Years ago I disagreed with a decision made by the audition committee of the professional orchestra in which I played. Our viola group had not been officially consulted about whether or not to continue the trial period of a prospective leader. Opinions were, at first glance, divided.
In order to give every group member the chance to be heard, I asked us all to gather in our lunch break. One colleague said, bruskly: “WHO wants us to gather?” I said: “I do.”
We still had to finish our morning rehearsal session, and I thought “Oh no. How am I going to handle this?”
At the meeting, I took a paper and pencil. I said: I want to talk about this decision. You all know my opinion but I do not know all of yours. I want to go around the group and ask you to voice your opinion. I will write it down and read it back to you, so that you know I have understood it. Then we will vote yes or no.”
In this way, everyone’s idea was heard, the final vote was 6 to 6, and the original decision stood. But, to my surprise, by taking my opinion completely OUT of the discussion, I have never felt as strongly PRESENT!
Browse Front PageShare Your IdeaComments
Read Elephant’s Best Articles of the Week here.
Readers voted with your hearts, comments, views, and shares:
Click here to see which Writers & Issues Won.
