A very useful image that depicts leadership

Although I thought I had completed all my research I am still finding so much more information and resources on leadership. This image was photographed by Alfred Steiglitz (1864-1946) and was named "Dancing Trees". The image presents to us the thick branches of a young tree at its first forking. The branches separate from the trunk as a sign of indepence, yet each one stays close to another for support and encouragement. They intertwine, at once leaning toward and away from each other, sharing the pies are entitled to a life outside of their work and how important that life is to each person is essentice of sunlight that shines through the leaves from above (Steiglitz, 1922).

In terms of leadership it is important to take into account the interdependence of relationships. Involving not only our relationship with ourselves but also with our peers, friends, family and co workers. Acknowledging that workeral for any emotionally intelligent leader.

Discussion with Paula and Michelle

After Paula had posted the slide share on paulanottingham.blogspot.co.uk, myself, Paula and Michelle got together via video chat and discussed the slides in more depth.

For me it was really useful being able to talk about my inquiry out loud and have someone ask me questions that I hadn't yet thought about or that I presumed would be obvious to my audience. I realised it was important for me to fully explain my job role and my inquiry within the introduction before assuming that my audience would know what I was writing about. 

I have found some creative images to help keep me motivated and have around me whilst I am working, this is something Paula suggested would be really helpful and I have to say I'm going to give it a try and see how these positive images can keep me motivated. 

I especially enjoy this one from funtoxin.com.

We had a great discussion about the difference between the analysis and evaluation. This was something that was confusing me, however Paula explained that the evaluation is more of an explanation about what you have been doing and the data you have been collecting and also what you hope to find out from your inquiry, and the analysis is connecting the ideas the you have gathered from interviews, observations, professional conversations, reflective journal and literature. 

There is another session Friday 13th November if anyone is available, I would highly recommend it. 

 

Women in Leadership Roles

So after a discussion with Paula I had completely forgotten about my idea to look into women in leadership roles. This past year I have had constant questioning about how I run my rehearsals and this mainly comes from the boys that I work with. I find they always need to be right and potentially feel uncomfortable having a woman tell them whether they are incorrect or in fact being criticized by myself, the difference I see when the casting manager comes to watch is distinctly different. The boys are very motivated around him and never ever give back chat. Is this because he is a man and they have more respect for men or is it because he is in a higher position than myself within the company, he potentially holds their future with the company in his hands. On that note I began researching women in leadership roles and came across a huge amount of literature that provoked my thinking. I have listed the links below.

www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/08/05/companies-do-better-with-women-leaders-but-women-need-more-confidence-to-lead-study-says 

In this article there is a huge amount of statistics that reveal how low the percentage of women working in leadership roles within large companies is. It makes me wander whether this is to do with lack of confidence that women have or due to the males employing the leadership staff. 

uk.buisnessinsider.com (Unfortunately I couldnt get the whole link to work so I have put the home page up instead)

This article is a study led by Ekaterina Netchaeve, Ph.D., at Bocconi University in Italy. A group of researchers performed a study finding that mean act more aggresively towards hypothetical female bosses, it is a really interesting read and gets you thinking about the male bravado. It also provokes thought on if men do feel threatened by a female boss what are their reasons for it? 

Please comment below I would really appreciate it. 

Respondent 3 Inquiry Questions

Interview questions BAPP Arts Inquiry

Respondent 3 has worked as a head dancer for four seasons and has worked for the company for five seasons as an entertainer.

Please discuss your experience as a head dancer and the challenges/accomplishments you have come across.

I started out with little knowledge of 'how to be a head dancer' but with the help and support from head office I learnt very quickly about the differences you come across within an entertainments team. I found that sometimes my approach was very harsh and entertainers as opposed to 'dancers' are not used to being spoken to like that. My main accomplishment is seeing people get better at performing and also putting together the halloween show each year is an incredible experience. I love seeing it all come together and getting to oversee the whole thing is brilliant! I also find it quite difficult when team members take a bad rehearsal home with them because as the head dancer you are the one to always get the blame. It's a difficult job as if you put one foot wrong everyone else is ready to pounce on you and point out your mistakes, I think that comes with any level of management though.

What skills and attributes do you think a head dancer should have and why?

