Producer Considerations

Producers, this is what you have to do:

Cliché time:

  • Failing to plan is planning to fail
  • An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
  • What else?

Producers are not the *BOSS*, they coordinate teammates to keep things on track and in a good direction. Do not dominate discussion, or content, or ideas. You facilitate.

Check in with each group member as you discuss the team charter below. Some communication styles will talk and interrupt more, drowning out other voices.

Some things to do and ask team members to do (From Team Writing by Joanna Wolfe, p. 93-96):

  • Repeat back or restate ideas before disagreeing with time
  • Correct interruptions and let other person finish speaking (sometimes some speakers get excited and interrupt–use “I’m sorry, you were saying?” or “I noticed you were finishing a thought, can you continue?”)
  • Check in with quiet speakers (e.g., “do you have any thoughts on this?”)
  • Pay attention to body language (watch people leaning in, moving arms toward center of group, start to open mouth to talk but stop…watch for that an extend an invitation for them to speak)
  • Engage in uncritical brainstorming: assign a period of time where no criticism is allowed, only ideas are offered (a delay for criticism here *not* a ban of criticism).
  • Encourage members to prevent or delay interruptions (e.g., “I’m not finished yet,” “one more minute, please”)
  • If you notice pattern of quieter speakers, give them the floor to start meetings
  • Emphasize no intention to hurt feelings here! Just want to make sure everyone has a chance to share and offer thoughts.
  • Watch out for self-promoting vs. self-deprecating speech patterns. Some folks will be like aggressively confident while others will speak in styles that diminishes themselves or their ideas. Encourage honesty with shortcomings without focusing on them too much.
  • Consider different problem solving approaches.
    • Action-oriented: jumping into details of problem and immediately working on solution (best time is middle of project)
    • Holistic: considering entire problem as a whole and refraining from engaging solution until full understanding (best time for this is at beginning of project)
    • Some tasks should be more action-oriented and others more holistic. Be prepared to resolve conflicts over these clashing styles