Waltzing – A Metaphor for Leadership?
Have you ever decided to do something new? Something that you have never done before? Recently I took a waltzing class. In the past, I’ve been willing to “wing it” as best as I could and sometimes I got away with it. This time I thought I might as well learn how to waltz properly.
As our instructor told us – the leaders dance and the followers fly. The way this happens is that when leaders take their steps, followers hesitate slightly to know where the leader is going and follow. Doing this creates a beautiful scenario of dancing and flying together.
In the last class, the instructor asked the followers to close our eyes and let the leaders lead. This required following regardless of the steps or moves made. It requires, that despite directions by the instructor, we follow the leader as they take us around the floor in ways that are clear and obvious to them. Sometimes that means taking shorter steps, and there can be missteps. It is the role of the follower to follow the leader and avoid correcting their steps. The leader sees things the follower does not, and knows where and how they want to move around the room. In our class we rotate leaders so there are constant changes in styles and directions. We are all supposed to be doing the same things with the same instructions. That rarely happens.
Sometimes the follower acts as a leader, or an active assistant. This happens during a “backwards passing change.” Both leaders and followers adjust smoothly knowing that they both have important roles to play as they move across the floor. Leaders lead most of the time, however, there are situations when the follower leads.
As you dance, you may have stepped on the feet of your partner. I certainly have, and been stepped on. In order to avoid doing this, it is important for each person to lean more left than center of each other. So one hand becomes a pressure point with theirs and the other hand is on the leader’s shoulder, while their hand becomes a pressure point on the follower’s scapula. All of this is a way for you to move gently together detecting the next direction, all without speaking.
Throughout our course the instructor is watching, correcting, assisting, and congratulating. When learning something new, a guide is important because what we observe and think we know from watching is often different from actually doing it. A professional coach can be just that guide as you learn new skills and become comfortable with new roles (leading and following, rarely do you do only one of these) and steps. It’s time to dance and fly!
