Have you ever been in in live production (worship service) and something "catastrophic" happens? A situation that needs immediate attention and immediate direction? "The decision needs to be made now, we're live!"
During an audio install at my church there was an accident with one of the production guys that was pulling an audio line and it put a deep gash on his right forearm right around his radial artery. As you can imagine this put a sense of panic amongst most of our team. After calling 911 we found ourselves huddled in the green room holding on and holding off a potentially serious injury with paramedics in route. As you can imagine it was a bit chaotic.
Here's what I noticed when the First Responders arrived:
First, they showed up and they stayed calm.
There was no sense of panic with any of them. Not in their facial expressions or the pace of their calculated actions. They simply walked in and immediately began to address the problem before them.
Second, they identified the issue.
They started asking questions to figure out what happened and how it happened. They removed our makeshift bandage to evaluate the seriousness of the injury.
Third, they remained professional.
They professionally shared their opinion on what they thought was the actual injury, professionally communicated with the individual the nature of the injury, and professionally bandaged the injury all at the same time.
Lastly, they directed clearly what should happen next.
In this circumstance they suggested transportation to the ER by them (at a great cost) or by someone else (like me) to the closest ER. For the curious, he choose the second option of being transported by me and he ended up being fine.
When it comes to a situation or a decision that needs to be made right away - in a "live" environment, with people in the room, all eyes on stage, we must be able to remain calm, identify the issue, remain professional, and give clear direction for what's next. This wont always be easy, especially when a sense of panic is a natural and tempting response.
Remember, four seconds in a live environment may feel like four hours, but in all reality, it's still only four seconds.
Some easy actions steps and assessments:
Start and stay calm – Slow down and calm down.
Identify the issue – Discover and diagnose the problem.
Remain professional – Keep focused and keep moving toward a solution.
Give clear directions for what’s next – Communicate to all the teams what is next and make it happen.
The "show" must go on.
Apply these simple things to your next problem that you may have during your next "live production" and I promise, you'll come out on top.
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