–by Dean Lincoln Hyers, Film Director and Professional Speaker

Many have said, “Money is power.” Others say, “Information is power.” I say, “Sensitivity is power,” because that’s what I’ve learned from the intense leadership environment of the film set, where pressure is high, performances are on-the line, and timing is everything.

That’s the environment I love, because something is going wrong every couple of minutes and the value of leadership is obvious, and the feedback is real-time, leaving no question about what works! I’ve learned how to activate the leadership presence that builds effective teams, even with diversity in values, techniques, levels of experience, and different functions that have to work together.

It is my tested belief (as a filmmaker who also trains business leaders, undercover agents, sales teams, and other professionals with communication training and teambuilding programs) that the “amped up” environment of a film set is the perfect environment to extrapolate good techniques for leadership in general.

At the start of any project is the powerfully unstable chemical mix of fear and dreams. The self-protective “voice over” in my head says, “I hope I don’t make a fool of myself,” while the view I see through “opportunity’s lens” shows the sky as the limit! Money’s on the line, egos come into play, power struggles happen, and all this because everyone wants to deliver value and receive recognition.

 

The film set is a classic make-or-break moment that taught me what I need to train spies, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, sales, and IT folk how to improve communication skills. Film mixes technical with non-technical, veteran with green, creative with practical, dreamer with pragmatist, and art with reality. (The kite stretches from the clouds down to the ground as it tries to reach new heights).

My leadership secret weapon is sensitivity. In fact, a criticism levied against me has been “Dean is too nice. Can he lead?” My most powerful skill hinges on a soft-skill that some consider to be feel-good woo-woo that while sure to breed a love-fest, is unleaderly to the type A leader who sees sensitivity and assertiveness in conflict – where none exists!

Sensitivity equals power. I drive progress, results, effectiveness, and productivity off the charts with sensitivity. In return, I get loyalty, creativity, and 110% from everyone on my team.

Sensitivity brings you everything you want as a leader. It’s a tool to get the best out of people. Constructive redirection inspires people to take ownership in your instructions. It’s the raw material that drives inspiration. And it’s not less efficient; The five additional seconds it takes to be sensitive removes hours of sorting out baggage, while increasing quality, productivity, and loyalty.

So what does “Leadership Sensitivity” look like? Let me paint you a picture through my lens.

As a Film Director, I do exactly what Pete Machalek and I train at SagePresence in any leadership training or teambuilding workshop; I follow a simple rule in all my leadership communication, following the five steps below in any order:

1)    A positive statement: I can levy any criticism I want, or ask anyone to do anything I want – as long as I include a positive statement that I can say and feel authentically.

This doesn’t have to be gushing. It has to be true, and relevant. Let me exemplify with only a mildly positive statement: “We’ve gotten this far (+). Now we are going to have to address timing.” That wasn’t too hard. Even better would be, “I love the camera move (+) you did. Can we try it a little smoother?” Or in a different sequence. “I want to drop the whole sequence in the van, because they did such a great job in the storefront scene that we don’t need it (+).”

The teambuilding respect communicated by tying any negative to one single positive helps people feel recognized and honored while being directed.

2)    Complete Context: It makes no difference whether your direction is right or wrong. You must always provide the context. No action movie ever has any audience power if there isn’t a plot to provide context to the action. Just speak from a negative situation (–) toward a positive situation (+), with action required in the middle (A), and you have context!

Negative to Positive (most recommended): “It’s going to be hard to edit that shot because you’re both talking over each other (–).  I want you to add a small pause before say your line (A), and that way, the editor will be able to cut on the pause (+).”

Positive to Negative (less recommended, but still effective): “We’re right on schedule (+) today. Let’s get back from break at exactly 10:30 (A), so we don’t jeopardize our advantage (–).”

3)    Repeat what others say to you: Repeating shows you’ve listened. And that communicates respect and attentiveness.

“Let me make sure I got this. You think, if we use the time now to get the lines perfectly, we’ll make up the time in the afternoon because the extra takes will serve as practice. Is that what you’re saying?”

Whenever you can restate what someone else says, you pay them the respect of gaining your attention and being heard.

Those three simple rules get me through nearly every direction or conversation. I tie a positive to almost anything I say, especially when there is a criticism or redirection. I provide context with every instruction so they see where we are that’s not ideal, and where I’m trying to go that is more ideal. And I repeat what is said to me so that followers know they’re heard and in synch with me.

There are two more key activities that always give me the teambuilding edge, and I do them constantly.

4) I provide public praise of others, while keeping criticism private. This is not playing favorites. This is joyfully calling out people for their real contributions so that they are recognized by their leader in front of the team. And I pay attention to as many people and as many levels of the team as possible, so that everyone is praised for the positive, while appreciating the value of the other players. Since I don’t withhold it from anyone, my teams don’t “fight” for my praise.

They get praise regularly because I give it liberally, and only for real things. Then I criticize privately in protection of their reputation. The result is a team that loves the environment, is inspired (pulled) instead of “motivated” (pushed) or scared into line. My teams love to be in that environment and they perform like crazy to earn the chance to stay in it with me.

5) I share the good part of the work. People want to contribute and add value. And I let them. In the film world, everyone’s in it because they want to share creativity and express themselves. So I don’t hog it. Instead, I do what I call “Essence Leadership.”

Essence leadership is aligning with team members on the broad strokes, but letting them control some of the details. As a director, I could say, “Give me a red 1985 Corvette.” Or I could say, “Find me a car that says, mid-life-crisis!” I align over the essence, but I turn over the details. And with that, I get not only the body (the physical doing of the work), I get my team-member’s mind and I believe two heads are better than one.

Give this a try. 1) Speak with one positive statement in most or all communication. 2) Sandwich the action you want someone to take with the context that gives that action purpose, 3) repeat what others say as an actively listening leader, 4) praise people publicly and authentically, gradually hitting everyone in the team, and 5) align over the essence and share the details, so you share the good part of the work that gets them up in the morning.

Embody these five communication secrets and you will have a power of sensitive leadership, which inspires teams that will follow you anywhere!