This article talks about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and their model of creating a sense of mission, vision, and purpose. It’s an interesting read. I’m not sure it totally translates to the rest of the world…I wonder whether the model is repeatable outside of the community that it comes from (though not to cast an dispersions on the incredible impact the organization has, or the level of it’s accomplishments). But still, the lessons are good ones, and certainly proivde me with some insight into how I might lead my chorus to new things. It certainly helps to have some world class organiztional folks behind you. The infastructure alone is remarkable. I think the most remarkable thing for me (aside from the remarkable organization and the clearly huge budget), is the sense of purpose and mission that everyone who is a part of the organization feels. It’s inspiring.
Tonight was the first meeting of my community chamber choir. We are a good group: auditioned, mostly music teachers, professors, or folks with music degrees or currently pursuing degrees. We read through some new music, and we sounded darn good (better than last year in fact). At some point in the middle of rehearsal I looked around and saw all these people – some whom I’d only recently met, some who I’ve known since they were in middle school, a few whom had been in the chorus for decades – and I had this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness sweep over me. Here were people following me, but more importantly, following the vision of the organization. I just felt so lucky to be a part of it tonight.
I think in some small way, the singers in my community group feel the way they do about this group in a similar fashion to the folks interviewed about the MTC. I guess I feel pretty lucky that we’ve got a healthy vision and common purpose. We recently hired a new Executive Director, who is all fired up to take us to new places. The future is bright.
How is your vision? Are the singers a part of it, or are they still finding their way? How hard has it been to create, nurture and grow that vision? Have you achieved your goals? What now?
Richard Sparks says