Do you have a 'Practitioner' or a 'Producer' mindset?

In my recent podcast recording for "Mind Monkeys Welcome..." (episode 11), my guest, entertainment professional and coach John Blackburn, introduced me to what he calls the 'Producer Mindset'.

John shares a remarkable story of two mindsets within the entertainment industry: the 'practitioner' and the 'producer'. He explains the difference brilliantly in the below video and also on his website.

https://youtu.be/XlnfyGFaLV4

What are the 'Practitioner' or 'Producer' mindsets

Whilst John specifically introduces the two models within the context of the entertainment industry, there is definitely a place for contemplating these mindsets within any sector or service.

So, what are the 'Practitioner' or 'Producer' mindsets? In short, the two different mindsets are defined as follows:

• Practitioner: Whatever you are an expert in (whatever it is that you 'do'), you focus on mastering the 'doing'. Practise. Incremental improvement. Becoming known for that one thing and, in a business sense, being paid for doing that thing. To become more successful, you do more of that 'thing'.

• Producer: Producers create concepts, projects, opportunities, spaces in which practitioners can 'do'. Producers choreograph, arrange, facilitate, hold space for the practitioners. They become known for the ideas, opportunities, spaces they create. They grow and become more successful by building, owning and evolving better spaces.

The simplest explanation for both might be that a 'practitioner' delivers what the 'producer' creates. That is a naive and narrow take on John's vision, but it does raise the following question – which one best describes you, in your business, right now?

More importantly, which one describes where you wish to be in the future?

Are you simply doing more of that thing you do well, or are you being more inventive, creative and (dare I say) visionary in your approach to turning that 'one thing' into something much more significant?

The gap between the two can feel quite uncomfortable

In our conversation John talked about the move from practitioner to producer, he described it like this: the familiar discomfort of where you are now is less scary than the potential discomfort of making the changes.

And that is a fascinating observation. It's not that sticking with being a brilliant practitioner means you avoid discomfort: you are already living with an awful lot of hard stuff. The rejection. The competition. The uncertainty of the next booking, the next client, the next contract. All of this is unpleasant, but you will have already built a tolerance for that particular flavour of discomfort. You know its shape.

The producer's discomfort is a different thing entirely, and an unfamiliar one. Suddenly, as John put it, you have to prioritise the thing you've said you're going to do. No one else is going to tell you what to do, and you can't blame them if it doesn't work. You have to create the time, set the agenda, and be accountable to nobody but yourself.

And this is where the Four Fears show up, encouraging us back into familiar discomfort.

I'm not ready – You've spent your whole career becoming excellent at the 'doing'. Nobody trained you to build the thing that holds the doing. John made the same admission about his own coaching career: he came into it, in his words, with a very practitioner mindset, entirely focused on the skill of coaching itself. The producer skills (the marketing, the platform, the business of it) had to be learned separately, and perhaps reluctantly.

I'm not good enough – This is where the identity fusion John described becomes dangerous. When your work is your identity (not just a job, as he put it, but who you are), a producer decision that doesn't land feels like a judgement on your worth as well as your strategy. The temptation, to see that as failure rather than as one (re-framable) experience among many is exactly the gap (and trap) I write about in my book: an emotional perspective drowning out the logical one.

I don't have time – The practitioner's schedule is full. It's meant to be. Every hour booked is proof that the 'doing' is valued. The producer work (the concept, the platform, the relationships) doesn't come with the same immediate value exchange. What I mean by that is an hour of 'doing' provides an hour of fixed return. Production is far less cut and dry. And a less obvious return makes it easier to push to next week (and the week after, and the week after that) whilst the 'salary of doing' is guaranteed by comparison.

What if I get it wrong? – John's five producer resources (concept, audience, platform, payment, and the practitioners who deliver the work) are all things you have to build without a guarantee any of them will land. That's a very different kind of risk to the risk of a bad audition. It's slower, less visible, and there's no immediate ovation to tell you it worked.

The gap is (of course) the opportunity

John's observation about the cruise ship years stuck with me. Those people who found themselves running things on board, had never once sat down and studied how to lead, manage, or build. All their training was in the 'doing'. The frustration he saw everywhere was the gap between the practitioner they'd trained to be and the producer they'd unknowingly become.

That gap isn't a flaw in you. It's the most predictable, most human thing in the world. And once you can see it (and begin to separate it from your sense of self-worth), it becomes something you can work on rather than something you quietly resent yourself for.

Practitioner or Producer? Which one describes you right now?

Check out John's podcast episode on whichever platform you prefer to watch/listen to your podcasts (and why not subscribe to the show whilst your there?)

The 'Practitioner and the Producer Model' is the property of John Blackburn. Connect with John directly for more information about his work – tell him I sent you.

Mark Franklin is The Four Fears® Guy: a transformational mindset coach, speaker and author working with creative professionals and small business owners who are ready to close the gap between the business they have and the one they actually deserve.