Leadership

The following information is published with ROUNDALAB's permission from the ROUNDALAB Reference Manual compiled by Richard & Jo Ann Lawson, 1987.

Charlie & Edith Capon

In order to discuss leadership, we must know what the term means. I submit that a round dance teacher must be a leader. A leader is one who guides, shows the way, influences people by intangible or indirect means in order to produce a desired result. One definition I like is that leadership is the act or responsibility of eliciting purposeful group behavior from other persons. I propose that a round dance teacher leader is a person who has the capacity to produce a desire in others to learn to round dance and then assists them to learn the intricacies of the activity while maintaining and enhancing the original desire to learn.

It has often been stated that the art of leadership cannot be taught, but those aspiring to leadership roles can learn if they are willing.

We are all exposed to a wide variety of leaders, leadership styles and leadership ability. A thoughtful evaluation of these leaders is the first step in improving our own leadership ability. We must identify for ourselves the qualities displayed by successful leaders then through honest self-evaluation identify those areas where we are weak and work for improvement. Here are some of the most important qualities I have observed in successful leaders. None strong in all, but all were strong in most.

Honest: People like to feel that their leader is a person who they can trust.
Competent: People are quick to detect the false leader who doesn't know his job.
Just: We all respect fairness.
Forceful: Lethargy and procrastination are dominant human frailties which the leader must cast out forever from himself.
Humble: Based on recognition that fundamentally all human beings are shaped from the same mold.
Wise: Enough to be tolerant of the mistakes of mankind and the patient with individual eccentricities and weaknesses.
Loyal: If the leader is to receive loyalty from his followers, he must make it a part of his life blood, always.
Willing to serve: With full knowledge of the demands and stresses as well as the gratifications.

With your identification of the leadership characteristics you want to emulate and your self-evaluation, you are now ready for the hard work — practice, practice and more practice. Initially take on jobs where little damage can be done when you goof - for goof you will! Jobs where an experienced leader is available to guide and help. As you have small successes in small jobs, take on more and more responsibility. Be very critical in your self-evaluation and try to find a friend who will be equally honest in his or her evaluation of your actions. If you have had little or no leadership experience, teaching that first class of beginners can be a disaster for you and your students. There is no shortage of leadership opportunities. Churches, civic groups, dance groups and political groups are always looking for people willing to provide leadership at all levels. If you don't have the time to learn, you will never become a good leader.

The morality of leadership is probably the most difficult for most people to handle. As our leadership skills develop, we find that we have a following. People who follow us more or less blindly. This gives us power. as the saying goes "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." How well we handle the power of a leader is the final test of leadership. It seems that nearly every newscast and newspaper has examples of the abuse of power. Abuse of power by a professional is the most far reaching in its impact. One individual can, through his or her actions, discredit the entire profession. The old "rotten apple in the barrel" syndrome. I wish I could tell you how to avoid abusing your power as a leader, or even how to determine when you are faced with the opportunity for such abuse. I can't. I can only warn you that the time will come with the hope that you will be sensitive to the possibility and thus avoid that all important first abuse of your power.

Let's go back to the qualities of a successful leader and think about them in more specific terms as they relate to the round dance teacher.

Honest. First, you must be honest with yourself. If you cannot honestly evaluate your performance, you cannot improve. If you are not honest with yourself as to your motives, you will be that rotten apple in the barrel. Be honest with your dancers. Be sure they understand what they should expect. Let them in on your intentions. The round dance class is no place for secrets or surprises. If there are variations in how a dance is cued or performed in the area, tell them so they will not be surprised at their first area dance. Heaven forbid, but if you decide to teach a dance differently than the cue sheet, tell your dancers. Likewise, if you decide to use a different piece of music, tell your dancers. Whenever you deviate in any way from the norm, tell them and tell them why. They may not agree, but they will respect your honesty, your integrity. When the traveling dancers comes back with the latest thing and wants you to teach it, and you do not feel capable or it is not appropriate to the group, be honest. Tell that dancer why, don't disparage the dance. That dancers believes it is a good dance. Respect for your honesty, your integrity, is vital to your success as a leader. "Brutal" honesty is not a desirable trait nor is the "little white lie" the answer when dealing with the slow learner. Never tell the poor dancer how poor he is not. Point out where he needs improvement and how to improve. If the dancer does not learn, the teacher is really not teaching.

