Sharing Before Solving
The Studio, Seth Rogen’s semi-fictional comedy series about a Hollywood movie studio, won a record-breaking 13 Emmy awards last month. Every episode is an intense, often hysterical 30-minute rollercoaster ride into organizational dysfunction.
One of my favorite episodes is called “The Note” (spoilers ahead):
Studio head Matt (Seth Rogen) gathers his team to watch a preview screening of a new Ron Howard film. All are enthralled until a boring final sequence, which they agree should be cut. It’s Matt’s responsibility to deliver the “note” to the director - movie industry-speak for feedback.
Soon Ron Howard (played by Ron Howard) arrives at the studio for a marketing meeting with the team. But Matt hesitates to deliver the note about the ending because of a traumatic experience he had with Howard after offering him some truly out-of-the-box feedback about his film A Beautiful Mind.
Matt’s team outs him, however, and Howard humiliates Matt by reminding him of the Beautiful Mind incident. Matt responds with an aggressive take-down of Howard’s current film, and well, mayhem ensues.
If you lead any kind of creative endeavor, you might shrug and say this behavior is sometimes necessary to protect your ideas (and ideals). But if we’re afraid to offer critical feedback, or equally threatened by receiving it, we inadvertently stunt the entire creative process.
I’ve been working with several organizations on ways to deliver feedback using my four feedback hurdles framework. These four hurdles need to be cleared, in sequence, to ensure that critical feedback supports true learning and development.
The first hurdle is delivery – the feedback must actually be shared. In The Studio we witness Matt’s resistance to deliver the note, but when he finally does, he gets tripped up by the second hurdle, which is clarity - the feedback provided must be stated clearly and must be clearly understood by the receiver. If there is no clarity, it’s nearly impossible to identify an acceptable, sustainable, and meaningful remedy to the situation.
As it turns out, there were two pieces of information that could have added clarity to the initial exchange between Matt and Ron – information about what each of them really cared about:
Matt, the studio exec, cared about revenue and an excessively long film reduces the number of theater screenings and lowers ticket sales.
Ron, the director, wanted to use the film’s final scenes to pay homage to a deceased cousin that he dearly loved.
If they had revealed, and then united, their individual interests they might have prevented a feedback conversation from devolving into conflict. They needed to share before attempting to solve.
The episode ends with Matt receiving a phone call from Howard, who apologizes and agrees to remove the final sequence. Alas, he also threatens to destroy Matt if ever tries to give him feedback again.
An entertaining ending, perhaps, but also a reminder that old habits die hard.