Big Issues!

How can we keep our Guild on track while growing what we do? In order to get work for all screen workers, how can we contribute to the development of a thriving industry? What threats are there to the NZ industry? Should we lobby for what we want? These are the sort of questions we need to be asking; and the EO’s been having a bit of a think herself...

Recently I was quite sick for a time. There is currently no robust contingency for such situations in the office here. As I outlined in ‘A Day in the Life’ (pp 6-9 Issue 40), we were developing the new role of Office Assistant with an extremely able ex-Production Manager and new parent, but the role didn’t work out to be compatible as a second job for her, so I was flying solo again. As I tried to relax and recuperate I went through a phase of extreme stress; feeling the weight of the Executive Officer role bear down on me – how could I possibly get better and keep the office in some sort of shape?! After a while I got a bit of perspective, and it turned out, as, happily, things often do, to be a useful experience for me.

I had a sort of epiphany about this organisation and the role I am employed to fulfil: The EO is but a single person. It’s obvious, as so much ‘common wisdom’ is, but I’d fallen into the trap of feeling I had to achieve too much and be Everything to Everyone. I suddenly saw that the only way the EO role can be effective is if the EO acts as a point of contact, a facilitator and a delegator. Here’s the rub of course: it’s you lot, the membership, who are the Guild’s biggest resource. Quid pro quo, the EO facilitates, the membership decides on direction and plays its part in getting things done in the real world, with the assistance of some key skilled, paid consultants.

The review of the Safety Code of Practice (SCOP) is a great example:

The SCOP and Blue Book need to be on a regular cycle of review and update. (An industrial expert suggested the BB is really our industry’s Collective Agreement; such agreements can be no older than three years – the current BB is five years old...) In order that such reviews and updates become a reality, a method by which such reviews proceed is required. The method must be such that reinvention of the wheel – and all angst and waste associated with inefficient process – becomes a thing of the past. It would follow that future reviews could be accomplished with far less effort than will be required for this present one for SCOP.

The breakdown of roles for the SCOP review is envisaged – at this stage – as follows:

The role of the EO is to facilitate and document the review process, so that it becomes both repeatable and transparent. The role of contracted consultants is to advise on basic direction, and comment on drafted content. Such consultants are chosen for their relevant expertise in Health & Safety practice and legislation, and familiarity with examples of other effective codes from other industries (or equivalents of ours from overseas). A technical writer with experience writing H&S documents puts the words to paper. A group – of manageable size – of enthusiastic and able individuals from the membership form a steering committee to oversee the process. This ‘overseeing committee’ works on behalf of all crafts equally – establishing a timeline, selecting a format, and guiding the process. Smaller craft-oriented committees, made up of members, concentrate on and contribute to specific H&S content for their departments. The EO is the central point of contact.

If you’re switched on, you’ll have realised there is a role for you in this process!

We aim to review the entire SCOP over roughly 12 months, and somewhere in there should be a month for your department. If your department isn’t currently well represented (e.g. Production Office), then we aim to add give it more comprehensive treatment in the SCOP. Being realistic, this current review may not get through every single thing, but establishing a rolling review will keep your area on the agenda.

So, back to my epiphany... I considered what might be a few realistic key goals for a three-year period (a period which I can see myself achieving something significant in this role, and one that I am now a year into).

1. Stronger participation from members.

This integrates directly with the idea that the members are the Guild’s biggest resource.

2.Ensure growth of the membership.

Growth is also intimately connected to, and feeds back into, stronger participation. In fact, I started to realise that the things I was thinking about are all interconnected, relying on and feeding back into the others. In terms of recruitment, the Blue Book and the SCOP are tangible evidence of obvious and powerful answers to the eternal question: Why should I join the Guild? The defined working conditions – including overtime, turnaround, and days off – and safety initiatives that all crew (hopefully) enjoy are enshrined in these documents, and are the result of extremely hard work by successions of Guild members. Work to achieve many things that many crew today take for granted was done by dedicated Guild members in the days before there was any paid Guild employee – amazing achievements by groups of crew working voluntarily for the good of their peers and the industry as a whole.

Both the SCOP and Blue Book are flagship documents for the Guild, symbols of Guild work commonly encountered by many in the Screen Production Industry. The existence of both documents offers concrete enticement to new members. Or should I say that the opportunity to be involved in the creation of such documents provides such enticement? In order to continue to be effective at attracting new members, the Guild requires a certain momentum. An obvious way to create and maintain such momentum is to regularly review these key documents. The review process feeds back into participation of members, too, as the momentum of reviews offers both attraction to and incentive for contributing. New members create the push (where momentum is a pull) of fresh people, ideas, and energy that benefit all organisations. All of these things, if we nail them, should create sufficient energy and participation for the Guild to better address bigger issues – those that fall under the banner of (or relate to) my third aim:

3. Governance: set of processes and policies that determine how an organisation is directed.

Getting governance sorted is key to tackling the ‘Big Issues,’ because it regulates deciding what issues are a priority, and how such issues will be addressed. I have had very generous offers of assistance from bright, intelligent, connected individuals to keep abreast of some of the ‘Big Issues’ – to cite some examples: What is Government doing that affects our industry, our members? What changes is the Film Commission making (and how does the NZFC function)? How is piracy hurting our industry now, and what is going to happen in the future? Until the Guild has effective governance and participation, however, it is beyond the role of the EO to really keep up with this sort of information, simply because time is taken up with other more immediately urgent tasks. This severely limits a crucial element of the EO’s role, that is in facilitating via presentation of important information to the Executive. (Primarily, the role’s not called Executive Officer for nothing.)

Like the other issues I’ve explored, addressing matters of governance should both benefit from and feedback into the other goals. Better governance leads to efficiency: everyone knows what they should do, where their responsibilities begin and end, and how to go about their duties. Making good decisions about governance in turn relies on participation. Participation relies on attracting members to keep things fresh and to prevent the burn-out and inertia that comes when you ask the same people to do everything all the time. Finally, governance feeds back into good processes and policies that bring in more members and encourage participation! (Or at least this is how my theory developed.)

It might be a demanding pill to swallow (to adapt a metaphor), but this Guild is only as strong as its members – the Guild is you; there is no phantom third party ‘Guild’ that will do things and wait to take criticism for same. The EO can, and does of course, achieve some things on your behalf. The EO can certainly keep the organisational framework functioning like a well-oiled machine and signpost important issues for your consideration, but, however you look at it, your Guild ultimately comes down to its membership. The great news is – with 500 plus talented, self-motivated, smart people to draw from – the load borne by individuals does not have to be unwieldy or overly taxing. It’s your decision – how effective do you want the Guild to be? How much of a say in the amount of work you’re offered and the conditions under which you work do you want? I hope the answers are: ‘Very’ and ‘Heaps,’ and that you take up the challenge I am not-so-subtly laying to get involved and shape this organisation for the better. I’ll be doing my bit.

Fritha Stalker, Executive Officer.