As a rookie conductor, Roger Nierenberg thought his job as leader was to tell people what to do.
But in 14 years as director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida, he learned that being overly controlling is destined to turn brilliant performers into begrudging bit players.
"Leadership is really about listening and encouraging people to find their own creative way to perform," says Mr. Nierenberg, now New York-based principal of an executive coaching company, the Music Paradigm.
"You can require obedience and force compliance with your directions, but you can't mandate enthusiasm, creativity, fresh thinking or inspiration. If you value those, then people need to feel ownership of the work and the leader must cede some control," Mr. Nierenberg explains.
In his training seminars in the United States and Canada, executives sit in various places in an orchestra during performances and then mount the podium to try their hands at conducting.
In an orchestra, everyone knows the part they are supposed to be playing; business is less precise, because you have no set score, but many of the lessons that are taught by musical conducting have parallels in business, Mr. Nierenberg says in a new book, Maestro: A Surprising Story about Leading by Listening.
Here are some of his lessons for making music in the workplace:
Lead, don't cheerlead
The fundamental responsibility of a conductor or leader is to have a vision of what is possible and motivate everyone to work together to achieve a flawless performance, Mr. Nierenberg says.
"But to do that you have to make a firm commitment to something that hasn't happened yet." And that has become more difficult in the recent economic downturn, which has made many leaders question their vision and feel uncomfortable about committing to long-term plans.
That lack of commitment leads them to end up cheerleading, commenting on what everyone has been doing in the past and present, but not presenting a clear vision of what could be.
"When a conductor or a team leader doesn't lead toward a possibility, the players instantly recognize that and there is no focus to their playing because they don't feel confident in committing themselves.
"You have to have a clear view of what is possible, where you are going and what next steps need to be taken to get there if you are to inspire others to commit to moving in your direction," he says.
"If not, you risk backtracking and can start following rather than leading. Musicians - and employees - hate it when you do that."
Share your perspective
The view from the podium or the executive suite is unique, Mr. Nierenberg says. People in the chairs of the orchestra hall or the cubicles in an office are so focused on playing their individual parts don't always see changes happening. And depending on where players are seated in an orchestra, they are hearing instruments in a different way.
"This is a fundamental problem with organizations; people often don't see the whole picture," he says. This is particularly important at a time like this when change is a given. "So it is a leader's role to give them regular updates on how their individual efforts fit into the final result and make the process real to them so they can embrace the change."
Encourage listening
In an orchestra, the conductor has to be aware of what players are hearing. The violins, for instance, can be drowning out the sound of the flutes. This is easier to hear from the podium.
In the office, "it happens quite often that people don't listen to each other even in a direct discussion. You will come out of a meeting in which people have completely different ideas about what was decided," Mr. Nierenberg says.
