What Video Teams Can Learn from Rob Swannie About Trust, Feedback, and Authentic Leadership
Rob Swannie is a cybersecurity executive, organizational transformation leader, and author of Leading Like a Human. Across more than 30 years in technology leadership, his work has centered on building teams through growth, change, and complex operating environments.
His leadership approach has clear applications for video production. Crews work under deadlines, creative pressure, shifting client needs, and constant collaboration. Producers need people to raise problems early, challenge ideas without turning disagreements personal, and contribute even when they are not the loudest person in the room.
Swannie’s strongest lessons center on trust. Leaders set the tone by admitting mistakes, understanding the people behind each role, keeping feedback focused on the work, making space for different voices, and recognizing where people can contribute best. Those principles translate naturally to the way producers manage crews, client relationships, reviews, and creative decisions.
Lead With the Behavior You Want From the Team
Swannie’s first principle is to model the authenticity you expect from others. A leader who never admits uncertainty or mistakes cannot reasonably expect the team to speak openly when something goes wrong.
That matters on a production because small problems become expensive when people hide them. A producer needs to know if a location is not working, an interview setup has an audio issue, a shot list is too ambitious for the schedule, or an edit direction is creating problems.
The answer is not to create a set where everyone says whatever comes to mind without judgment. It is to make useful honesty normal.
If a producer makes the wrong call, correcting it openly can be more effective than defending the original decision. If the team does not yet have an answer, saying that clearly gives everyone permission to focus on solving the problem instead of pretending it does not exist.
That behavior also affects clients. Production teams build trust when they can explain what happened, what needs to change, and what the next decision is without hiding behind vague language.
Understand the Person Behind the Production Role
Job titles describe responsibilities, but they do not explain what motivates the person doing the work.
Swannie learned this when he tried to push an employee toward more responsibility and career advancement. The employee was already happy doing strong work in the existing role and did not want the additional demands Swannie assumed would be motivating. His conclusion was that leadership requires understanding what matters to the individual rather than projecting the leader’s own definition of success onto them.
Video production benefits from the same awareness.
One crew member may want more responsibility on set. Another may want to become highly skilled in one technical area. An editor may enjoy shaping interviews more than cutting short promotional pieces. A producer may be strongest when managing clients rather than overseeing every technical choice.
Knowing those differences helps producers assign work with more intention.
This does not mean every preference can determine the schedule or crew structure. Production still has requirements. But understanding the person behind the role gives a producer better information when deciding who should own a task, who needs support, and who may be ready for something different.
It can also prevent a common mistake: assuming that promotion, visibility, or a larger workload is automatically what every strong contributor wants.
Keep Feedback About the Work
Swannie separates feedback into task-based, behavior-based, and identity-based feedback. The first two give someone something specific they can act on. Identity-based feedback shifts attention from the problem to the person and can cause people to shut down.
That distinction is useful throughout production.
“Cut the opening by ten seconds” is about the work.
“The client needs more context before this statement” is about the work.
“We lost time because the handoff was not confirmed” addresses an observable behavior.
“You are difficult to work with” turns the issue into a judgment about the person.
Creative reviews become harder when those categories get mixed together. Editors, producers, writers, camera teams, and clients should be able to challenge a choice without making the person who made it defend their identity.
Producers can help by keeping review language specific and treating revision notes as feedback about stakeholder expectations. Identify the shot, line, transition, timing issue, or behavior that needs attention. Explain what result is required. Then give the person enough room to solve it.
Clear feedback protects accountability without making every correction personal.
Make Disagreement Safe
Video production is full of competing ideas. A director may want one approach while the client prefers another. An editor may see a stronger opening than the one written into the treatment. Legal may challenge a line that marketing considers essential.
Trying to eliminate disagreement usually does not make the project healthier. It simply moves disagreement into private conversations.
Swannie argues that conflict can be productive when it stays focused on finding the best answer. His guardrails include separating ideas from identities, listening fully, using tension to improve the idea, and closing with clear alignment on what was decided and what happens next.
For producers, the important part is the ending.
Creative debate is useful only if everyone leaves knowing the decision.
After a review, document what stays, what changes, who owns the next step, and when the updated work is expected. That prevents healthy disagreement from turning into several different versions of the plan.
