What you should learn from that symphony conductor
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Sometime while I wasn't paying attention, it became fashionable to use the symphony conductor on the podium as a model of superb management. Let's think about this for a minute.
There's the conductor, raised above the members of the orchestra. They are in what is often accurately called the "orchestra pit."
The conductor is in superb control. The musicians do the conductor's bidding.
At the end of the piece, the conductor turns to the audience and takes a bow. The musicians get to bow if the conductor allows it.
Really, now, would you want to work for someone who led you like that? I didn't think so.
The good news is that there's a lot you can learn from that symphony conductor. Start with this thought from Marin Alsop. She's the Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony.
"When I'm standing up there waving my arms, I don't make any sound. So my leadership is about eliciting something from the people who are actually doing it."
You'll never see Ms Alsop jumping down from the podium in the middle of a performance, taking a violin from one of the musicians and beginning to play herself. That won't happen even if she thinks she can play the violin more skillfully, which she probably can.
You shouldn't be doing your people's work, either. It's your job to help them learn to perform well. It's your job to coach and encourage and correct. Your job is being the boss.
The conducting part of the job looks pretty easy. You don't see the hiring and rehearsals and discipline and development. You don't see the work that goes into selecting the compositions and having them fit together into a marvelous evening's program so that all the programs add up to a stellar season.
That's how it is in most organizations. Most of the work that creates good performance goes on out of sight of everyone else. If you do that part well, everyone will be able to take a bow when you perform.
Part of a symphony conductor's job is being the public face of the orchestra. You fill the same role for your team. You represent your team to your boss and your peers and just about everyone else.
And good symphony conductors, like all good bosses, see their job as helping their people succeed. Marin Alsop, again.
"I'm blessed with 100 people who want to be the best they can be and they're just waiting for me to enable them to do it."
Boss's Bottom Line
No matter what it looks like from the outside, being a good boss is accomplishing the mission and caring for your people. The details may vary, but the objectives are the same.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Wally-
I never thought of an orchestra and its relationship with its conductor before now. You make all very good points. I agree the conductor, much like the leader of a business, is the face of the organization.
Mike .O
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Thanks for your kind words, Mike. And thanks for stopping by.
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Peter Drucker’s View: The Corporation— A Symphony Orchestra?
Peter Drucker is often considered to be the guru of management writers. Drucker discussed the tendency of the modern “knowledge worker” toward decentralization and nonhierarchical structures: a knowledge worker owns the tools of production (i.e., his specific knowledge) and is therefore more mobile and flexible in approach and expectations than factory workers, who cannot carry the factory equipment wherever they go. Work is based on specialist knowledge.
A good example, according to Drucker, is the symphony orchestra. The fi rst violin may be the most important in the orchestra, but the violinist in question is regarded as a colleague or associate rather than the boss or the superior of the other members of the orchestra. The other members of the orchestra play instruments that they specialize in playing rather than instruments that they are instructed to play by the conductor or any other member of the orchestra. There is no superior or inferior knowledge. Similarly, in a hospital, one doctor may be called upon to solve the problem of a patient, which is specific to that doctor’s knowledge (e.g., foot surgery). Even though a heart surgeon may be higher up on the pay scale than a foot surgeon, a heart surgeon cannot be expected to perform foot surgery because his/her knowledge is specific to the heart.
Knowledge workers are “associates” or “partners” who must be given a considerable amount of freedom and responsibility; otherwise, they will leave because they have their own tools of production (i.e., their specific knowledge as discussed earlier). They are in favor of decentralization and a nonhierarchical structure as far as possible.
The manager/conductor of an orchestra faces the task of using the foregoing knowledge to ensure that the members of the orchestra operate in a synergistic approach, such that the whole performance is a true interpretation of the composer’s score, of which each member is a genuine interpreter and performer within a team framework. What is required is a synchronized performance of the highest possible standards.
I have a policy of distributing free abridged versions of my books on leadership, ethics, teamwork, motivation, women, bullying and sexual harassment, trade unions, etc., to anyone who sends a request to crespin79@@primus.ca.
Maxwell Pinto, Business Author
http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/Management-TidbitsForTheNewMillenium.html
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Thanks for coming by and commenting, Maxwell. Drucker wrote several things about symphony orchestras at different times. My favorite (from and HBR article) is: "A great orchestra is not composed of great musicians but of adequate ones who produce at their peak."
You're right that Drucker said that there is no superior or inferior knowledge. But he did not see an symphony orchestra as non-hierarchical. He did see it as flat. One conductor directs a hundred or so musicians. And it's not decentralized. The conductor is the boss. The first violin may be first among equals in the pit, but the conductor decides what they all should play and the musicians' job is to play the music as directed, not to interpret it on their own.
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Hmmm. I find myself a little conflicted over this. I'm not sure I see the symphony director in the same light that you do. I see an individual who, as you pointed out, is clearly in charge. However, this person has selected the music (in this case let's call it the goal), and is controlling the tempo. Through, as your conducting friend points out, the use of body language as the only means of communication, critical points are tweaked (violins told when to come in, percussion told to reduce volume etc). The conductor isn't telling the musicians how to play their instruments in the sense of micromanagement, but rather tweaking the team outcome to produce the required result. With all these moving parts, I can't think of another way to do it; turning everyone loose on their sheet music and saying that the number will be completed by 8PM would be insanity. And hard to listen to.
In a way, the orchestra model resembles most high reliability organizations like an ER or the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Everyone working there is a consummate professional and needs little individual direction within their individual roles. But like a trauma team dealing with a massive car accident, they need coordination. The need to be conducted.
Thoughts?
Landon Creasy
http://landoncreasy.wordpress.com/
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Thanks, Landon. The image that I object to is the "conductor at the podium" as a model of leadership. I think it's flawed and awful. At the same time, I think there's a lot to learn from what actual conductors do in the totality of the job. Now for some of the key points in your comment.
It's true that the conductor isn't "telling the musicians how to play their instruments" and so, I agree, it's not what we usually think of as "micromanagement." But the musicians can't just play what they want. The conductor has selected the music. Each musician has a specific part to play. And the conductor has also decided on an interpretation of the piece that influences how the musicians play.
I love the idea of turning everyone loose and saying that the piece has to be done by 8. You're so right about how that wouldn't work and you make the point supberbly.
One lesson from your comments for me is that a metaphor or example is always incomplete and imperfect. If you try to make a point-by-point comparison, the metaphor/example breaks down.
I got that thought, while trying to think what other kind of team best resembles an ER. The best I could come up with is a basketball team. I'm sure someone else can do better.
The lesson for me is that you can learn specific things from each example or model. Thanks for helping me get there.
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This post makes me think of filmmaking, because the opening credits say, "A [insert name of director] film." But wait a minute! There are dozens to hundreds of people who worked on that film. It's not just his/her film. Screenwriters have even tried to contest that opening credit, as they are the ones who created the initial material that became the film. But the director, ultimately, is the one who brings together all the different elements and imprints his/her vision on the material. Like what a conductor does. It's a ton of hard work. So, let the leaders have their due!
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Well spoken, Heath. I think leaders should have their due. There are things about direction setting and coordination that only a leader can do. Thanks for adding your voice.
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