Use of Media in Capacity Building
The process of building a team of people to do community television productions can be a context for capacity building of each participant. Such capacity building is one of the main tasks of ministry, as Paul points up in his description of five types of ministry.Of course, people can be randomly assigned to various tasks or allowed to select tasks of their own task-preference, but when the production opportunity is used to build capacity in individuals, a great deal more can be accomplished with even a bit of added intentionality. Two main areas of personal capacity building are possible:
- Individual Capacity
- Interpersonal or Teamwork Capacity
Individual Capacity Building
Media Skill Capacity Building
At the present time, the Brandon Media Co-op does not have a formal curriculum of skills or a listing of "beginner, intermediate, advanced" level capacity indicators for volunteers. The approach seems to be much more informal, with the formal training of its ACC student volunteers taking place off-premises at the Community College. It would be very easy for a Church group to sit down with the Department Staff and develop such a list for its own purposes. Such a list would prove very helpful in developing personal capacity amongst its team members. Perhaps adapting the Boy Scout approach to skill teaching, developed successfully across cultures over a one hundred year period would be a good place to start. It is designed for the teaching of a set of core and peripheral (wilderness) skills to a rotating group of young people, a context parallel to that of many groups of volunteer production people.If some sort of structured program for skill development is implemented it allows for the linking of skill level with privileges and opportunities. It need not be linked to a high level of interpersonal competition, as many do not like that, or find it helpful in their growth. On the other hand, leaving people to drift around with no idea of what is possible in terms of skill development, or what constitutes basic, intermediate, or advanced level functioning is a recipe for discouragement. As Michael Gerber points out in his two books on developing successful Entrepreneurial organizations, The E-Myth(5) and The Power Point (6), leveraging ordinary people to the performance of extraordinary feats of achievement is a road to high morale in staff operations. Judith Barnard, in her book, Danger in The Comfort Zone, on the problems of helping people move from a state of "entitlement" to high performance (in this case in Fortune 500 companies), notes that setting high levels of expectation, clearly articulated, and supported with a high level of training support, is quite successful (2). These and many of the other resources for developing high-quality skill training programs can be integrated into an activity such as a church-based community television training program, to develop the personal skill capacity in its participants. I believe the results would be well worth the effort.
Personal Capacity Building
Personal Capacity building can take place in a church-based community television production initiative. One of the best places to start is with the use of Don and Katie Fortune's Finding your God Given Gifts, (11)in order to help individuals sort out their basic motivational gifts. There are a variety of these "people grouping models" around but I find this one particularly good in that
- it uses street language, rather than code letters like "ENFP or INTJ,
- The benefits can be gained immediately (Myers Briggs is best after two or three workshops)
- It has a focus on articulating personal motivations
I have used the system informally for about twelve years and have kept track of numerous additional comments that individuals from each of the giftings have made in regards to such things as how they prefer to learn, their preferred conditions for growth, and what they tend to be perfectionists in. These are posted elsewhere on this web site.
Developing Capacity in Production Content
I have found that when the first two levels of four part "Wish List" tool are used with production people, a very clear idea of the person's areas of interest emerge. This information gives the person very clear ideas about what content areas they might like to pursue in terms of program production, (or on what types of programs they might be most interested in being crew). I have also used this tool alongside the "Gifts" model in career / academic advising, so the tool definitely does carry-over to other areas of a person's life. Not only are the participants of a community television crew helped to see what their prime areas of concern in life are, they are given a chance to operate in those areas immediately by working on a program in that area. Because the results of the Wish List tool double as indicators of life-work interests, the person is able to start getting on with his/her life immediately. An outline of this model appears in another section of this web site.Note: be aware that the "go back to section head" that appears at the end of the "level four" sheet refers to the section head in which the Wish List model appears. If you use it, you will really get lost, so it is better to back out to here when completed the level-four sheet. Four-Part Wish List Model.
Interpersonal or Teamwork Capacity Building
Working on a community television crew has many of the same effects a going to a camp. There is a sense of community or team. There are endless unexpected emergencies which have to be addressed, which tend to bring the crew together with a common history. There are periods of intense activity and periods of standing by waiting. There is the opportunity for individual initiative, self-development, skill learning, personal achievement, and developing inter-personal skills. If a team works together for an extended period of time, a strong sense of camaraderie can develop.Everybody needs to learn good ways of interacting with people especially those of differing "gifts". If the development of such interpersonal skills is intentionally taught and systematically discussed, community television production can prove to be a very worthwhile context within which to develop such personal capacities. If it is ignored, it can prove to be the undoing of your production and/or your entire program. Most people are not born with good interpersonal skills, they develop them with guidance and support of a mature leader in a context which insists on high standards in this area. Lessons learned on the set can prove to be of high value in the other areas of life.
Brandon Issues Which May Be Addressed In Part By Media-Based Capacity Building
Pioneer Philosophy Help participants in a shoot become aware of different leadership styles, rural or urban contexts within which they are frequently experienced, and give them an opportunity to experiment with mature functioning in each of them.
Sniff Use the production crew as a context within which to practice such actions as repentance and forgiveness, and explain their utility, and let participants experience the effects of such actions.
Healing Town Conduct joint production ventures with others denominations, faith groups, races, cultures, classes, etc. so that people have a chance to interact. Make it a commitment to address issues as they emerge rather than avoid them, and use the productions as an opportunity to experiment with healthier ways of living in community. Healthy contexts are conducive to healthy people.
A Pass Through Center Skills and techniques used with crew as a matter of course, when production crews deliberately include "pas-through" social service agency people serve to "export" good techniques to other places. Joint ventures on specific projects encourages a cross-fertilization of ideas and techniques without having to depend on all people being formally attached to a local church, or even be formally attached for extended periods.
"Shoots" Its Leaders When a Church uses a production as a learning context for the development of healthy interpersonal relations and quality leadership-followership skills, a great deal of the learning can carry over into other areas of life.
Mediocre Standards One of the terrific aspects of community television is that there is a place for everyone. There are fewer and fewer places in society for people with limited mental and physical abilities to join in with the people with higher level skills on a joint project which demands the most from every member of the team in order for the production to be successful. If crews are intentionally designed to be inclusive and to do so with appropriate matching of skills and abilities with task demands, then community television production can be of great blessing to all. When this is combined with graded skill sets, good training, quality group leadership, and intentional team building, and an objective of excellence, the results can be very good indeed.
Exports Its Youth We know that we export out youth. Maybe it is time to track our young members, interview them when they return, explore what challenges they face in their new context and use that information to guide and direct the objectives of a community television production, both in terms of content for the program, and in terms of life-skill development for the crew that will be going there. Perhaps it will enhance their enjoyment of, and success in their new environment.
Silos of Excellence As productions are made jointly across the boundaries of faith , race, professional excellence, culture, and so on, people are helped to realize the benefits of cross-fertilization of ideas and approaches. Who knows, maybe someday, people in the target destinations of Brandon youth, will be hiring our youth because of their " made in Brandon" label, and for their capacity to bridge our society's pervasive "silos of excellence".
Labor Factor Community Television is volunteer based. However, the activity itself is professionally grounded. The dynamics one encounters on the crew are those of the real adult working world. Learning quality interpersonal relations in the production of high quality programs with high production values can be a context for teaching, discussing, and developing quality work attitudes and approaches.
Navagation