Personally I think you need to be extremely confident within yourself, I have experienced team members who constantly question what I ask them to do in rehearsal but its important to stay completely true to what you believe. I find often the questioning comes from the boys on the team, they always always have to be right, it becomes very frustrating but its important to stay strong. Head dancers should be strong dancers as well, you need to be able to break things down correctly and also know how to help people with things like dynamics and performance qualities.

Where can the skills you have acquired in this job be used when making a career transition?

Leadership skills can be transferred into almost any other leadership role, for example if you were going into teaching you would have had a lot of experience of working with different people and breaking things down and taking order of a room. The customer care skills that you have to have for this job are also easily transferable into retail jobs, when networking and also in jobs where you may have to meet clients etc. The confidence you gain on stage also enables you to be able to speak to a large room and speak confidently. I think being a head dancer gives you a very thick skin as well so I believe most head dancers will have developed a strong work ethic and can cope with a lot of high pressure.

An emotional intelligent leader primes good feeling in those they lead, how do you think this type of leadership could help/hinder a head dancer?

I think as a head dancer you need to be aware of your teams emotional needs, some team members are better at taking criticism than others and its important to work out who needs what from you. I think also being approachable so that your team can speak to you about any issues they have whether it be personal or work related is important as its beneficial for you and the team to ensure everyone is motivated and happy in their job role.

Is it important as a head dancer to adapt to the 'situational leadership' style whereby you fit your style to the needs of the individual and to the situation at hand?

I think this is really important, you need to make sure you can get on to everyones 'wave length' and where they are at with their own progress. You can actually hinder a persons performance and confidence if you try to push them too hard or if they are not pushed enough. I always discuss targets with my team members and ensure they are happy with what I set them.

Discuss this statement 'To be a head dancer you need to be an exceptional dancer as well'.

I wouldnt say you have to be an 'exceptional' dancer but you need to have an understanding of dance and also set a good standard for your team to work towards. I think above all you need to a confident leader and be able to have an understanding of each person on your team otherwise whether or not your a fantastic dancer you wont be able to get your team to a high standard which is what the head dancer is for.

Inquiry questions Respondent 2

Interview questions BAPP Arts Inquiry

Respondent 2 has worked for the company for eight years and started out as a head dancer, she then went on to choreograph extensively for the company and now looks after all twenty four head dancers who work for parkdean.

Please discuss your experience as a head dancer and the challenges/accomplishments you have come across.

One of the main challenges in my opinion is working with different individuals and finding ways to get the most out of each person. As a head dancer you cannot teach everyone exactly the same, you need to find out different individual personalities. Some people you can push a bit harder and that will ensure you get the most out of them, however others may be more sensitive and switch off to a strong personality. Accomplishments for me include seeing people grow and watching them improve. I know that I can dance and I know what to do as a head dancer so my accomplisments come out of what others achieve on my team.

What skills and attributes do you think a head dancer should have and why?

Obviously, dancing skills and technically trained is important because its difficult to teach others if you do not have great understanding of the movement yourself. They need to have people management skills, which goes back to understanding different people. You need to be able to speak to people on all levels and have great communication skills. Also being able to lead by example.

Where can the skills you have acquired in this job be used when making a career transition?

As a head dancer you acquire the skills that enable you to lead a team of people and working in a team as well. So teamwork and being a leader will help in almost any job. Communication skills again will help when trying to acquire a job and also in any customer care type work it will only benefit you. As a head dancer you always need to be enthuasiastic which again will help just in general life.

An emotional intelligent leader primes good feeling in those they lead, how do you think this type of leadership could help/hinder a head dancer?

I think if someone was really upset and it was apparent in a rehearsal I would try to make the rehearsal a bit more fun and probably not give them as many corrections. I might do a silly warm up just to uplift the whole team rather than centre in on one person. As a head dancer as well its your job to bring the team up and motivate them which is a hard skill to achieve.

Is it important as a head dancer to adapt to the 'situational leadership' style whereby you fit your style to the needs of the individual and to the situation at hand?

It is definitely important to work on the individual. There are a lot of people who have got so much enthusiasim but are actually not that great performance wise and then they can get disheartened if you are constantly giving them negative feedback, so you have to balance it out. With the people who have a high competency for the job but lack enthusiasm I would try to give them a challenge to keep them motivated. With the person who is a level 1 I would be working more on their technique, I would be giving them challenges that suit them.

Discuss this statement 'To be a head dancer you need to be an exceptional dancer as well'.

