The Conductor as Leader: Principles of Leadership Applied to Life on the Podium

by Ramona M. Wis

Bringing that dream to reality requires that you take action. The problem with some visionaries is that they remain at the dream level and never take the steps needed to move the dream forward. As leaders we are compelled to act. A great dream without action is just a dream; if you don’t move you can’t lead.

We must be aware of what the profession as a whole is doing in order to create an organization that is alive and moving forward.

Knowing what other ensembles and organizations are doing is important not because we need to compete or keep up but because this knowledge helps provide a context for our work and our vision.

When we study the profession we get ideas about programming and designing concerts.

There are always conventions, workshops and concerts we can attend and professional journals and books we can read. The challenge is actually doing it, resisting the temptation to quarantine ourselves in our own building under the excuse that we don’t have time or can’t afford to leave to attend other events that might help enhance our vision and give it some practical direction.

Setting goals is a critical part of being a leader. Goal setting is a demonstration of our vision and a blueprint for action; goals give us a direction for the day, the week, the year—a reason to get out of bed each morning. Without goals we wander, procrastinate,

Much has been written about the goal setting process. Personally I have been through extensive goal-setting exercises but I have found that the more elaborate the process, the less I focus on the actual goals. The last thing we need is another set of failed New Year’s resolutions to make us feel guilty. You may find that having a few, strong, clearly articulated goals that you are absolutely passionate about is much more effective than a long list.

Start by writing down whatever goals come to mind. Don’t edit or judge along the way; just write. Once you have a list, spend some time noticing which goals jump out at you, which ones you really feel strongly about. When I say strongly I don’t necessarily mean the ones you feel most guilty about. The goals that speak to your heart, the ones that really move you and excite you, are the ones you want to pull out of the scribblings you made. It is those top two or three compelling goals on which you should focus.

Ideally, devise some kind of timeline and action steps for each of your goals; without these, goals are just ideas with little hope of becoming reality.

Tell at least a few others—trusted colleagues, family, or friends—about these goals so they can hold you accountable. It is a lot easier to let goals slide if no one is around to ask you about them.

If you are a young conductor or in a new position, your top goal may be non-musical in nature, such as “teaching the ensemble to stop immediately upon my release and to listen and wait for my comments without playing/singing or talking.”

I caution against setting goals that are governed by other people’s actions

This involves risk taking, an essential characteristic of leadership.

Playing it safe musically means staying at a level of repertoire that is easily achievable

Playing it safe means predictable rehearsals and concerts which can lead to apathy and eventually a decline in attendance. Playing it safe means getting flabby, artistically speaking: letting our minds, our instruments and our musical soul atrophy.

When musicians walk in the door for the first time they step into a legacy you and your previous ensembles have created. You may need to teach basic skills to these new musicians, but if you are a risk taker you will teach them in new ways and raise your expectations for what they can accomplish. You will continue to look at fresh ways of presenting your concert performances and look for higher quality, more interesting and more challenging repertoire.

Leaders constantly move back and forth between vision (what they would like to see in the future) and reality (what is happening now).

This commitment to regularly reevaluating progress is critical to our leadership ability and necessary when determining the next step. Reevaluating goals and the means of achieving them keeps the ensemble moving steadily forward and helps us determine an alternative plan when it is necessary.

For the conductor regular reevaluation happens on two levels. The first, broad level is in reevaluating our long-term goals as an organization, goals having to do with ensemble or audience growth, revenue, organizational structure or the overall artistry level and accomplishments of the ensemble.

The other kind of reevaluating happens on a daily basis and usually applies to the ongoing progress of the ensemble toward the next performance. This regular, daily awareness of how things are going has direct impact not only on the ultimate performance but also on the quality of the rehearsals that lead to that performance as well as the development and morale of the individuals in our ensembles.

For conductors regular reevaluation means having an aural model in mind for the ensemble and the piece, devising rehearsal techniques and teaching methods to help the ensemble come closer and closer to that sound and committing to consistently and honestly reflecting on what the ensemble is producing and how they are working.

Plan B is any adjustment you make to the original plan. It may mean dropping a piece from the concert to allow for more rehearsal time on the other repertoire,

Whatever Plan B represents for you, the important thing is that you have one and that you put it into place early enough for it to make a difference in the performance and the rehearsals.

