In high school I had the opportunity to start a theater program in our community. The idea was that one of our high school teachers would direct the play each summer. That worked well the first summer. In the second summer, there was a family crisis and the teacher had to drop out while we were in the middle of rehearsal. I stepped in and finished directing the play. I directed a play each summer for the next few years, and I see that there were some simple but sound principles of leadership and management at work.
- When you stage a play, everyone understands the objective and works toward the goal of opening night. Unity of purpose among cast and crew is essential. Elsewhere, unity of purpose is just as important, and the leader must be sure that those who work for the organization understand the purpose and mission.
- As a director, you have a script, but you must also convey your particular interpretation of the meaning of that script. As a leader, it's similarly important to convey what makes your products and services unique from the competition.
- In theater there is a clear time line driving cast and crew toward opening night; and there are milestones, like the first rehearsal without scripts and "tech week," laid out clearly and succinctly at the first reading of the script. Elsewhere, the leader must be sure that time lines and milestones are clear and are revised, as needed.
- When a line is "dropped" (forgotten) during a rehearsal, there is someone to help the actor remember. In general, the theater is a very supportive environment where people enjoy being creative, look out for one another and help each other. Elsewhere, effective leaders assure that there are adequate supports in place to assist staff to achieve success and encourage staff to look out for one another.
- In the theater there are specialists who often know more than the director about lighting, sound, set design and music. These specialists are leaders in their own right; they collaborate with the director to flesh out the unifying vision for the show and, then, go off to execute their part of that vision. In other organizations, the leader can help create an environment where specialists understand and contribute toward the unifying vision and, then, have the freedom and the tools to carry out their work.
- Sometimes, in a crunch, the actors have to paint the set or go door to door selling tickets. (The former happens a lot more often than the latter, but there were times when we would, instead of rehearsing, work on the set or sell some tickets.) It is my sense that when you have an environment where people like one another and believe in what they are doing, a leader can ask folks to do things they might not ordinarily do.
- In the theater, the ensemble-cast, crew and orchestra-know that they succeed or fail, together. In organizations it is important that we feel that we are a part of the team and to understand that we depend on the contributions of one other. The leader can make that happen.
Finally, if you stage a play, you will find that people primarily participate because it's fun, it's a challenge and it's exciting. Work that isn't fun, challenging and exciting just burns people out. It's important for a leader to help people to get the best from themselves, to help people to learn to enjoy their work or to make the work more enjoyable for them.
by Greg Monaco, Ph.D.
January 24, 2010
P.S. There's always a party for the cast and crew!2010
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