Leading Is Like Conducting An Orchestra

Recently, I was talking with one of my clients about managing a new team in addition to the one they already have. We were discussing the difference between managing a single team and managing multiple teams. It reminded me of a conductor of an orchestra.?

A leader is like a conductor of an orchestra. Just as a conductor indicates to the musicians when and how to? join the musical performance, a leader is coordinating the different people on their team or teams to achieve their goals and objectives. For the orchestra this produces beautiful music and for the team it is success in achieving their goals and objectives.?

Like a conductor who relies on first chairs (leaders of a section of the orchestra, i.e. clarinets) to lead their section, a leader relies on individual team leaders to guide their teams on what needs to be done and helps their team members to grow professionally so that they improve their skills and become stronger contributors in their areas of expertise and responsibility.?

A leader does not need to know how to do everyone’s job. Like a conductor whose role is to bring all the musical instruments and sections together and is studying and planning how to conduct a particular piece of music, the leader is focused on the bigger picture. Their mindset is about seeing the whole picture and often they need to take a hypothetical 30,000-foot view positioning themselves so that they can have a panoramic outlook of the whole like a conductor on a podium.?

Like a conductor who may be very skilled at a few instruments, a leader may also have expertise in a few areas. And yet the leader and conductor have a separate role to play in deciding and communicating what they need from each musical section or team and how to utilize the skills of each musician or team member.?

A leader is the face of the team to the rest of the organization. The leader is interpreting for the team how their work and contributions are part of the bigger goals and objectives of the organization. The conductor is the face of the orchestra and is interpreting to the musicians how the music should be performed.?

Like a conductor who acknowledges that the success of the performance is a joint effort by having the musicians rise and take a bow, a leader needs to acknowledge the effort of their team or teams to the rest of the organization as well as to the team members.?

As a leader, how are you doing in conducting your team members? Do you feel like there is a constructive collaboration and flow to the “music” the teams are producing? Do you hear the discordant notes and work to discover how to resolve them?