Competent. You need not be competent as a teacher of the most advanced material coming into the activity. You must, however, be competent to teach at the level you are teaching. Most important, you must know your strong points and your weak points and have the wisdom to teach only where you are strong. Your dancers have a right to expect that from you. They also have the right to expect you to improve in your dancing the instructional skills. This means effort, and probably, expense. In our profession we can improve our skills only by learning from those with greater skill - this usually means travel. That is expensive! If we cannot afford the time, the effort and the money to improve our skills as teachers of round dancing then, perhaps, we should no be trying to teach round dancing. Our activity is not static. Our dancers have the right to expect us to at least keep up.

Just. This is a tough one. It is only human to like some people better than others. As leaders we must analyze all of our actions to insure that we are not favoring some of our dancers over others. It is so easy to build a circle of special friends within our class or club. Any extra attention must be for the slow learner. No fair minded person objects to that if it is not over done. In programming dances in your club, program only those which have been taught in the club. Never, never, never include a time for some of your dancers to do dances they have learned elsewhere. Every member has paid the same fee or dues and, as such, is entitled to equal consideration in every element of the program. There would be nothing wrong with letting one or more couples show something they learned at a festival or institute during a normal break in the program. Care must be taken even here to insure that it does not in any way detract from the regular dance program or indicate any special feeling for those dancers.

Forceful. I am not thinking in terms of pushing your dancers too far or too fast. Rather, I am thinking that you should not have to be pushed by our dancers to move ahead. The word is vision, the ability to perceive what the needs and desires of your dancers will be next month and next year. It also is having the initiative to prepare to satisfy those need and desires.

Humble. The farther we progress as round dance teachers, the larger our following becomes and the more difficult it is to be humble. The adulation of the crowd is heavy medicine. It is so easy to believe all the compliments you receive. When this happens, look in the mirror and list in your mind all of your inadequacies, remember all your failures. A most sobering and essential experience.

Wise. Those who are truly wise are understanding, patient and tolerant. They accept people as they are, not as they wish them to be. As teachers we have the responsibility for helping our students to change. Our help so they can learn how to round dance. For those who have never danced, that is a big job. First, we must determine where the new student is as to knowledge of music and moving to music - dancing. We must accept this and understand that that must be our starting point. We must have the patience to go over, and over, and over again those basics of dancing which to use are essentially automatic. Things like position, foot action, direction of travel and transitions between figures. We must be tolerant of their failures. Criticism comes so easy yet it can only slow down the learning process. If learning to round dance was easy for you, then it will take even greater wisdom that if the learning process was difficult. Understanding the problems of the slow learner and having the patience and tolerance to provide the required assistance will require more effort on you part.

Loyal. Intelligent, thoughtful loyalty is great, misplaced or blind loyalty is a tragedy. As teachers, we must impress on our students the difference. We should only expect our dancers to be loyal in their attendance because they enjoy the dancing, not because we taught them to round dance. In return, we must endeavor to provide the most enjoyable program possible within our capabilities.

Willing to serve. Unlike most professions, the round dance teacher has little chance of reaping large financial benefits. Very few really earn enough to pay all of their expenses. Our pay must be primarily in the form of satisfaction in a job well done — the joy of seeing the pleasure the dancers receive as a result of our efforts. If we are not willing and able to spend more money than we receive and to give unstintingly of our time, then we should not be teaching round dancing. There is no greater joy than that which comes from service to others. As round dance teachers that must always be the prime return from our efforts.

In summary, we have defined a round dance teacher leader as a person who has the capacity to produce a desire in others to learn to round dance and then assists them to learn the intricacies of the activity while maintaining and enhancing that original desire to learn. We have proposed that any leader must be strong in most of these characteristics: Honest, Competent, Just, Forceful, Humble, Wise, Loyal and Willing to Serve.

The original desire to learn round dancing comes from seeing others enjoying the activity. The desire to learn from you is dependent on your dancing skill and judgment which you demonstrate at area dances and your reputation as a teacher. Your reputation as a teacher is dependent upon how well the people you have trained dance and how strong you are in those leadership characteristics we have enumerated. Your strength in these same leadership characteristics will determine whether you are successful in teaching your students and your ability to retain them in the movement.

Much of what I have presented here has been aimed at preparing you to meet the obligations of the ROUNDALAB Code of Ethics. The basic strength of any profession grows out of a strong code of ethics which is followed religiously by the members of the profession. We have such a code of ethics in ROUNDALAB. If you meed the obligations of that code, you must be Honest, Competent, Just, Forceful, Humble, Wise, Loyal and Willing to Serve. You will be a credit to the Round Dance Teaching Profession.

Roundalab Journal, February, 1983