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.