As the American Choral Directors Association anticipates our biennial National Leadership Conference in early June, our thinking is focused on innovation.
As I try to describe our mission and work in a single line, this is what I come up with: “We evoke sounds through a community of singers for the satisfaction of unique human emotional needs.” In other words, as choral directors, we perform a role that matters in society because of the fundamental inner life needs of fellow humans.
In 2011, the GE Corporation conducted a survey in which they interviewed a thousand senior business executives in twelve countries on the topic of innovation. The most remarkable findings of this survey were the kinds of innovation these leaders think will be most important in the future. 77 percent agreed that “the greatest innovations of the 21st century will be those that have helped to address human needs more than those that had created the most profit…” The common denominator between my work and the results of this survey comes in the action of satisfying human needs.
It is the opinion of business leaders and that of leaders in many areas that innovation is critically needed in our present and future thinking. Joel Podolny, vice president of human resources at Apple and dean of Apple University, explains, “Succeeding through creation often requires innovation—figuring out how to put together and add value to things that just weren’t there before.” For me, this is the challenge to our work and the mission of ACDA in the 21st century related to the choral profession.
Innovation is a mindset. However, it is more than simply declaring the desire to be innovative. In order to be innovative, we have to think innovatively.
• Thinking innovatively requires that we have empathy for those we serve, imagining the world through multiple perspectives.
• Thinking innovatively requires integrating parts of a problem toward a breakthrough innovative solution.
• Thinking innovatively requires optimistic thinking, knowing that there is at least one breakthrough idea that will be a solution.
• Thinking innovatively requires experimentation, or a process of trial and error as we think through various solutions.
• Thinking innovatively requires collaborative thinking, drawing from the skills and knowledge of others and not relying solely on oneself.
A dashboard of innovation would look like this: Empathy, Integration, Optimism, Experimentation, Collaboration. As our ACDA leadership meets soon in Minneapolis, we hope to view our responsibilities through these filters as we move toward innovation in carrying out our work.
Tim Sharp says
Hi Stephanie, Thank you for your comment and for your innovative idea for R&R (our membership has renamed this area R&R for “Repertoire and Resources” from the former R&S which was “Repertoire and Standards”. We are all for “standards”, but our new outlook reflects we need help with “resources” rather than the idea of setting some sort of “standard” for something like, say, Prison Choirs, etc.). Now, a State can indeed designate an R&R area as “Prison Choir R&R”, or what may be more inclusive, something like a “Social Care R&R”. Go to it!! Tim Sharp
Jean Sturm says
Thank you Tim for the link to the audio of Naxos.
It is a real blessing to listen to it.
I will link it to the Musica International Facebook page soon…
Cheers
Jean
Tim Sharp says
Greetings, Jean! It is good to hear from you in France. Thank you for your comment. This addition is one of many we have planned for our upgraded ChoralNet presence. And, thank you for all you do to make Musica such a rich resource for all of us! Best wishes, Tim
Stephanie Henry says
Tim, I think your “dashboard” of ACDA focus is right in line with all that is happening in the world of singing and choral music today. In the event you ever decide to have a “prison” R&S chair, let me know.