Leading People and Organizations - Dance Example

Experience #1

Dancing has always been my passion, and I have been performing and choreographing since I was 17. Upon graduation from university in 2009, I wanted to continue pursuing my passion on a professional scale. Leveraging my social network of dancers, I formed one Street Dance troupe in early 2010 comprising six, and one Bollywood Dance troupe in late 2010 comprising seven extremely capable dancers. However, the two sets of dancers were exclusive in nature, in a sense that it was a rainmaker network with me at the intersection of workflows.

In a short-span of time of around six months, both the dance teams established a strong name in Singapore and we started winning major competitions respectively. However, in 2012, a stellar opportunity for a performance at the International Indian Film Awards, which were being held in Singapore that year, came along when a team from India could not make it last minute. Even though it was last minute and we only had 10 days to prepare, I was extremely excited about it and decided that this is the time to bring the two networks together. The reason I thought so was the two teams I was leading were very different and extremely capable in various genres, and having such a diverse skill-set would be a huge positive going into the show which will be attended by numerous top Bollywood and Singapore celebrities, and watched by millions of fans around the globe.

First thing I decided to do was to arrange a dinner and drinks session to break the ice between the two teams so that everyone gets to know each other well before we get down to business. That went well, and I was extremely excited going into our very first meeting the next day. With 9 days left for the performance, we sat down for our first meeting to brainstorm what the theme for our performance would be. Within few minutes, many great ideas started flowing around the room but there was room for only one. After a while, upon conducting a public vote, the room was equally split between those in the favor of street dance and those in the favor of Bollywood. It was then when a team member from either side went into a debate which turned into a heated one in no time, and the two individuals (A and B) left the room in frustration, leading to meeting being adjourned without any productive outcome. Clearly, what was a task conflict at first turned into a relationship conflict in no time. And with so much at stake, this was the last thing I would have wanted as the leader.

Since, we barely had time, I had to resolve this conflict at the earliest. So that evening, I had a phone conversation with person A, and understood her rationale behind her stance. Similarly, I met face-to-face with B later that evening, and understood his rationale. I knew what they wanted respectively, but I wanted to know WHY did they want that so that I can now think of a business proposal to satisfy both their needs. Once I understood the ‘Why’ aspect, I made sure that I communicate A’s rationale to B and vica-versa so that they both know that they had performance’s interest at heart and nothing personal.

Here, the issue was important, the speed was important, everyone had equal power, relationships were important to me if not to the others as I could not disappoint either of my networks. So, in line with a strategy of Compromise and Collaborate, I came up an idea to satisfy both parties’ needs – to put up a performance on live music/beats as a fusion between street dance and Bollywood! I communicated my idea to the 13 dancers (six and seven from the two troupes respectively) through a text message, and asked them for their feedback. Communicating with and getting feedback from each dancer privately, instead of a public vote, helped a great deal, and everyone was on board with idea with great enthusiasm. It was something which none of them had ever done before, and would be something that the audience would surely love. With everyone on board, and mere 7 days to go, I called for our first rehearsal. It was heartening to see everyone giving their 100% forgetting what had happened two days ago. The subsequent rehearsals went really well, and we managed to put up a great performance for which we received immense praise not only from the organizers but also from the Bollywood and Singapore celebrities. Over the next few years, the two teams came together on several occasions to put up a joint performance. Yes, there were arguments but those were all healthy and positive debates, and none transformed into a relationship conflict.