Niki Tsuraya Yaumi Institut Teknologi Bandung

Leadership is More Like Jazz

“I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra.
But I don’t think that’s quite it; it’s more like jazz. There is more improvisation.” ~ Warren Bennis

That happen when I become the President of Boulevard ITB. It’s a Campus Journalist Club that
manage to publish magazine and developing news web about campus’s life. I was chosen too
young to become a president. But then I realized, age wasn’t an obstacle. The real obstacle is
something more dynamic, it’s the people in the organization itself. There are many different
kind of people that I have to face.

There are three people as the leader of each department to assist my job. In earlier phase, I tried
to build good communication with them. For the first project, we intensively work together to
finish it. Mostly I was just driven them to do their job.

Unfortunately, in a couple of month, one of my head deputy got too busy on her schedule that
leads to low levels of participation. At that moment, I was angry and annoyed by her attitude.
But then I recognize, maybe it’s because I pushed her to much. Like David Harold Fink says,
”People are more easily led than driven.”

Then I consulted with the other two deputy to introspect about how I lead them and how I
interact with every one of them. I found that I have to change a bit of my way in interacting for
each person. After that, I start to improve my way to communicate with every single person in
my organization. To those people who always be passionate with the job, i could give them more
tasks and ask them to do it properly in a serious way. But then, for some people, it will need
humour and encouragement for every step they make to finish their job.

It is clearly seen I can not interact with all these people in same way. The result was not seen
immediately. As time goes by, the improvisation start giving a significant impact. People start to
respect me more. I found it easier to organize or encourage them to do something.

I also tried to changed my way of interacting with new member. I compensate to those who
were dedicated. Also i tried to have a private talking sessions with some of them, to encourage
them and to make sure that they’re feel comfort in this organization. Those actions gave a great
deal of positive outcomes. New members get more fired up to do their job, and jobs can be done
on time.

Still it's a little bit awkward to do something out of my way. But like improvisation in jazz, that's
what make people stick with it and want to hear it more.