Relationships in a Symphony
June 8, 2023
Written by Melinda Whitley, Master of Arts in Conflict Management student
Relationships in a symphony can be much like a corporate setting. Whitley examines her experience in the symphonic industry appearing more like a corporate setting than an outsider would perceive.
I keep being reminded of how corporate my industry has become. Recently, I wrote about the organizational structure of my own non-profit workplace, and how that interfaces with our management. Since then, some newer colleagues have told me that before they started their job, they had no idea what kinds of things happened behind the scenes, not to mention the unique challenges they might encounter. Today I’d like to take a look at one type of challenge so many industries seem to be been facing this year, including my own industry in the performing arts.
With so much varied activity in our city, it’s easy to believe we foster general inclusiveness, but is that really true? Here in Nashville, we have our own well-worn traditions and industry practices that are constantly honored for their deep history and longevity. My own symphonic industry is no different.
In order to maintain traditions and industry practices, new employees have to know they exist and then choose to honor them. This doesn’t happen by accident. Not only do we have to teach them to our new colleagues, but we have to include them actively on the team. None of us advanced in our careers with only a few technical or historical presentations to internalize on our own time, or by being left alone to figure things out. If you ask most of us how or why we chose to follow a particular career path, we’ll likely tell you about being inspired by the working relationships we experienced along the way.
But we can just as easily become uninspired. We can feel excluded or marginalized, even downright unwelcome. Those feelings are not limited to one group of people like the newest employees. They can just as easily be felt by others overwhelmed by change. In my recent study of systems theory, I’ve learned that too much change or stress can destabilize a system and cause seemingly unrelated problems. To address some problems in our workplaces, we have federal laws protecting employees from many types of discrimination. Some workplaces, like my own, also have a human resources department and an active labor union, and with the agreement of the union, establish workplace policies that address other behaviors often appearing in stressful times. These laws and policies can go a long way towards promoting professionalism and self-awareness.
However, it’s normal under stress to react from an emotional place. When we, in any industry, face extra scarce resources, the competition for those resources can distract us and cause us to forget the importance of our individual professionalism and self-awareness, both on and off the proverbial stage in our workplaces. That’s not an excuse, but it’s normal human behavior.
Sometimes in order to grow as a group, we need to feel discomfort. We need to look at our own behavior and allow others to do the same in a supportive environment. Many industries are currently experiencing a massive change in personnel.
“The Great Resignation” we’ve all heard about has hit our city hard. The hospitality and food industries have especially suffered. The entire music industry has taken a big hit too. From artists to managements, my workplace is no different. We are all slowly coming back from a very difficult post-pandemic time, but right now, many of us have so many vacancies at our workplaces, that this moment is full of issues we’re not accustomed to handling.
Vacant positions help no one in the long-term. Someone has to get the job done, regardless of what the job is. The risk of burning out a team with too many vacancies is real and the results of trying for too long to persevere can be counterproductive. I have yet to meet someone trying to fill a vacancy that does not have a very detailed idea of what is needed, and a plan for how to execute filling a position permanently. We can all be proud when our hiring processes are clear in purpose and designed for fairness and the reduction of bias, but that often doesn’t help us fill multiple vacancies quickly.
I suspect many of us are accustomed to experiencing few vacancies in a year. Due to events outside our influence, like the pandemic, many companies currently have multiple openings and can not possibly fill them quickly enough to ignore the effects on their team. At my job, we have teams missing half their staff including important leadership roles, and that is unprecedented. Some of our smaller teams have had to perform regularly with only 1/3 of it’s members being permanent employees. This is not normal for us and I don’t know of many places that work well when missing so many key personnel.
In my job, we’re lucky that the pool of qualified people interested in working with us is so deep. We’re fortunate to have filled our large and unusual number of vacancies with many long and short-term temporary personnel. We’re lucky that working with us gives those temporary employees something they want and need as well. It’s a complementary relationship and all relationships sometimes need a little extra care.
“We are stronger together” is an idea that has stood the test of time and can be loosely traced back to Aristotle. Remembering to take a moment in stressful times to seek professionalism and self-awareness helps us all to safeguard the strength of our togetherness. Not only do these practices deepen our connections with each other, but they cross the proverbial fourth wall to our customers and wider communities. They strengthen our performances in all types of jobs here in Nashville and beyond. Who knows which temporary relationship may turn into something more permanent at a later time.
Lipscomb University's Institute for Conflict Management offers two program options- a Master of Arts in Conflict Management or a 15-credit Graduate Certificate in Conflict Management. Courses equip students with the knowledge and systems to approach conflict from multiple perspectives.
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