Managing Your Team

You and Your Team

Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of your team. You want everyone to get a chance to try different tasks, but is someone really good at tracks and terrible at blocking? Let them focus on tracks. Try to highlight people's strengths––you want them to enjoy being there.

A strong team is one that knows each other well and gets along. Establish your team group chat early and try to get to know each person individually. You'll be spending a TON of time together over the next few months so if everyone is fighting, it will quickly become a terrible experience.

Always treat your team as equals––although part of their job is helping you out, you are all stage managers, and more importantly, you are a team.

Delegating tasks will also be a huge part of your job, which is why it's so important to know who excels at which types of jobs. It's good to have a well-rounded team of people who like each other and, between each of them, cover all your bases of types of tasks (e.g. paperwork, understanding tech, understanding tracks, other areas).

You and the Designers

For the most part, besides meetings, you will not see the designers frequently. That's why it's important to have an active BAND chat and always distribute rehearsal reports in a timely manner.

Designers should feel comfortable asking you questions and you should always ask them to confirm receipt––if you're just sending things out and never getting anything back from them, that's not helping anyone. Remember to be polite and communicate with them frequently so they don't feel out of the loop.

During the show, you will also work with run crew. Try to always go to the right person for the job when you need help with something; it's a way to show that you respect what they do. Don't go over their heads and just pull random people––their time is just as important as yours.