I would like to agree with that because that is what I would like, and I like to employ head dancers that are exceptional dancers as well however it is not the case with everybody, but that is what I strive to have for the head dancers of this company. But I dont always necessarily think that being a great dancer will make you a great head dancer. For example I think there are alot of other qualities that are necessary to be a great head dancer like being able to break things down, work as a team and lead people. As a head dancer you need to work to make the team dance in sync and help to bring your team up to standard.

Literature review #4

Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing effectiveness through situational leadership by Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi. New and updated edition 2015.

Contents

Introduction

A visit from an entrepreneur

Being Successful

Thinking differently about leadership

Different strokes for different folks

Leadership style: Perceptions of others

Three skills of a situational leader

Managing the performance of others

Goal Setting

Diagnosing development level

Leadership style flexibility

The four basic leadership styles

Matching leadership style to development level

Think before you act

Different strokes for the same folks

Developing competence and commitment

Turning around performance problems

Sharing what you're doing

Understanding the six conversations

Positive assumptions about people

Becoming a situational leader

Acknowledgements

About the authors

Services available

Looking at the contents page for this book, you may think that it is very long and difficult to read, however it was quite the opposite. The authors have written the book in a story like fashion. An entrepreneur is our main character who meets several people that work for the 'one minute manager', each person describes how they are led by their manager and then the entrepreneur discusses each style with the one minute manager. 

Essentially in any team that you work for within the company Parkdean, you will be working with different people from different backgrounds with different skills therfore it is very important to cater for each persons specific needs. 

"Everyone has peak performance potential -you just need to know where they are coming from and meet them there" pg 52 The One Minute Manager.

The book talks about how everyone is at a different level in their career, however everyone can be developed if they are dealt with in the correct way, some people need more guidance than others. This piece of literature includes a development levels scale;

D1: Low competence with high commitment

D2: Low to some competence with Low commitment

D3: Moderate to high competence with variable commitment

D4:High competence with High commitment

From my understanding the development levels represent when someone first comes into a job, they would be considered at D1 as they are excited to start but dont have all the tools to succeed on their own just yet. As you develop into a D2 you become frustrated because you have learnt so much but you know you still have more to learn '"Sometimes as people's skills grow, their confidence and motivation drop", continued Kathy. "They begin to realize how much more they've got to learn to be able to do a really good job. It's like the old saying: 'The more I know, The more I realize I don't Know.' This part of the literature really stuck out to me as this year I have two new people to the company and they both experienced this developmental stage a couple of months into the season and I had to reassure them that they were doing well and they were fully capable of the work ahead. As a person moves into the D3 developmental stage they are more capable of their job however they lack confidence in some tasks so need more reassurance at this stage. Finally D4's are described as 'self reliant achievers', you are confident in your job and you are committed to doing it to the best of your ability. D4's need to be appreciated in their job roles and given tasks to help them grow and develop in their area. 

This piece of literature has been so helpful for me when I am dealing with my team. I always set achievable goals with them now and discuss where they are at in their journey with the company. It has also helped me to understand their frustrations depending on where they are at developmentally. 

Inquiry Questions

Inquiry Questions Respondent 1

Respondent 1 has performed the role of head dancer with parkdean for the past two seasons, before working for this company she worked abroad also as a head dancer for six years. Respondent 1 is happy for her information and opinions to be used as data for my professional inquiry, she has signed a consent form as evidence of this.

Interview questions BAPP Arts Inquiry

Please discuss your experience as a head dancer and the challenges/accomplishments you have come across.

When I came into it last year, maybe it was because it was my first year with the company, I was so worried about getting all of my own steps right I dont think I did as good a job last year, in the sense that I didnt establish my authority straight away. Once I got confident in the role I then struggled getting the authority I acquired because I hadnt started as I meant to go on. Last year I didnt really feel like I was needed as my team were very strong however when we then got a new boy he was like my project so I could help him and make him better and that was a huge accomplishment for me. However this year with my team, some members are more sensitive than those I had previously so I have had to adapt the way I teach certain members of my team so I can get the best out of them. You have to approach everyone differently. Then later this year I had another new person join the team and teaching her was a huge accomplisment because I could see her grow and develop. I think that challenges come when you have too much experience in a team. Working abroad is very different to working in the UK because all the work abroad is your own, you are the choreographer so you dont have to worry about whether the choreography is 'correct' as its your own material. Also abroad there were alot of people who werent dancers or singers but were employed as childrens entertainer but they had to still be in the shows.

