“Braving Trust” is the third of four parts in Dare To Lead. I personally think of trust as one of the most important areas of work in a choral ensemble, so I was delighted to reach this short and valuable chapter.
This article will unpack the chapter, discuss its implications specifically for choral leaders, and then ask you the questions I’ve been asking myself as I read.
Trust is the Glue
“Trust is the glue that holds teams and organizations together. We ignore trust issues at the expense of our own performance, and the expense of our team’s and organization’s success.” (222)
I think that trust is one of the most important elements to creating a cohesive, musically potent ensemble. It’s only when your ensemble members trust each other, and trust you as their choral leader, that they will excel in their music-making. No individual will ever, for example, sing a subito fortissimo completely committed unless they trust the ensemble members around them to do the same.
As Dr. Brown says, “Trust is the stacking of small moments over time, something that cannot be summoned with a command–there are either marbles in the jar or there are not.” (232) It’s vital as choral leaders that we exemplify the trust-building behaviors and facilitate the building of trust in our singers.
BRAVING Inventory
Dr. Brown defines an inventory of seven behaviors that you can use to assess and rumble around trust for your choral team. Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability, Vault, Integrity, Nonjudgement, Generosity: as Dr. Brown defines them, these are the critical elements of a trustworthy individual and a trust-centered team.
Honestly, I thought about highlighting and expanding on one or two of these behaviors that apply particularly to choral situations, but I think they’re really a package deal. Integrity feels particularly crucial to me, universally; Nonjudgement I’ll address below as being particularly fraught in a choral environment; Generosity is something I see students have consistent issues with, particularly when coupled with the preponderance of shame and lack of self-trust in student populations.
I’ll be taking a deep look at the BRAVING Inventory and considering a possible worksheet specifically for choral situations.
Integrity Partner
“Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.” (227) “The perception of a lack of [integrity] or even a tendency to cut corners, creates instant wariness.” (227)
Dr. Brown proposes the strategy of finding an integrity partner– “someone at work who we can check in with to make sure we’re acting into our integrity.” (227) I think this can work exceedingly well in the choral environment on two levels.
First, as choral leaders, we are often solitary – the only choral leader in our building or even community. Having an integrity partner would go a long way towards enhancing your sense of community and diminishing isolation. Possible integrity partners might include: accompanist, band/orchestra colleague, section leader, board president/member, fellow educator from a different building, or a colleague from another school district or organization.
Second, we can define or encourage integrity partners in our students. This is something I’ll be experimenting with this year to improve commitment to personal practice time – a single person you’re checking in with to compare notes on your practice regimen and to encourage and receive encouragement.
Nonjudgement/Asking for Help
“Asking for help is a power move. It’s a sign of strength to ask and a sign of strength to fight off judgement when other people raise their hands.” (229) You’d think this would be obvious in a classroom/choral situation, but I think singers often are reticent to ask the questions they need to ask. Creating an environment where singers can ask a choral leader, or ask each other, for help in a nonjudgemental space could be a game-changer in improving the artistry of the ensemble.
Furthermore, as Dr. Brown notes, “When we refuse to ask for help, we will find that wee keep getting the same projects that leaders know we can do.” (228) As choral leaders we can fall into the trap of not adequately pushing our singers when we don’t have an environment where they show their ability to stretch and grow by asking questions.
Questions
Do you have a trusted integrity partner with whom you regularly check in? What does that relationship look like?
How can you facilitate nonjudgement and asking for help in your choral students?
“Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.” How do you establish your integrity in the choral rehearsal? Can you think of a situation where you undermined your perceived integrity, and what the consequences were?
“Self-trust is one of the first casualties when we fail or experience disappointment or setbacks.” (233) How do you maintain self-trust when experiencing the inevitable falls and failures of being a choral leader?
What is your most reliable strategy for encouraging, building, and maintaining trust among the members of your choral team?
We’re almost to the end! We’ll look at Part 4 of Dare To Lead, “Learning to Rise” on August 5, and then have some final reflections and tools posted on August 12.