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[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

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Welcome to this video-lecture
of Live Text Access –

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Training for real-time
intralingual subtitlers.

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My name is Julia Borchert

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and this is unit 4 Entrepreneurship
and service competence -

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Element 3: Business strategies.

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This is the learning outcome:

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The trainee can evaluate
a critical situation,

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identify the problem
and make recommendations.

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We will first look at critical
situations and their causes.

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After that more
about different types of crises

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and how to identify
and how to deal with them.

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Let´s get started
with critical situations

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in the job environment in general.

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Statistically, 50 per cent of
all projects are subject to failure.

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When it comes to major projects,
the number is even higher:

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up to 90 per cent of major projects
are bound to fail.

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In the practical field
of live subtitling,

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it is unlikely that the number
of critical situations

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reaches such a high level.

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But crises are naturally
not impossible.

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Their existence
may be neglected by freelance workers

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who have to manage
their first own assignments.

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The good news is,
that for most of the situations

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there are ways out of the deadlock.

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It simply depends
on how well prepared you are.

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The most common factors
of failure are:

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organisation issues,

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issues of a technical nature

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and issues of a personal,
for example emotional nature.

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The fact that a critical situation
could develop in the first place

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can have various causes.

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For example that the problem
and its solution

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is not recognized
as such by the person involved.

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For example
a scraping noise in your headset

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that does not make you suspicious,
or any other minor technical problem.

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It also may be due to the fact

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that the potential solution
is not mastered,

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for example knowledge
or skills are lacking.

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For example you don’t
know all the features

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and switches of your software
for troubleshooting.

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Or organizational obstacles
cannot be overcome.

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These are hopefully rare
when you are working on your own.

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But they are not so rare if you
depend on your client’s resources,

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or on a freelance partner
you are working with.

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But also your own insufficient
preparation can bring obstacles.

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For example if you have
not enough knowledge

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about the topic
you are translating.

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Imagine working on a conference
or the parliament

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and you don’t know specific technical
terms and how to spell them.

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The best about this last cause
for a critical situation:

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You can prevent this
by preparing yourself well.

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Let’s now talk about crises.

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The words critical
and crisis have the same etymology.

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Critical is the adjective
and crisis the noun.

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A crisis is any event
or period that will lead,

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or may lead, to an unstable
and dangerous situation

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affecting an individual,
a group, or all of society.

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Crises are negative changes in
the human or environmental affairs,

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especially when they occur abruptly,
with little or no warning.

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More loosely, a crisis
is a testing time or an emergency.

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Characteristics of a crisis are
an urgent need for decisions to act,

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a feeling of threat perceived
by the decision-makers,

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an increase in uncertainty, urgency
and time pressure and the feeling

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that the result will have
a formative influence on the future.

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In projects,
one usually speaks of a crisis

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when the project can no longer
achieve the set goals on its own

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and needs outside help.

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That means the project
in its existing structures,

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with the available resources
and the existing planning.

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From the outside does not necessarily
mean external to the team.

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Only when you are working
as a freelancer on your own,

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these cases will however
be the more relevant ones.

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Objectively unsolvable problems
are characterized

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by the fact that there
is simply no solution to a problem.

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This could be the case, for example,
if necessary documentation

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for a new process is lost
and cannot be reconstructed

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in the short time available.

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In practice, experience shows
that project managers complain

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about objective impossibility
more often than it actually occurs,

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because in a sense it also
has something "redeeming" about it.

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The consequence is usually

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that the grueling project work
ends immediately.

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That is naturally not your goal.

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And that also means
that it’s important

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not to confuse
objective problems with ...

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.. subjectively
not solvable problems.

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This means that problems would be
subject to a solution in principle.

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Somebody out there
would be technically capable

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to solve the problem.

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However, right now that solution is
not possible for subjective reasons,

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which means
that the problems are on your end,

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or at least they are in your sphere.

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How can a crisis be identified?

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Early indicators
are often visible well in advance

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of a potential crisis.

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As a result, it is usually
possible to take proactive measures

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to prevent crisis situations
from arising in the first place.

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On the other hand, often they are not
taken sufficiently seriously,

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and therefore preventive
measures are not initiated.

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Another complicating factor
is that each individual indicator

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may appear unproblematic on its own.

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It will only become critical

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in combination
with other problems and risks,

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and eventually lead to a crisis.

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For example if you are preparing
for a subtitling job,

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and you know
there will be one or more speakers

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with strong accents
who are bound to be misunderstood,

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make sure you get a draft
of their speech well in advance.

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If such a draft is not available,

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try to get information on the topic
they will be dealing with,

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and try to find
some background information.

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If you fail to take these steps,
your worst case scenario

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is not being able
to understand a word,

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and not being able to work around it.

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So how do you deal with a crisis?

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Every project manager knows
just how stressful it can be

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to handle damage control
in cases of distress.

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Given the number of challenges
that need to be overcome

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for a successful
project crisis management,

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here are some of the best practices

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that every project manager
and freelancer can benefit from.

