Leadership is all about people management
I've been talking to a lot of people lately about leadership. I'm finding one curious thread: leadership is all about people management.
This certainly applies to being a conductor.
The conductor's craft is indeed magical and mysterious because (to use an overused description) the conductor is the only one not making sound on the stage. The musicians make the sounds together to create music.
So we think the conductor's job is to be an artist. And being an artist (whatever that means) will immediately inspire the musicians to perform fantastic performances. This is all accurate and what the audiences see from the outside.
On the inside, a conductor is so much more than just an artist.
Here are four other hats we may put on as a leader:
Marketer - A conductor sells their interpretation to the musicians. If there is no buy-in, the performance may not be as convincing, exciting, or understandable. I always think of how I must help the music make sense to the musicians first, so they can relay the story effectively to the audience.
Negotiator - Everyone on stage is a musician, hopefully with their own creative ideas. A conductor's interpretation may not resonate with every single musician (which is OK), and we have to be able to navigate that mindfully. The solution to that conflict is usually not a "my way is the only way" dictatorship (even though we are taught that success is asserting our interpretation on others). Former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss and psychiatrist Mark Goulston both agree that empathy is the key to a successful negotiation. An effective negotiator must understand that the other party has potentially unmet needs or feels like they have not been heard or seen. I think a conductor is sometimes like a negotiator because we can do the same - to 1) learn about a musician's creative opinions and needs and 2) explore disagreement and conflict with empathy.
Motivational speaker - You may know that a traditional way to test conductors to see if they "have the chops" is to see how good they are at error detection. Conductors need to be able to identify what's wrong, detect why it's not working, and offer solutions. That is not, however, all that we can and should do as leaders. Research has shown that we also need to balance the error detection part of our job with positive feedback to help our people remain motivated. In addition to saying what is wrong, we also can point out what's working, explain why it fuels high performance and high trust, and pump optimism into the morale of our musicians. A conductor is a motivational speaker who helps our people unlock their best selves with hope and confidence.
Coach - A conductor supports musicians by being a mirror. We provide an outsider's feedback about their artistic work, and our goal is to help guide them to be better. If we were to think like a career or personal coach, we can realize that sometimes helping people be better is not giving them the answer or solving a problem for them. Instead, coaches guide others to see differently, become more self-aware, and provide accountability for moving forward. I think conductors can think more like these coaches and help our people in more diverse ways than just telling them they are out of tune.
When we put on these hats, we are in effect managing people:
We influence them to play a certain way as a marketer.
We allow them to be and feel seen as a negotiator.
We elevate morale as a motivational speaker.
We encourage them to think differently and push them to grow as a coach.
And when we consider our work as people management, what we are essentially doing three things:
Being an enabler - creating conditions and removing barriers to allow our musicians to do their best work.
Being an advocate - speaking up on their behalf with their best interests in mind.
Being a culture-setter - being the first to set an example for "the way things are around here."
Conductors are so much more than artists. And the opportunity to wear all these hats to serve musicians can be truly exciting and fulfilling.
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