The most important thing you need to do, as a leader, is schedule the events. Put them on a calendar. Plan for the entire year. Schedule all of your events so that you can easily see spaces where an event doesn’t conflict with other events, holidays, or special services.
In my experience, if you don’t put these valuable group activities on the calendar and commit to following through, you probably won’t get around to them.
Motivating and Assisting
It is important that the leader strive for a strong spiritual and emotional tone in the team. The leader typically sets the mark for the rest of the group.
If the leader is sullen and introverted, the team will probably lean toward being sullen and introverted. If the leader makes the effort to be upbeat and excited, the team will probably be upbeat and excited.
A motivating atmosphere is full of positive reinforcement. Ideally, comments and critiques should be presented in a friendly, supportive, and uplifting manner. The way you communicate with your team is somewhat dependent on their skill level and individual personalities.
You’ll probably discover that the higher the team member’s skill level, the greater the likelihood that he or she will respond well to constructive criticism.
Most people are fairly insecure—they might respond poorly to any criticism simply because they’re uncomfortable and tense in their situation. A good leader will assess each individual and adjust instructions to help him or her succeed.
If you are extremely knowledgeable, you could easily overwhelm the newcomer. Dole out your instructions a little at a time. Learn to read your team members. It’s fairly easy to tell when someone is becoming overwhelmed; however, in your excitement to share knowledge with that person, you might overload his or her brains.
It is better to hand out bite-sized pieces at an even yet manageable pace than it is to spew forth a barrage of knowledge, expecting that the person will assimilate it over the course of time.
One of the best ways to establish the proper learning pace for your team is to develop a curriculum. Organize all of the tasks involved for sound operators during each service. Some tasks will be very simple to explain; others will be simple to say but a little less simple—possibly even difficult—to explain.
“Set worship leader’s mic on a stand at front, center stage,” is obviously a very straightforward instruction—it simply is what it says it is. “Mic and EQ the kick,” sounds like a simple command, but it is a very involved command for most new sound operators.
To properly mic and EQ the kick drum, you must explain the detail involved in microphone placement—the way to find a good sound before you adjust equalization—and then you must explain some basics about signal path management. Finally, you need to explain something about the theory of equalization.
You must decide whether you want to train the sound operators in a way that they’ll eventually grow into excellent sound techs who understand what they’re doing—and can apply the concepts they know independently to each new scenario.
Or, do you want to achieve more immediate results by simply telling them where to set the controls?
Practically speaking, a blend of these two approaches is advisable.