Road to Success (Part 2)

Four months to the big performance, my key members were mustered, materials were gathered and I had to plan for the practices and rehersals.

I knew it was not an easy task since I had to train a huge team of performers with varying degrees of talent. Some were very professional and competent in performing, whilst other don't even have a clue. It was worse when I realised that many have stage fright.

Most individuals in the team were very enthusiastic. They wanted to go through the training and emerge as singers at the end of the show (Very ambitious huh?). Being an enthusiastic bunch of people, all they needed was my direction and I made every effort to equip them. Some people argue that to be a singer, you ought to have the right genes! I do not agree with that statement as I always believe one can sing if one is equipped with the right skills. The problem is finding the appreciative target audience. I would probably say singers in heavy metal bands can't sing, but their crowd would say otherwise! Those who think that you ought to have the right genes to do something well do not see the potential and good in people and therefore do not stretch them beyond their comfort zones. I was very focused on the end result and I wanted the team to be praised for a fabulous job done when the show is over. I basically wanted to give them something to remember. As the training progressed, the team members became more confident and they urged themselves to do better. I told them what they needed to do as responsible individuals (know your lyrics and song well, get the diction right, know your dance steps and also learn to listen to each other as you sing). When I was not able to train them, the group practiced amongst themselves. They never skipped a rehersal I planned.

At this point, I was on schedule and I knew I had the right team to realise the dream. My dream team!

That was until I realised that the journey was not as easy as I anticipated. There were a few trouble makers in my team who did not share my dream to build a show with good team effort. They were in it for themselves! They merely wanted to show off their skills and thought they were very competent. I have witnessed their performance prior to this show and I knew I would never do what they did in my show. It was a big failure.

But I was not going to disappoint the team by being an ineffective leader. In other words, I knew what I had to do and I did not want to compromise on the dream we had.

These few members do not share the right motives. It is important to identify them fast so that a leader can take appropriate action. One way was to remove them or I have to convert their motives. A good example is dragon boating. Each member must know the strokes. If there are any weak links, the strongers members will have to share their load and row harder! The best way to deal with the problem is to remove the weak ones and place them on another boat. That way the strong ones can move on and achieve the dream.

I decided on conversion of motives since it is a charity concert and removal was not a conceivable option. To these members, I dealt with them alone discreetly and briefly. I had to confront them and state that if they were not going to take the journey with me, they ought to get off the track. They were included because I wanted a cosmopolitan group but that did not mean they were indispensable. I did not want them to have an adverse impact on the morale of my team or turn their dreams into a nightmare (just because I was not capable of handling the weakest links).

The game show " the weakest link" shows that stronger members do know who are the weakest links and would either help them or wait for their removal. The stronger members were not helping them (the weakest links were weak because of their wrong motives). They were waiting for me to deal with them! Otherwise they would and I would have lost my credibility as a leader. To be successful, the team must ensure that each member is "perfect" in their role and have the right motives and attitude for the journey.

Next journal entry, I will cover steps on how we realised the Dream.