Thoughts on Transformational Leadership

Lead like you’re blind. Be sensitive to your environment and it will teach you how to respond.

Choral auditions were on for the evening and things were pretty much “as usual” until Lisa (as we’ll call her here) entered the room, behind her friend who was guiding her. I’d never had a blind person audition for choir before, so this was a totally new experience for me. For her entire audition I was wondering about how this would work out. How would she be able to sing with us? How would she know when to begin? How would she know when to cut-off? 

Given that I didn’t have a reason for turning her away from active duty with the ensemble (she was actually one of the best auditions that evening), I invited her to begin rehearsing with us. Rehearsals began and for the first few, I held my breath and waited to hear that lone voice that would miss the cue to begin or the cue to cut-off. Rehearsal after rehearsal, week after week, I continued to wait for Lisa to miss the cue, yet I continued to be pleasantly disappointed. 

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I tried, as unobtrusively as possible, to find out how she was able to start and cut-off with the ensemble every single time. At the time, her answer didn’t seem unreasonable, but as I reflect upon it, her response has implications for leaders. Lisa’s response was simply this – “oh, I listen to the choir; I hear when they breathe”. 

At face value, her response may not seem to say much, but when one considers what “the breath” means to the choir, the picture begins to change; the middle ground and the background come a bit closer to the foreground. For the ensemble, the breath communicates at least four elements, namely tempo, dynamics (volume), mood, and articulation (the way/style in which a note should be sounded). 

For the organizational leader, the transformational change leader, leadership could look like Lisa’s response. Imagine how leadership would look if leaders (appointed and unappointed) listened to their colleagues and their employees (the ensemble). Imagine the impact of leadership if it were to be sensitive to the “breathing” of the ensemble. Envision how listening to the organization’s ensemble would affect the tempo of work, the dynamics of getting the job done, the culture of the organization, and the way the job gets done. Hopefully, the picture in your mind is becoming brighter, more promising, or at least more curious, but add this last image edit. Consider that Lisa sang with us for an entire school year and never once missed a cue. How’s that for sensitivity?

Lead like you’re blind. Be sensitive to your environment and it will teach you how to respond.