My analysis: Respondent one struggled with gaining authority last year because she said she was focusing on the material she needed to learn for her own part. Authority isnt something that I have struggled with however I have found that my team do not appreciate the amount of work that I do for them which is something have struggled with this year and have talked about in my reflective journal. She also talks about how she needs to adapt the way she teaches different people, this is something I have come across in my literature,

“As a situational leader, I've come to believe it's foolish to apply the same style in every situation”, Leadership and the one minute manager,K. Blanchard, P. Zigarmi and D.Zigarmi. 2015 edition.

After reading about situational leadership I do believe that you have to adapt your teaching and leading style to your team members, so that they can learn in the most effective way and in turn make your job easier when putting the shows together.

What skills and attributes do you think a head dancer should have and why?

Well, I think, personally a head dancer needs to have attended professional college, but thats just my opinion. Only because some people that I see who have taken on the head dancer role without professional training are the ones who struggle the most, the ones that are good at their job have been to college. College completely changed me and you have to be quite tough to be a head dancer and college gave me that. Also not old as in a head dancer should be old but they need to be mature and have life experience.

My analysis: I definately agree that a head dancer needs life experience, to be a leader in any job you need to have acquired a certain level of maturity and be able to deal with all sorts of different people and different situations. I think that attending professional dance college will aid in your role as a head dancer however I dont think that it is a neccessity. Professional dance college definitely gave me a 'thick skin', it also enabled me to offer others the technical dance skills that I learned. As well as all of this dance college helped me to see that you can always work harder and you can always get better and thats something that I now live by, I will never give up and that includes when I am teaching someone, I wont give up on them either.

Where can the skills you have acquired in this job be used when making a career transition?

Say for example if I wanted to be a manager, the head dancer is like the second step because you kind of already have that authority. So it is much easier for a head dancer to go into a management.

My analysis: I think that potentially it is alot easier for a head dancer to go into management as they are managing the team in terms of shows and character roles etc, also as a head dancer you spend a lot of time working out rotas with your entertainements manager so you can see how that is done as well.

An emotional intelligent leader primes good feeling in those they lead, how do you think this type of leadership could help/hinder a head dancer?

I am going to have to use examples of this year, so for example with someone like A we are very similar, hes very passionate, however then we can clash so even though I am emotionally aware of how he is feeling we can then snap at each other because more often than not we are feeling the same. However with B, he always works really hard for me like always, but say one day randomly he was being rubbish, instead of me picking up on that straight away and asking what the problem is I always wait til the end of the rehearsal to ask him whats happening because he is never just forgetful because he cant be bothered its always because somethings happened in his personal life. If it was like C I would just say 'why are you being rubbish?' and they would snap out of it or apologise if you know what I mean. But it can also hinder you because people can pick up on your approach and think that its okay to be a bit crap that day because she'll (the head dancer) will just think I am down about something. Then you could be seen as a bit of a pushover. I have been very lucky with my teams the past two seasons, because everyone on my team have always wanted to be there. For me also, being 'crap' isnt your skills its more about your attitude and being lazy etc.

My analysis: After reading about primal leadership (emotional intelligence) and also putting it into practice I have found it very effective. Emotional intelligence helps you to be on the same 'wave length' as your team so you are all working towards the same goal.

“Intellect alone will not make a leader; leaders execute a vision by motivating, guiding, inspiring, listening, persuading -and, most cruicially, through creating resonance.” The power of emotional intelligence, D.Goleman, R.Boyatzis and A.Mckee. Tenth Anniversary Edition.

Is it important as a head dancer to adapt to the 'situational leadership' style whereby you fit your style to the needs of the individual and to the situation at hand?

If I am teaching a strong dancer something I can use different language and be a bit more vague and I can teach it faster whereas with a non dancer I would need to know what I was doing one hundred percent and break it down into chunks and go alot slower. I would ask them more if they needed to go over it more etc.

Discuss this statement 'To be a head dancer you need to be an exceptional dancer as well' .

I think you do, because I think you need to lead by example, you dont have to be like the best thing in world, but if I had turned up to this company and the choreographer hadnt been as good as she is then I wouldnt have as much respect for her. I think also if you have someone on your team who is a better dancer than you then it could make you feel less confident in your role, and could then hinder your actions as a head dancer. I also think the team would be able to tell as well that your not a confident dancer so then why should they take correction from you?