Losing Focus

When being part of a work placement, it can be disappointing to discover that there may always be aspects of a job you dislike. This is what I might have discovered working in the offices of a theatre company. My placement was with Kabosh Theatre, where I worked mostly alongside the company’s General Manager. Although the company treated me very well and I definitely enjoyed my time there, I have become uncertain if a career as a general manager or producer is something I want to pursue. This revelation occurred to me when I experienced one of the few difficulties I had with my work experience: staying focused. To help explain my dilemma, I plan to use Borton’s model of reflection.

What?

At times, I struggled to retain concentration at my post, occasionally getting sidetracked by unimportant things. This usually occurred when I was working on office tasks I was not particularly enthusiastic about. The book, Theater Careers : A Realistic Guide, states that this job “handles the day-to-day business for a specific production”.[2] This often includes budgeting. I found that when working on tasks such as these I was uninterested and would at times lose concentration. In one instance, I was assigned the job of finding grants from across the country that could be used to fund future shows, matching the budget required for each production with the amount a grant would offer. Unfortunately, I found this task somewhat boring and repetitive.

However, there were other assignments I found easier to work on, though I was still somewhat uninterested in them. In the early weeks of my work placement, I was given the task of organising and cleaning out Kabosh’s storage room and archive. This was a small room filled with memorabilia of past shows, such as leaflets, posters, booklets, scripts and other documents. It was my job of dividing up the material by production and the kind of item they were, then deciding what was to be kept or thrown out. The items we kept were set aside in envelopes for future donations to the Linen hall Library. I found that this job was more enjoyable than my other tasks.

I thought that when cleaning out the archive, I did a thorough job. I always made sure to keep at least five copies of each piece of material that could be donated to ensure that Linen Hall had spares. I also detailed information on the envelopes, such as the name and performance date of the play, as well as the envelopes contents to make it easier on them. I then compiled the contents of all of the envelopes into a written inventory in order to keep better track of what the company had in its storeroom. Additionally, I was careful not to throw anything out yet before getting approval from the artistic director, in case any of it was important and should be kept.

Despite this, I still struggled with other elements of the task. When I first laid eyes on the storeroom, I was staggered by the amount of material. I felt somewhat overwhelmed and unsure of where to start. Fortunately, once starting the task it became gradually easier. On another day, I journeyed to Linen Hall and noted down everything they already had from Kabosh from previous donations. I found this difficult to complete due to it being too meticulous and tedious for my liking.

So What?

The fastidiousness of the tasks given to me may have impacted my efficacy at completing them, as I found it slowed down my work overall. Often, I would get hung up by the unimportant details, such as noting down how many posters and leaflets each envelope had. The same could be said about the inventories I constructed, which I also struggled to complete due to how detailed they needed to be.

Remaining tuned into work I was uninterested in completing was the main issue I struggled with during my placement. The need for detail it required would often make it difficult for me to concentrate on my work, which made it take up more time than I believe it needed to. It would often cause me to lose focus on it and complete it less efficiently than I believe I could have done.

I found that my lack of interest and concentration in the tasks I was given, made the quality of my work deteriorate. If I had more of an interest in the technical side to managing theatre, I may have been more motivated to carry out the work efficently.

Now What?

Completing my work experience has allowed me to pinpoint the aspects of office work I am not fond of. I found it hard to stay focused on the finer details of my tasks which impeded my progress and made me work slower. While it might be prudent for me to consider a different role in the theatre industry, it is also important to remember that there will be aspects of jobs I will not like doing but enjoy other parts of. Although I found the technical side to theatre management difficult, the aspects of it that involved archival work and managing the office were more enjoyable. With this in mind for the future, I will attempt to engage further with the aspects of my career that I dislike to ensure that I am more productive.

Word Count: 893

References:

[1] Andrew Grimmer, ‘ On reflection: part 3 – reflection as a skill’ in Bristol CBT <http://www.rep.routledge.com> [accessed 02 April 2022].

[2] Tim Donahue, and Jim Patterson, Theater Careers : A Realistic Guide (Columia: University of South Carolina Press, 2012), p. 14.

[3] Complete Controller, ‘7 Keys to Successful Budgeting’, in COMPLETE CONTROLLEER <https://www.completecontroller.com/7-keys-to-successful-budgeting/> [accessed 2 April 2022].

[4] Rickie Yap, ‘8+8 Signs Your Employee/You Has Lost Interest’, in Linked In <http://www.rep.routledge.com> [accessed 2 April 2022].

Bibliography:

Donahue, T. and Patterson, J. Theater Careers : A Realistic Guide (Columia: University of South Carolina Press, 2012), p. 14

Grimmer, A. ‘ On reflection: part 3 – reflection as a skill’ in Bristol CBT <http://www.rep.routledge.com> [accessed 02 April 2022]

Yap, R. ‘8+8 Signs Your Employee/You Has Lost Interest’, in Linked In <http://www.rep.routledge.com> [accessed 2 April 2022]

Complete Controller, ‘7 Keys to Successful Budgeting’, in COMPLETE CONTROLLEER <https://www.completecontroller.com/7-keys-to-successful-budgeting/> [accessed 2 April 2022]