As we plan rehearsals or seasons, choose repertoire and design concerts and develop techniques and set goals we need to ask ourselves questions about the people we lead: What do they need now? How much can they absorb? When in the rehearsal period will they need recharging? When will they be most or least likely to be challenged? When will they need to be peaked? What speaks to them? What tires them? What motivates them? What do they want from this experience?

Beyond knowing the ensemble we must believe in them and be very vocal about our confidence in their abilities. Whether you are conducting the children’s choir at church or a professional orchestra, you must consistently let them know they are capable of even more than they imagine and tell them in such a way that motivates, not discourages or criticizes.

Foresight and vision are closely related, as they both refer to the ability to look ahead. Foresight, however, is the responsible, checks and balances half of vision because it involves seeing the obstacles or challenges that might be in the way of achieving a goal as well as the strategies needed to avoid or overcome these obstacles. Foresight is vision with wisdom. It is more than having an end goal; it is the ability to also see how things will unfold on the way to the goal.

Foresight instructs pedagogy. Pedagogy helps us when a challenge arises but foresight tells us the challenge is coming. Relying on foresight means we can plan ahead to create the best possible product because we can see in advance what is likely to happen with the process.

People with foresight see multiple scenarios on the way to their visionary goal and then determine a path that will hopefully bring the most desirable scenario into reality.

You might envision a great concert or rehearsal but can you see what it will take to get there? When we plan the concert season foresight helps us see how programs fit together, how pieces flow from one to the next, how the ensemble will grow because of the repertoire and how the audiences will respond to the performances. Foresight guides our rehearsal planning because we must rely on foresight to tell us before the actual rehearsal what problems the musicians will have and how we can rehearse in order that these challenges can be overcome.

Ultimately, foresight demands action if we are to be ethical in our leadership role. If we choose not to exercise our foresight we can be headed towards serious problems down the road, problems that could have been avoided

A lack of foresight can result in a crisis and a recurrent lack of foresight usually means a recurrent crisis. While any organization can find a crisis on its hands, one that occurs with regularity means the leader has not utilized his foresight to determine the future course of events and take some action to avoid the crisis.

First simply become aware that foresight is a critical component of your leadership. Realize that foresight is the context for developing new techniques or strategies, a new structure for the organization or a more appealing marketing campaign.

Secondly you must consciously practice using your foresight in your conducting life. Resist the temptation to work on impulse, especially when it comes to planning performances. Discipline yourself to set aside time so you can plan farther ahead, allowing yourself the opportunity to visualize and sketch out the rehearsal process.

The final aspect of vision is the fuel for everything we do: our passion for music, for people, for performing and for life.

Passion provides energy and direction. Passion gives us a reason to plan, to dream and to set high expectations. Passion keeps us moving forward even when challenges set us back.

No passion, no vision.

Vision provides energy, purpose, and direction for us as conductors.

Vision provides energy, purpose, and direction for the ensemble.

Vision helps us avoid the avoidable.

Vision keeps us organizationally efficient.

The greater our ability to see potential the more likely we will feel alone.

Whether or not it was in the job description, providing vision—and selling that vision—are critical parts of our leadership lives.

Rhetoric and good intentions aside, if there is little or no trust, there is no foundation for permanent success.

Every relationship, in order for it to be successful and enduring, must be built on trust.

If there is one thing I wish I had understood as a new conductor it is the importance of developing trust relationships with the ensemble before attempting to institute significant change.

Like most conductors, I had been trained to take charge, to establish authority right from the start.

Now, as I look back I ask the same question but with a very different perspective: what was the big deal? Why not let them all sing together? I see now how much wiser it would have been to let tradition continue at least for a year or so. I would have gained so much more in building relationships by honoring what was obviously a revered tradition to that community than I ever did by displaying my authority or my pedagogical expertise.

Trust must precede change, at least significant change, if we are to be successful in the long run.

Just as the members of the organization desire security, they also expect that we will lead them forward, which means some things must change.

The bottom line is we need to choose our battles. Assess the situation as you come into a new position. Decide what absolutely must be in place for you to lead a productive, engaging and musically satisfying rehearsal and what policies and procedures need to be in place for the organization to accomplish at least the very next goal facing you if not your ultimate goals.