A production team should be able to challenge the idea in the room and still work together when the decision is made.
Create Room for the Quietest Useful Voice
Not every valuable contributor will interrupt a meeting to make a point.
Swannie deliberately structures discussions so people with different communication styles have an opportunity to contribute. In technical meetings, he has allowed participants to place ideas on a whiteboard before the group begins debating them. The goal is not to use every idea. It is to make sure people have a fair chance to bring one forward.
Production meetings can follow the same principle.
If the same two people control every creative review, useful information may never reach the decision maker. A coordinator may notice a scheduling problem. A sound mixer may see an issue with the planned location. An editor may recognize that the planned coverage will create a weak transition later.
The producer does not need to accept every recommendation. The responsibility is to make sure important information has somewhere to go.
That can be as simple as asking each department for concerns before locking a plan, giving quieter team members space before moving to the next topic, or collecting written input before a major creative review.
Being heard and getting your way are different things. Good production leadership makes room for the first without promising the second.
Use Curiosity Before Giving the Answer
Swannie also describes curiosity as one of his most useful leadership tools. Even when he believes he understands the problem, asking the right question can bring the team into the solution.
That approach works particularly well for producers.
Instead of immediately telling an editor how to fix a weak sequence, ask what they think is preventing it from working.
Instead of assuming a client dislikes the creative direction, ask which part feels furthest from what they expected.
Instead of telling a crew member how to solve a technical issue before hearing the context, ask what options they have already considered.
Questions give producers more information, but they also create ownership. People are more invested in a solution when they have helped work through it.
There are times when a producer needs to make a direct call. Curiosity does not replace decision-making. It improves the information available before that decision is made.
Help People Move Toward Their Strengths
One of Swannie’s five principles is creating space for people to become more of who they are.
He describes learning that an employee who was not thriving in one technical position had a strong interest in sustainability. Connecting that interest with a role where the company needed help created a better fit for the employee and the organization.
Video teams often discover strengths the same way.
A production assistant may show unusual skill with talent. A camera operator may have a strong editorial eye. An editor may be particularly good at finding emotional moments in interviews. A coordinator may turn out to be excellent at client communication.
Producers who notice those patterns can make better crew decisions over time.
It does not require inventing a new position for every person. It means paying attention to where someone consistently contributes strong work and using that information when building the next team.
Choosing the right production team means looking beyond availability to assess how each contributor’s experience and strengths fit the project. It is a group whose strengths fit the production in front of them.
Applying These Lessons to Video Production
These principles become most useful when they are part of normal production behavior rather than something introduced after a problem.
At kickoff, make it clear where concerns should be raised and who owns final decisions. During pre-production, ask departments to identify risks before the schedule is locked. On set, correct the work without making the correction personal. During post, make review notes specific enough that the editor knows what needs to change and why.
When disagreements happen, keep the discussion on the result the project needs. Give people room to contribute, then close the conversation with a decision.
When someone makes a mistake, deal with the mistake. When leadership makes one, acknowledge it.
That creates a production environment where people can surface useful information without spending time protecting themselves.
The benefit is not that every shoot becomes easy. Production will still have tight schedules, creative disagreements, client changes, and unexpected problems. The difference is that the team has a clearer way to work through them.
Team Beverly Boy’s Takeaway
The strongest production lesson in Swannie’s approach is that trust is practical.
It shows up when a producer can admit a wrong call without losing authority. It shows up when an editor can challenge a note without turning the review into a fight. It shows up when a quieter crew member can raise a concern before it becomes a problem.
Strong production leadership also requires knowing when not to provide the answer immediately. Asking the right question can help a team reach a stronger solution and take more ownership of the result.
For video teams, authenticity is not about removing professional standards. It is about creating enough trust that people can bring useful information, honest feedback, and their strongest work into the project.
Conclusion
Rob Swannie’s leadership principles translate well to production because they deal with the human side of getting work done.
Model the honesty you expect. Understand the person behind the role. Keep feedback focused on work and behavior. Make disagreement safe. Create room for different voices. Pay attention to where people do their best work.
Those habits give producers a stronger foundation for managing crews, creative reviews, and difficult decisions without adding unnecessary process.
This article is based on an interview originally published by Authority Magazine. Read the full interview here.