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Assess your risks
and have a plan in place.

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The first and most important thing
is to have a plan in place

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to help you deal with a crisis.

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Before you go ahead with the project,

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you need to make sure that you
already assessed your risks

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and came up with contingency
plans for every possible scenario.

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This prepares you
and your team for the worst.

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One of the most crucial aspects
of your job,

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apart from your own
professional skills,

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is the technical equipment
you will be using.

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You should always
bring your own device,

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of course – but in most cases you
will have to connect that device

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to your client’s
infrastructure set up

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for an event
you’re about to work for.

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The audio signal is –
much more than the video signal –

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the very essence to fulfil
any live subtitling task.

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This should always be part of a check
up before the actual job starts.

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Bring a second headset
and check all connections

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for cable breaks and loose contacts.

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If you received drafts or transcripts
or any similar material

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to prepare you for an assignment,

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and you will need to have them in
hand during a live subtitling event,

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make sure that you don’t just save it
on your hard drive,

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but have a flash/USB drive
with a backup ready just in case.

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Be calm and optimistic.

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When things don’t go as planned,
it can be difficult to stay hopeful,

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but try to be.

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Doing so will be a lot more helpful
and productive than freaking out.

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In mid-projects,
you must remain clear-headed

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so that you can provide yourself
and your team with the support

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and guidance they require.

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Try to contain
the crisis as much as possible.

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A practical step that shouldn’t be
missed is containing the crisis.

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Maybe some degree of damage
is already done.

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For example a portion
of the job remains without subtitles,

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but don’t let it spread any further.

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To achieve this,
you must be able to think clearly

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and act quickly and decisively,

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while also effectively managing
all communication channels.

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Gather factual data regarding
the cause and ramifications.

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For example
if you are working as a team,

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and a problem needs
your immediate attention,

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hand the actual respeaking
or fast typing part over

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to a team mate or partner

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while you focus on the solution
of the problem yourself.

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Identify the cause of the crisis.

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After you are successful in
preventing the crisis from spreading,

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and the problem appears
to be in control until the job

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or a session thereof is done,

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you should identify
what exactly caused the problem.

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Only when you know
the reason will you be able

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to take the necessary steps
to repair the damage,

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prevent the problem
from coming up again,

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and get yourself and your team back
on track for the remainder of the job

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and future jobs
if this job is now finished.

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Make sure to keep the team informed.

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Even in the face of a crisis,
don’t neglect your team.

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You should keep them informed
so that they know

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those in charge are doing everything
to handle the situation.

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This encourages them

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to keep the business process
going as smoothly as possible.

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Remember to keep everyone
updated regularly.

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Not just the team mates,
but also your customer,

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and maybe other parties

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- such as technical supporters and
evverybody involved in the project

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should be updated
in the best possible way.

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This keeps everyone calm
and in the loop,

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while preventing rumors
from spreading.

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Revisit the plan as required.

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After surviving the crisis,

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make certain that you have cataloged
not only how the crisis began,

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but the steps which were effective
in solving it.

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Once you’ve successfully managed
the crisis,

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don’t forget to go back to your plan
and make any required changes.

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If you find that something
works better,

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don’t hesitate to update.

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After you’ve survived a few crises,

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and have carefully kept records
of your crisis management,

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you will not only do a better job
at monitoring and preventing,

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but the next time a crisis appears
you will be prepared

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with the tools to solve it in
the most expedient manner possible.

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Do not welcome crisis
but take advantage

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of the one benefit
it does offer you: experience.

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Summary.

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The most common factors
of failure and critical situations

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are organisation issues,
issues of a technical nature

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and issues of a personal,
for example emotional nature.

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A critical situation
can have various causes.

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For example
that the problem and its solution

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is not recognized as such
by the person involved.

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Or it also may be due to the fact
that the potential solution

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is not mastered, for example
knowledge or skills are lacking.

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Or organizational obstacles
cannot be overcome.

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Characteristics of a crisis are
an urgent need for decisions to act,

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00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,920
a feeling of threat perceived
by the decision-makers,

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00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:25,640
an increase in uncertainty,
urgency and time pressure

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and the feeling that the result

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will have a formative influence
on the future.

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Exercises.

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The exercises for this video lecture

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are in the Trainer’s Guide
and the PowerPoint file.

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Thank you for your attention.

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[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

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LTA - LiveTextAccess.

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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

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SDI - Internationale Hochschule.

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Scuola Superiore
per Mediatori Linguistici.

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ZDF Digital.

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The European Federation
of Hard of Hearing People - EFHOH.

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VELOTYPE. SUB-TI ACCESS.

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European Certification and
Qualification Association - ECQA.

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Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme
of the European Union.

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Erasmus+ Project:
2018-1-DE01-KA203-004218.

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The information and views
set on this presentation

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are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect

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the official opinion
of the European Union.

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Neither the European Union
institutions and bodies

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nor any person acting on their behalf
may be held responsible for the use

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00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,840
which may be made of the information
contained here.