At some point in your life you have probably heard and/or seen an orchestra, a band, a marching band or some type of musical ensemble perform. Maybe you didn't see the live performance but maybe on TV or heard and audio recording. Have you ever thought about the multitude of levels of leadership and success that is involved in putting a performance together?
What I am about to share with you can be applied to any other group or team effort that has one desired outcome. But for the purpose of this post we are going to focus on this musical team - an orchestra. Visualize, if you will, an upside down pyramid. The base of the pyramid will represent the goal at large and the joining of many people to achieve said goal. In this case the large, unified goal is to perform a concert at the highest musical level possible utilizing everyone in the orchestra. This can only be achieved when every person is invested and involved in the music making process. Each individual will have to contribute from their skill sets in order to make this happen. As we travel down this inverse pyramid we will see the role of responsibilities as we go from the whole group down to the individual. In order to meet the needs of the music we must have enough people on the various orchestral instruments to play the music that was intended by the composers of the music. When a composer writes music they will arrange various parts of the music to be performed by various groups of musicians or sections. An example of this would be the brass section, the woodwind section, the string section and the percussion section. Within each of those sections you have smaller sections such as the trumpet section, the violin section, etc. And within those sections you have the individual musicians. Keep that upside down pyramid in mind as we go from large group to individual. Putting together such a large group of people or even a small ensemble requires a plan and a designation of responsibilities. To help illustrate this I will reference Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Covey references will be of the terms, "Dependent, Independent and Interdependent." Dependent - refers to the reliance on another person or people to achieve a goal ro complete a task. Independent - refers to the individual's capability of completing the task without outside help and interdependent refers to the joining of people to cooperate in completing a task. However for the purpose of this post I will use the terms, "You, Me and We" respective to the order of Covey's words. We've already stated the ultimate goal - perform music at the highest level utilizing every musician in the orchestra. In order to achieve this someone has to create the vision that will drive us to our end result. This person is the conductor, the person at the front of the orchestra, who serves as the visual representation of the music. As the conductor states the vision it shifts to the section leaders who have to help materialize the vision to the people within their section. After the section leader has achieved this then it is up to the individuals, on their parts, to prepare the technical aspects of the music in preparation of putting it together with the other individuals in their section, the other sections and consequently the entire orchestra. The success of the orchestra in achieving their ultimate goal is dependent on the success of each level mentioned above. Now let's apply, "You, Me and We" from the conductor's perspective in working to achieve this series of goals. As the conductor: - I expect each individual to prepare all technical aspects of their designated part. I expect them to have all the notes and rhythms learned and prepared. (You) - I am expected to present a clear and concise vision for my interpretation of the music. I will prepare the orchestra from a technical and musical standpoint that meets the vision of the composer of the music. I will make sure that no matter what happens, as a group, we will not fail. (Me) - With our combined preparation of the technical and musical aspects of the music we are not only doing justice in the eyes of the composer, but helping to educate the people who have come to watch us. Together as a team we will achieve greatness with our music. (We) This visualization of the, "You, Me and We" concept can be demonstrated in every aspect of the orchestra - the sections, the conductor and the individuals. In order for anyone to reach a goal, it is imperative that we are respectful of, "You, Me and We." In a team environment everyone has a role to play. Even in a situation where you might be working alone on a task or be a "one man band" this idea still needs to be applied. Everyone involved in any business transaction has a role to play in making it happen. In its purest form, the success of the orchestra is dependent on the success of the individual. If you have 100 individuals who are demonstrating success on their instrument while adhering to the vision created by the conductor then you are in fact, achieving the ultimate goal where every individual is contributing. Now the only thing left is for the conductor to shape the notes and sound from all of these successful individuals into the musical masterpiece it is meant to be. The orchestra is flooded with leadership and leadership opportunities. The obvious leader is the conductor who is guiding the whole orchestra through the musical experience. The other obvious leaders are the section leaders and their roles with preparing their sections. If you have read these blogs before you will know that a title means nothing without action. The greatest leaders that I've known have known when to lead and when to follow. Sometimes the most effective leader is the one who does what they are supposed to do and simply leads by example. This is the role that so many of the individuals within the sections play. With so many levels of leadership - from those people who have the desire to lead large groups of people to those who choose simply to lead by example, there is no bad leadership except for no leadership. Don't get me wrong, there are those who use their influence from a leadership position to guide people in the wrong direction. This is not so much a case of bad leadership but of negative goals and questionable motives and direction. For most of us our hope is that people will continue to use their leadership skills to create better situations for the people they work with. An orchestra is only as good as its leadership, which means EVERYONE is responsible! After all, we are all leaders when it comes to making music. So in this symphony of life, don't simply be the notes on the page, be the music that inspires art and life. The orchestra pictured above is the Central Florida Community Arts Symphony Orchestra from their recent performance, "Colors". Photo courtesy of Cami Grudzinsky Fine Art Photography. Building Leaders for Success is dedicated to educating and providing training and skills that will benefit you, your employees and your business. Check us out on the web at www.buildingleadersforsuccess.com, on Facebook at Building Leaders for Success and on Twitter @Leading4success. Enter your email address in the box to the right to receive these blogs and other offers from Building Leaders for Success.
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AuthorFrank Taylor is founder and CEO of Building Leaders for Success, Inc. A musician of 25 years, educator of 15 years and a motivational speaker of 16 years, Mr. Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge that will promote success and fundamentals of leadership. Archives
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