Here's how you can transition into leadership roles as a mid-career video production professional.

Hone Your Leadership Skills: Communication: Effective communication is crucial for any leader. Practice active listening, clear articulation of ideas, and providing constructive feedback. Project Management: Demonstrate your ability to plan, organize, and execute complex video projects within budget and on schedule. Decision-Making: Show that you can analyze situations, weigh options, and make informed decisions confidently. Team Building: Learn to motivate, inspire, and delegate tasks effectively to build a cohesive and high-performing team. Problem-Solving: Be adept at identifying challenges, finding creative solutions, and adapting to unforeseen circumstances.

The paragraph above about breaking into the field of production is absolutely correct, you should expand your skills beyond technical knowledge. Leadership roles require skills in project management, communication and budgeting. But my experience is that apart from the courses you should do more practical work to improve your skills.

Leadership isn't for everyone, but, if a boss offers a glimpse into their role, say yes as much as possible. As a young employee, I always wondered what my bosses did all day. When I got the chance to tag along for awhile, I saw that it was nothing like what I imagined. Leadership includes, but is not at all limited to, putting out little fires so they don't become big fires, thinking about long-term visions while also meeting short-term deadlines, and hoping everyone sees, at least a little bit, that you are making the best decisions for the entire team (not just a few people).

Good bosses are always willing to help employees gain skills they want. When employees ask me for help, I explain every step of my process, tell them to ask a lot of questions, answer everything as best I can, and make sure they are on board with what I have decided. Once that is done, I take off the training wheels and let them oversee a smaller project and stand off to the side. I think employees appreciate the chance to try something new and see if it's something they enjoy.

Showing initiative can be as simple as creating Standard-Operating-Procedures for your organization. If you can teach people how to do what you do, in a training manual, then you can lead people. Ton's of mid-level managers would rather run on a hamster wheel instead of creating a how-to guide & a proper SOP. Show initiative and drive progress by creating your own SOPs!

About three months into the pandemic, one of my employees asked me to watch a production she had been working on without me knowing. Instead of getting angry because how dare she do something behind my back, I was excited to see what she put together... It was a 90-second promo highlighting everything our municipality was doing to help its residents through the great unknown. It became so popular, in fact, that our city's then-mayor shared it on his social media accounts for larger audiences to watch. This initiative was crucial, timely, and showcased her work in a way that it probably would not have been seen otherwise.