In the TED Talks video, Lead
like the Great Conductors, Itay Talfgam gave an excellent presentation as
to about leadership by analyzing the conducting style of four different orchestra
conductors. Personally I was captivated
by the Talfgam’s personality and synergy he reflected during the presentation. He as able to engage the audience and his
ideas were presented with ease and very clear and concise. Talgam described four distinctly different leadership
styles that are priarily based on relationships and later highlighting the
conducting style of Carlos Kleiber.
I would interpret Talgam’s ideas as quick nuggets noting the
“do’s and the don’ts” when leading a team.
The attributes I noted which would be considered “the don’ts” were
outlined by Talgam after the review of the conducting style of Richard of Muti,
Richard Strauss and Herbert Van Karajan.
Muti’s leadership style was found to be excessively
commanding and controlling. Strauss’s
style of leadership seemed to be on the passive aggressive side whereby the orchestra
did really rely on him to direct them as they knew to stick to the sheet music
as presented. These conductors or
leaders which exhibit this type of leadership behavior will fall in the
category of being transactional leaders.
Transactional leaders are not versatile in that they do not individualize
the needs of their followers no focus on personal development (Northouse,
2016). They are simply task oriented and
simply do what they have to do to get the job done and the expectation is that
their followers will perform accordingly (Northouse, 2016). I consider this type of leadership approach to be a don't because the followers are not receiving or growing in the process.
Van Karajan’s style came across as being nonchalant because he
has very little communication with the orchestra. In the clip that was shown he had his eyes
closed the whole time while conducting the orchestra. This forced the players to rely on one
another for direction. This type of
leadership style (or non-leadership style) where the leader is too relaxed is
considered non-transactional and is defined as laissez-faire leadership (Northouse,
2016). The laissez-faire leader has a
hands off approach where there may be little communication or feedback given to
the followers and no interest in the development of the followers or the team
as a unit (Northouse, 2016). The laissez-faire approach to leadership is a big don't because it is simply not leadership at all.
There are several parallels between Talgam ideas about how
conductors lead and what I know about leadership up to the mid-term of this
course. These parallels were presented
by Talgam, during his highlights commending the conducting styles of Carlos
Kleiber. During his presentation Talgam,
provided the audience with videos of multiple performances by Kleiber
displaying his versatility in leadership styles. Kleiber makes sure to set the tone of the
atmosphere which he is performing in by showing emotions. In the first clip it was obvious that he was
happy doing what he does leading his orchestra. This reflected in the orchestra’s
performance and the vibes spilled over to the audience and they began to get
involved by clapping along to the beat of the music. Kleiber’s conducts with a process in a
professional manner but yet is able to exert high energy and emotion while
giving feedback to specific sections of the orchestra while directing. This type of leadership motivates his team as
they are receiving just enough feedback and control of their craft. It’s a form of two way communication between
leader and follower.
It is clear that Kleiber practices the transformational leadership
style as he is able to exhibit the ability to influence, motivate, stimulate
and individualize has feedback to this team.
Transformational leadership is not only concerned with completing the
task at hand. Transformational leadership
also focuses on improving follower performance and giving them a platform to reach
their full potential. The "do" on the list is the transformational leadership approach which is an effective leadership style which can be successfully utilized in various leader/follower platforms.
References
Northouse, P. (2016) Leadership theory and practice (7th
ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Talgam, I. (2009, October). Transcript of "Lead like
the great conductors" Retrieved April 23, 2017, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors/transcript?language=en.
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