did this weekend…

1. Set clear direction
To be a strong functioning team we clarified goals, objectives and timeframes well before the start of the project. This meant people were on time on Friday night – ready for the start time 7pm.

We all knew what was required – we had a clear direction – make a 4-7 minute film in 48 hours, for a given genre (ours was family film) and every participating team (28 in Melbourne this last weekend) was given the same specific prop (piggy bank), set line of dialogue (“Where the bloody hell are you, mate?”) and specific character (Lili or Lance walker, statistician).

We clearly spelled out roles – writing, acting, film crew and editing team – and everyone took responsibility to deliver. We also knew that a few people were doing roles that they did not normally do, because this was a chance to try new skills. One person (the editor) was sick Saturday morning – another stood in to take their place… without hesitation!

2. Facilitate open communication
We began with very open communication to invite all ideas and suggestions as soon as we were given the genre and other requirements – so within 20 minutes we were already brainstorming ideas. This went well – but required long hours on the part of a few to complete the writing process. From the start of filming there was a need to move quickly so there was less opportunity for people’s ideas – yet many smaller ideas such as additional lines of dialogue were all welcome and taken up.

3. Provide appropriate leadership
While I led the team, it was a first time film director that led the filming on Saturday. Her role was to take the script and film it in one day, then assist the editor to edit overnight and Sunday, and deliver a finished film. So for the actual filmmaking we had very strong direction – maybe even at times too strong, but we could not afford to get behind the schedule, as there was no luxury time to relax. We could not end up in a situation with an incomplete project, and we knew we must start the editing process by 8pm… and this we did! So this team leadership was shared between myself and the film director.

4. Develop cooperation
Team leaders need to be positive role models – pitch in and help with routine tasks. In this team there was no exception. As producer I also catered, bought props and helped with scripting. The director helped with set dressing, moving furniture around and arranging props. People need to be thanked publicly for their good work, (I was delighted with our actors and crew, and made sure they knew that). Positive public feedback is vey powerful in a team, and relationships within the team need to be managed to ensure cooperation is maintained throughout the team’s work. Whether a team works together for 48 hours or years – feedback, rewards and cooperation are all critical.

5. Continuous improvement
For long-term teams it is important to review mistakes and create a feedback culture where people can discuss what went wrong, what could be done better and ideas for improvement. With a short-term team – a “debrief” following the event within days will help the group review what could be done better for next time, in every role and every process to ensure a repeat performance would be smoother and more efficient and successful.

6. Celebrate success
Teams need to celebrate their success – even if it is simply to celebrate completion of an activity. People need to see and know the results of their work (I am sending everyone in our team a DVD of the end result). They need to feel acknowledged and appreciated. Even simple emails, news articles, photos or a shared afternoon tea can make people in any team feel great.

The 48 hour film project offers a wide range of awards and provides great opportunities to screen all the films – and we all look forward to seeing the other films. (Anyone in Melbourne interested – the short films will be screen at ACMI Nov 13-15).

Perhaps the 48 hour film project provides a great model for creative brainstorming for work teams who need to deliver a creative package – an event idea, a new brochure, a new catalogue, a new product range.

Eve Ash is the co-producer of Making Teams Work Brilliantly, a best selling DVD from the Take Away Training Series, and Team Building, a best selling DVD from the People Skills series (www.7dimensions.com.au).