The Individual andThe Context

Being a problem solver by nature, I decided that I was going to come up with a solution to remedy the lack of creative community in my life. After completing the Leadership Trait Questionnaire exercise (Northouse, 2013, p. 90), I was reminded of some qualities that I had that would be well suited for finding and facilitating a solution; primarily, self-confidence, determination, and empathy. I told myself that if this was something I missed and valued it was up to me to figure out a way of connecting again.

I wanted to create a community that could encourage song writing and vulnerability within the confines of a safe intentional community. I also wanted to allow for flexibility with time commitments. With all of the technology at our fingertips I thought there had to be a way to come together and create this digitally. All in all, I figured I needed an accessible solution for long distance audio sharing and group discussion. This was a perfect example of a technical AND adaptive challenge. Northouse defines these challenges as “clearly defined but do not have distinct straightforward solutions within the existing organizational system” (p.399). It was my responsibility to build a system that would allow for all the theoretical needs I mentioned above and work seamlessly on a technical level. That all-encompassing technical solution ended up being a WhatsApp group chat. It was familiar software that permitted us to interact in a comfortable way and facilitated the file storage and organization necessary for music sharing.

My leadership needed to extend past the technical though. In order to build intentional community, I needed to be the first participant to be vulnerable and try things that I had never done before (like singing without vocal editing). This pulled on the self-confidence/self-assurance aspects from my LTQ results. I also needed to lean on empathy (something that has not been natural and required a lot of work to nurture) and be prepared to celebrate with my friends whatever it was that they were willing to be trusting and vulnerable enough to share with me.

I decided on an inverse form of Situational Leadership Theory to choose the participants for this idea that I honestly had no idea if it would work. Northouse states; “the situational approach demands that leaders match their style to the competence and commitment of the followers.” (Northouse, p. 167) In this case I knew how I wanted to lead so it was crucial that I find participants (followers) who would be able to match this style.

I named it the #8barchallenge and this is the invitation I sent out to 8 of my friends who I felt would fit perfectly:

"#8barchallenge is a creative community building exercise where we write and record 8 bars of new music/ideas every two days for two weeks. We use WhatsApp to share our pieces and then compliment/comment on each other’s music. Then at the end we get together for wings and drinks and talk about the music/experience.The point of it is to get into a habit of just trying stuff, then getting over insecurity of sharing, then learning how to find good in everyone’s piece and how to communicate creative encouragement."

Interaction and Character

Once I had the objective, the system, and the people in place I had to let go of being the “leader” and become a participant. Although, because of the experimental nature of this project and the people participating with me we all had to become leaders in a sense. Everyone knew that we were in it to inspire community, creativity, and vulnerability in each other, but they also knew that I had chosen them as guinea pigs and wanted to build something bigger than this one instance. This is where the concept of Team Leadership came into play. In order for this to work everyone had to now take leadership into their own hands and work independently to come together collectively.

The first day everyone seemed excited and also a little uncertain. Not everyone in the group had access to recording equipment, or were great singers or instrumentalists, so there seemed to be some nerves about quality (mentioned to me in side conversations). But after I submitted my short song a few more texts came through with more songs. I then made it a goal to find something that I found truly interesting in each piece and comment on it; “that chord progression was unpredictable in the best way, and the bass line even more so! Love that you got autobiographical with the lyrics.” After that everyone seemed to catch on and we really had an amazing time creating and sharing with each other. To tie this aspect back to the Team Leadership model, I found our team successfully met Larson and LaFasto’s eight (applicable) characteristics of team excellence (p. 537):

Clear, elevating goal – create 8 bars of new music every other day for two weeks

Results-driven structure – once the music is completed, comment on others work

Competent team members – (this one is self-explanatory)

Unified commitment – each person was committed and on time with submissions

Collaborative climate – WhatsApp created a space to effectively interact

Standards of excellence – excellence was found in simply completing the task

External support and recognition – N/A

Principled leadership – I tried to be the first to submit and the first to comment on others offerings

On top of the Team Leadership, I feel that we collectively also demonstrated Transformational Leadership. Northouse says that “authentic transformational leadership is socialized leadership, which is concerned with the collective good. Socialized transformational leaders transcend their own interests for the sake of others” (p. 265). With everyone placing value in my dream for a creative, vulnerable community, it was easy to put down our guards to create a feeling of safety for everyone else involved. Transformational leadership wants to help its followers achieve their fullest potential. In our case, I feel like that full potential was achieved.

Hopes for theFuture

At the end of the two weeks, we all got together for wings and beers and talked about the experience. Everyone was very positive and felt that the mission of creating an online community that shared vulnerability and community was a success. There were some suggestions on things to try, like maybe do it over three weeks next time, but overall, they felt like it was a solid model that could be replicated and expanded upon. Then we went to a local recording studio and made music together. It was our first time playing together but all the relationship and trust we created over the previous two weeks made it feel like we’d been playing together for years.

When I attempt to put all of this in perspective, I find that all I really want to do is make space for my kids to grow up into an environment that promotes vulnerability and creativity. Most of the western world’s value in creative arts is purely transactional, but for me it’s therapeutic. It’s life giving. As I reflect on how this process made me feel personally, I truly felt like that lack of communal artistic expression I had been feeling has been remedied. Not only can I continue to put on more #8barchalleges, I can also take the model and adapt it to other creative hobbies of mine as well (I’m particularly excited about the potential of a photography challenge). In the immediate future though, I have another #8barchallenge planned (after exams), and we’re starting an open mic night with this same collective vulnerability model. Where the only people who are at the open mic are the people who are also willing to be vulnerable and share their songs as well. This PLC has truly been a foundational learning tool on how to lead and create community with people around me.

Here are some of the pieces we created over the two weeks.

References

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (Eighth Edition). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications