Why Practice, Rehearsal & Performance are Complementary Leadership Skills

Rehearsal is different from practice, and from performance. This is as true for leaders and organisations as for musicians; we can perform better with good preparation, and we can learn from how musicians prepare to perform.

Practice helps musicians learn new skills and keep them up to the mark. Where practice is solitary work on technique, rehearsal is collective and co-creative: it is the work the team does in order to be ready to perform for an audience.

Martin Elliot is Co-Medical Director at Great Ormond Street Hospital and one of the world’s leading paediatric cardiothoracic surgeons. He is a musician, and has operated with Mozart or Miles Davis playing in the operating theatre. He brings to life his presentations on leadership and improvement in surgical teams by showing how they have learned from other high-performing teams whose work demands speed, accuracy and co-ordination: Formula 1 racing teams, the Red Arrows and the dancers of the Royal Ballet. He sums up much of this learning in a single phrase: “rehearse, rehearse, rehearse”.

What effect does rehearsal have on people in a team?
Having observed string quartets and others in action, psychologists Vivienne Young and Andrew Colman suggest that the presence of other players or an audience enhances the execution of well-learned skills, but holds back the learning of new skills and the execution of imperfectly learned skills. If the individual players have sufficiently mastered their instruments and their parts, rehearsal and performance may well take the music to a new level. If not, the players might benefit from practice: rehearsal and performance may hold them back.

There are parallels in other work. We should be confident about the part we shall play so that we contribute well as the team prepares to perform. We should prepare together to perform well: “rehearse, rehearse, rehearse”.

What can other teams learn from what musicians do in rehearsal? Once again, it seems that listening is as important as playing. By listening in rehearsal, musicians find and develop relationships among their parts: who will take the lead and who will follow. Not all orchestral co-ordination comes from the tip of the conductor’s baton. Ensemble emerges from the understanding the musicians develop in rehearsal of how their part interacts with others in a larger whole.

Similarly in other work, watching and listening is as important as what we say and do. In preparing teams to perform well, leaders are not simply issuing instructions; they are helping team members find how best to fit their contributions to each other.

Listening well?
The sociologist and musician Richard Sennett on rehearsing:

Rehearsals are the foundation for making music; when rehearsing music, listening skills become vitally important, and in listening well, the musician becomes a more cooperative creature.

Leaders do more than co-ordinate activity. They create a sense of shared vision and purpose. Again, leaders can learn from how musicians do the same.

Most musicians come to a rehearsal already knowing the notes. Professionals will usually have played the piece dozens of times before. Conductors and players use the rehearsal to create the music anew together, developing a shared vision of how they want it to sound, what impression they want it to leave and what feelings they want it to evoke. No two performances are the same.

Orchestral musicians value the skill of a good conductor in making rehearsals creative, purposeful and engaging. By communicating a vision of the performance to the players, a conductor helps them think differently about the music. It might be done by describing technical effects or details of speed and dynamics; or it might be done through imagery, inviting a creative response from the players.

Rehearsal time is usually limited, and needs to be used well. The musicians may decide to focus on key passages, or on establishing the tempo and mood for each movement. They may deliberately leave some passages alone, so that they will be fresh in performance.

Similarly, other teams may decide, as they prepare to perform, what they want to commit to in advance and where they want to be able to respond to events and each other as the work unfolds.

A good rehearsal builds rapport and understanding between conductor and players, and among players. Together they seek to bring the music alive. In a good rehearsal, the musicians are challenged and engaged through clarity of instruction and creative dialogue. They feel valued and want to give of their best. They feel part of something bigger and are ready to perform to a wider audience. They are mindful of the contribution of their colleagues and how each depends on the others.

For musicians working well together, rehearsal is more than technical preparation. It can be fulfilling in itself, creating the sense of being part of a skilled, creative team in pursuit of a shared vision. Leaders can aspire to create the same experience for those they lead, as they prepare to perform.

Points for reflection

• As a leader, how do you ensure that people acquire the skills they need in order to play their part well as members of a team?
• How do you prepare teams to perform: that is, how do you rehearse?
• As they prepare to perform, how do you ensure that people listen to each other, as well as have their say?
• How do you create and share a sense of vision and purpose for those preparing to perform?
• Do you ensure your team or organisation makes the best use of preparation time? Does preparation time build rapport? Do people enjoy it?
• Why would anyone want to rehearse with you?

(From Knowing the Score, by Praesta coaches Ken Thomson and Dr. Peter Shaw, originally published on Praesta.com)