Earlier this month, RADA Business, the training partner of the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, announced that it is seeing marked increases in sales of its leadership open courses. Reporting that take-up was up 23% in the quarter to May, it said it had seen an even bigger rise — 41% — in the quarter just ending. It attributed this to topics such as equity, diversity and inclusion, workplace dynamics and how to connect with colleagues becoming increasingly important as organizations adjust to new ways of working. Apparently, among the issues most cited by business professionals seeking help are increasing confidence, preventing burnout and managing difficult conversations. These views were echoed by Alison Sutherland, client director at RADA Business, who said: “Being a leader requires a raft of skillsets in today’s complex era of working: you need to be able to effectively manage and motivate your team who may be working hybrid, communicate clearly and compellingly as well as help set strategic direction and be the mouthpiece for the organization to the outside world.”
At a time when the arts are under some pressure — not least because in many cases they were closed down by the pandemic, but also because of an increasingly narrow view of what education should look like — it is interesting that business appears to believe it can obtain something from one of the world’s most renowned drama schools that it cannot get from more traditional learning and development providers.
But, then, performance today is more critical than it has ever been and actors and the technicians who work alongside them know that better than anyone. When you are center stage there is no room for being below par. In the parlance of the day, it is essential that everybody gives their best version of themselves every day.
RADA Business, which has been delivering its courses for two decades and uses profits from them to support the training of actors and associated workers, has a particular focus on developing leadership skills. As Sutherland noted, being a leader can be overwhelming and daunting. But she was encouraged that more leaders appeared to be keen to develop their skills beyond the technical towards a greater understanding of people skills.
Maybe it is just the opportunity to get a glimpse of how the world works beyond the office that does the trick. I was recently fortunate enough to be able to watch the London Symphony Orchestra rehearse for a concert. As one would expect from the members of one of the leading classical ensembles in the world, the playing was exemplary. But when Sir Simon Rattle stepped up to lead proceedings a few minutes in, it was if everybody had stepped up a gear. Not only did the playing appear to be just that little bit sharper, but Rattle had — while listening from the back of the auditorium — picked up on little areas that could be improved. Small changes of emphasis here and there — and all communicated in a fashion that was not authoritarian at all but the epitome of collegiate, with no sense of grandness from Rattle and plenty of input from the leaders within the musicians. The performance later that day would, of course, have been fine without these interventions. But with them it was taken to another level. As the sports coaches like to say, it’s all about fine margins. And the art of leadership is finding them.
