Help musicians serve themselves
A part of the conductor's job is to ensure the musicians have a fulfilling, meaningful experience. We are in service to them. At the same time, we can't do everything for them. We just don't have that capacity - and it would be too big of a burden to carry for any one person.
I used to think that every discomfort, error, or shortcoming in an ensemble's work is all my fault because I'm the one responsible as the leader.
Then I realized: if I take all the responsibility, I don't leave any responsibility for the people. I end up making all the decisions or assigning value judgements on how things turned out without others' input.
In that process, I also ignore the fact that the people require an innate sense of agency, purpose, and ownership in their work, too. When I proactively take all the responsibility, what I might be doing is telling them to not have a say because I will take care of everything for them. A good example of this is micromanaging–something I personally find challenging to avoid as a leader. So while I say that I'm serving the people, I'm really serving myself and maintaining a semblance of control. And taking the responsibility from the people diminishes the value of their sense of responsibility.
What if in addition to serving the people we lead, we help them serve themselves?
Here are some ways arts leaders can help musicians do so.
Guide them toward understanding of the music. Knowledge is power. The more information they have to make informed decisions, the less leaders would feel like they need to get in there and meddle. Some people may believe that music analysis and explanation of things like structure and harmony has no place in rehearsals. Understanding those contexts, however, can lead to clearer vision and sense of purpose. We can shift from a prescriptive method (longer, shorter, louder, softer) to a contextual method, where knowing the why will lead to a how that serves the why.
Give them tools to keep growing. None of us like to remain stagnant in our lives. We also don't like it when how we grow is dictated by others. Musicians often lack professional development opportunities and support in the typical workplace. While other industries offer workshops in personal and career growth areas, musicians are expected to simply practice and keep getting better–on their own. What types of professional development opportunities would you want to have access to? Maybe a performance psychology course? Or funding to produce a recital with a colleague? Whatever it is, maybe we can actually help musicians get better in the ways they want.
Build a culture of expectations. Lieutenant-General David Morrison says "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." When we set up expectations of behaviors and values, the community keeps each other accountable. We develop a sense of pride - not just pride in our artistic products, but also how we decide to show up each day for ourselves and each other. Focusing on our work culture will help musicians serve themselves because everyone will be in alignment.
Remove barriers. Sometimes we get in our own way, and we don't even know it. Have you ever come across policies or regulations that involve no common sense or have become outdated? Even when we recognize they don't serve us, we have a hard time getting rid of them. Leaders are in a particular position to identify those barriers and eliminate them to create optimal conditions. Our work as performing musicians is hard and complex enough!
Help them feel safe. When I think of what people need to feel empowered to serve themselves, trust comes to mind. We can't be open to growing or understanding if we don't trust our leader and their intentions. We become too distracted and doubtful trying to protect ourselves. Leaders can promote a sense of trust through our integrity and accountability in everything that we do - even in something small like communicating a schedule. That consistency will lead to more cognitive room to focus on doing the work and the feeling of it being safe to take risks to grow and change.
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The premise that musicians can serve themselves can be a win-win. Leaders can let go of the heaviness of assuming total responsibility. Those we lead can gain more access to autonomy to build a fulfilling experience at work, plus the psychological safety to utilize that autonomy.
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