Heitfetz Time Out From The Fance Floor

While you are in the midst of the dance moving in close rhythm with your partner and with people swirling.

Heitfetz time out from the fance floor.

When on the dance floor the observation may be very different from when on the balcony. Kennedy school of government. Observing sharing information asking questions listening deeply and making constant adjustments. Heifetz often draws on the metaphor of the dance floor and the balcony.

Getting off the dance floor and on the balcony managers and leaders have to take themselves out of the fray to understand what s really going on. It s summer a good time to reflect on getting to the balcony above the dance floor this provocative metaphor is ronald heifetz s way of challenging leaders to balance immediate action the dance floor with larger deeper perspective the balcony. By doing so you can see the patterns and the flow of your employees working better than when they are right in front of you. The dance floor balcony analogy comes from ron heifetz alexander grashow marty linsky s outstanding book the practice of adaptive leadership harvard business press.

The work of heifetz. The analogy of being on a dance floor being part of the action makes it difficult for leaders to see who isn t technically dancing or who is moving in the wrong direction. For the past twenty years he has generated critical works that have influenced leadership theory in every domain. A congregation can look like noisy activity on a dance floor some members are into line dancing.

With only four players on the floor jackson quickly called another time out and substituted an excellent passer. M in their book leadership on the line encourage leaders to get on the balcony and adopt adaptive leadership. One must develop the ability to move back and forth as required from the balcony to the dance floor. In adaptive leadership this ability to perceive observe and intervene is often described as moving continually between a dance floor and a balcony.

Ron heifetz professor at harvard university and author of leadership without easy answers made the point that leaders periodically need to get off the dance floor and get up on the balcony. Their book outlines the adaptive leadership model which in my opinion is the most robust and well suited leadership framework for leading in a changing world. Ronald heifetz is the king hussein bin talal senior lecturer in public leadership at harvard university s john f. I m out said pippen miffed that he was not tapped to take the final shot.

Ron heifetz and his co authors in their excellent book the practice of adaptive leadership see my earlier post presented this vivid and easy to remember visual image which they apply to the process of leadership development.