Leadership Lessons from the World of Theatre - Co Authored with Dr. Shatarupa Bhattacharya

“As a theatre artist, I enjoy directing, writing, and acting, though directing is what I enjoy most. Directing allows me to create a world on stage from scratch, a world where I can immerse each and every audience member. Acting enables me to inhabit that world by getting under the skin of a character and making that character come alive in a physical space. But whether it is writing, direction or acting, the questions that need to be asked are: For whom do you make theatre? Is it for the audience or is it for yourself? What is the objective of a piece of theatre? Is it commercial or artistic? Before embarking on any stage project, it might be worth one’s while to answer these questions. “– Dr. Shatarupa Bhattacharya

The above words are from a dear friend and senior theatre professional in India, Dr. Shatarupa Bhattacharaya. You must be wondering why I am writing about Theatre on LinkedIN, especially after writing about leadership competencies and tips to make your leadership profile stand out. 2 reasons – first that I am also a Theatre professional and I practice it as a serious hobby, second the whole theatre making process made me realise that it has so many elements that could be helpful for leaders when they start with a new business idea or need to build teams from the scratch. So, this article will have excerpts from Shatarupa in Italics, and I will attempt to link how each of the excerpts link to managing businesses successfully.

Shatarupa: Putting a play on stage, just like starting a business is an amalgamation of several choices. It starts from choosing the right script itself. For me, that is as important as deciding on the right cast. At this stage, as director, you will likely receive several recommendations about what the right play would be. Some of those recommendations may come from people who have more experience than you in direction or are more accomplished. But you cannot surrender your own creative instinct or your own judgement at the altar of someone else's reputation.

So often we see the confidence of our ideas shaken after discussing it with our managers, experienced leaders, mentors etc. No doubt that many of those suggestions are useful but as a leader, the idea was born out of your strong instinct and insight and you should never trash your ideas in the face of intense pushback or criticism. One’s sense of security often makes many leaders doubtful or reluctant starters with new ideas. You need to run with the idea by incorporating the positive suggestions and not get overawed by the reputation or experience of others. The confidence to fail and bounce is often a trait we assess during our leadership assessments.

Shatarupa – I directed a play called Six Dead Queens and an Inflatable Henry (SDQ), which is a satirical re-imagination of the afterlife of the English king, Henry VIII’s six queens. The play was based on British history, the language was British English, and the characters were all from British history. There was nothing ‘Indian’ about it. I wondered whether I should change the tone of the play just to make it more palatable to Indian audiences. Although the play used a unique storytelling style and characters who were earthy, I was almost certain that the play would not work for an Indian audience. Still I went ahead. And it opened to a packed house – in India – and received a standing ovation – from an Indian audience. What had worked was that, despite its Britishness, the play spoke of universal themes like the patriarchy and sisterhood. You don’t need an Indian play or Indian characters to talk about that!    

My intention was to entertain audiences while making a point about feminism. History was incidental to the production. That was the vision I had for the production and that is what all directors must have. And they cannot compromise on that vision even if their cast and crew are not completely onboard. While it is true that staging a production is a collaborative act, the collaboration should be about how to realise the director’s vision and not how to undermine it.

Clearly, conviction about your ideas will also stem from your vision about it. What problem is your idea going to solve for the business? It may sound ambitious, impractical or daunting in the beginning but if you are clear about the objective you are trying to achieve for the business, it will be easier for you to generate the buy-in from stakeholders and team members. Just like the example above, everybody may not be on board initially but with conviction and clarity, this seemingly insurmountable challenge is overcome by leaders successfully. It is often a slow and gradual process but worth the time and effort. 

Shatarupa: Doing theatre is akin to creating a professional clan, a clan of talented and disciplined people who are responsible not just for what happens on stage but also what happens off it as well. In fact, a strong backstage team is an absolute necessity for any production. As a director, you have to ensure that each and every person working in the team feels respected and listened; they must feel that the play is as much theirs as it is of the director. It is not necessary that only by working with the best and most experienced minds will one achieve the best result. The best result might come from someone with zero experience too – if they have a hunger to make things happen. 

Creating a professional set up for leaders is an absolute necessity. A successful leader is someone who realises and acknowledges the importance of all functional elements which go into making the idea successfully executed. From the guy who ensures your systems are running to the person who closes the biggest deals, everyone should feel respected and important. 

Shatarupa: When it comes to actors, I have often come across this question, “what is it that a director looks for in an actor while casting?” “The character” would be my short answer. Look for an actor who fits the character and not the other way around. Personally, I prefer taking a chance on a new actor with discipline and perseverance over an experienced actor with little dedication. And I think it is best not to spoon feed actors; a director should allow their actors to understand the character on their own. What a director can do is to assist them in arriving at that understanding – by answering queries, by giving them references to study, by telling them about the world in which the character is located, and by helping them think from different perspectives.

This is what we also recommend hiring managers when they look to hire key resources for their teams. Don’t hire a person because he is the best in town but hire a person who will be best for the organisation and its vision. Experience, skills & knowledge is one thing but a person’s ability to add disproportionate value to the business should have a higher weightage when it comes to hiring decisions. As the CEO of a Fintech Start-up recently commented in our leadership 2020 seminar – “People who come with problems without possible solutions are not the kind of leaders he would want in his organisation.” Also, it is important to give enough space & freedom to your team members to help them flesh out their roles in the business independently. It is often a good indicator of how invested your people are in your long-term vision. Ideal a leader’s role is to create an enabling atmosphere and not always get down to solving problems for their team members. Most roles in progressive companies today don’t have their KRAs cast in stone and it is often like a canvas, which the role holder can paint it the way they like of course within some guiding parameters but not binding. 

Shatarupa: Just as it is the director’s task to shepherd their cast through the production, it is the actor’s task to be professional through the production. By being professional, what I mean is that an actor must be punctual, they must come prepared, they must contribute to creating a collaborative and congenial environment in rehearsal, and they must be open to constructive criticism. While criticism is never easy to take, the actor must realise that a director does so to push the actor towards the performance that the production requires. Similarly, the director must ensure that their criticism does not belittle the actor or undermine their confidence, otherwise the director will never be able to elicit the performance that they need from the actor. The challenge in rehearsal was to ensure that no actor overshadows the others, and none tries to steal or hog the spotlight. Luckily, the cast was professional and played off one another instead of playing against one another. This allowed for a seamless collective performance to emerge on stage, which is what the production required.

Finally, a leader cannot do it all by himself. The setup also needs to have a fair degree of professionalism, ownership, accountability and ethics to enable the creation of a successful ensemble. As a team member, one should have the emotional competence to take critical feedback stride and appreciate how it helps them evolve as a professional. As a leader, giving feedback is a delicate balance between improving performance without denting the morale or confidence of the individual. Everyone in a team should understand the need for complementing each other than competing. A good way to see this attribute in your teams is when the chips are down. As they say, adversity brings out the real character of individuals. A successful team will always be more desirable than a few star performers. The West Indian cricket team of the 70’s and 80’s or the current Indian cricket team is a good example of a high performing ensemble. One’s need for individual success should not come at the cost of collective business success.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article. Glad if you could share your thoughts & feedback on this. Once again, this is my personal take based on my experiences.