From the Balcony?

Ron Heifitz of Harvard makes the distinction between the ‘dance-floor’ and the ‘balcony’. For leaders, being on the dance-floor is often more inviting and comfortable than being on the balcony. Why? Well, it was on the dance-floor where they first got noticed; it is on the dance-floor where they excelled; it is on the dance-floor where their reputation was forged and it is the dance-floor that offers the familiar, the comfortable. But, it is from the balcony where the patters are to be seen; It is the balcony that provides the perspective that leaders require. Getting to the balcony can be hard work and as one leader I chatted to recently put it, “It seems that all I spend my time doing is running up and down the stairs between the dance-floor and the balcony!”

Sharon Parks in Leadership Can Be Taught wrote, “To exercise leadership you need to build a systematic framework that will yield a bigger picture and give you access to a larger field of understanding and action.”

To do this one needs to be on the balcony. Leaders need to be on the balcony if they are to lead effectively. There simply is no other choice.

This aim of this blog is to offer a view from the balcony!

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