I recently had a wonderful discussion with a student who is in the throes of developing the skill of leadership. What a wonderful challenge for any young person!

I think leadership is one of the toughest skills for anyone to work on. It takes a ton of foresight, wisdom, and patience. Also, inevitably you will screw it up. I know I have! But through those failures you can learn and adjust and become a leader you want to be.

One aspect of leadership that we discussed in that meeting was the importance of modeling, a key aspect of what I look for in a good leader.

So, What is Modeling?

Modeling is a method of learning where a person observes someone else's behavior and then copies or imitates it.Super simple right?

Well, yes! It is that simple… However, simple does not mean unimportant.

Whatever you do as a leader will become a signal to the people you lead that says “this is the way we do things around here”. Whether it is the behavior you would like to see more of or not. Same thing for the leaders within your organization. The team captains, the upperclassman, the quarterback, the principal violinist. Whatever they model, will move through the organization like wildfire.

The Feedback Loop

This cycle can create a very powerful feedback loop for your organization! Here is how I like to look at it:

Leaders model behavior → Followers see the modeling → Followers copy modeled behavior.

Soon these followers become leaders themselves and the cycle repeats, thus the circle of life! (cue the Lion King music)

However here is the issue, any behavior can and will be modeled, whether it is good or bad. This is why I’ve taken such care to make sure I am modeling behavior that I would want to see from the people I am close with. I am also constantly trying to reflect on my actions, so that I can engage in whether or not that was the correct choice in the situation I was in.

A Real World Example: Timeliness

My job at Radford provides some truly awesome ways for me to constantly improve and develop my own leadership abilities as well as work with students who are also working on developing their leadership. AKA constant expirements and case-studies to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Here is an example that I want to share with you that I have reflected on and sought to improve:

Timeliness

As a studio teacher you are in a position of power and that may mean other people often times can and will work around your schedule.

During my first two years of teaching at Radford, I was definitely working on developing my skill and systems for making sure I was timely. This was definitely a work in progress!

There were a couple of times where I was a little late to my first lesson of the day due to traffic on my normally 45 minute commute to campus (I-81 may be cursed), or I would run lessons or a percussion ensemble coaching over my a couple minutes.

At first, I didn’t think this was a huge deal, but it created a wave of signals and behavior changes in my students. The general vibe was this: being on time and ending on time was preferable, but optional. This was never my intention and writing it now still strikes me with a bit of regret, but reflection and iteration is our way forward!

So going into the next school-year I made the following adjustments to my daily system:

1. Put my daily commutes into my calendar and mark them as an hour instead of 45 minutes. Things happen and you want a buffer!
2. Create alarms on my phone that would go off five minutes before the end of a lesson. This signals me to wrap up the lesson and put in grades and assignments into my students lesson doc.
3. Make students play through all of there assigned material first without stopping, before coaching them through the pieces.
   1. This was a huge game changer for me. This has consistently given me the opportunity to hear all of there assignments, give grades, and allocate my teaching time appropriately within the hour. As opposed to hearing assignment 1, inevitably coaching this piece for too long and then not having enough time for the other assignments.
4. Create alarms on my phone that would go off five minutes before the end of a coaching time.
5. Schedule breaks during my day so that I can use the restroom, eat, practice, or rest.
   1. I will often try to do no more then three hours of teaching straight before a break. Any more then this and I notice an instant dip in my teaching ability.

These adjustments, made a world of difference for me! I immediately felt a lot more in control of my schedule by improving my systems. As an added plus I now felt like I had ground to stand on, when enacting studio policies via syllabi to ensure people were on time and ready to go for lessons, studio class, and percussion ensemble.

Challenge

My challenge for you is to figure out where you could be a better model for the people around you? Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Could you prep for rehearsal better?
2. Could you be a better listener in meetings?
3. Could you play for colleagues more often as you prepare for your lesson?
4. Could you take better care of yourself mentally or physically?
5. Could you take better care of the shared spaces you use?

After you change your behavior I am certain others will notice and make adjustments as well. All it takes is one person to turn a tide.

All the best,

WCN

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