[Today’s post is written Aubrey McGowan. Aubrey is a worship pastor at Hope Fellowship and blogs over at Artist’s Permission Slip.]
Have you led an artistic person before? You probably know the struggle all too well.
As worship leaders, we are in contact with so many musicians who embody the traditional definition of artist.
They are brilliant, creative, skilled, talented, and yes, emotional. Artists are very engrossed and connected to their work.
This results in passion for their art, but also taking criticism or feedback very personally.
How do I know this? Because I am an artist.
Confessions of an Artist Leading Artists
In my current role as a worship pastor, I have also become a leader of artists. Leading a team of artists can be challenging, to say the least.
If you’re not confident in how to lead them, you can begin to feel like you are walking on egg shells trying to carefully avoid hurt feelings. The not so “artsy” members of your team can suffer if the free-spirits continue to rule your rehearsals and services without any accountability.
It’s a tightrope we have to walk. On one side, you can create so much rigidity that you drive away the talent and skill you need to create something truly great and go to the next level.
On the other side, a healthy ministry will grow in size and complexity. That will require some structure that artists may not be used to. So, here we are, up on a tightrope. And tightropes are not easy to walk on.
Andy Stanley calls this “a tension that must be managed.” It is not going away. In fact, you don’t want it to go away. It’s like the tension of a stringed instrument that creates potential for the sound of beautiful music.
It is what you want, but it is also your most difficult challenge as a worship leader. Some weeks I walk this wire like a pro while at other times I lose my balance.
Here some thoughts on leading artists well:
5 Ways To Lead Artists Well
1. Recognize Their Value – You need artists. They are the ones who will continue to inject life into what otherwise may become a dead ritual. Your team needs the spontaneity and the creative energy that they bring. Don’t let their tardiness or lack of preparedness totally overshadow their contribution. Coach them on those important areas but continue to see and recognize the positive. Brainstorm with them early. Then take their ideas or creations and implement them across the whole team.
2. Lose the “Bad Guy” Complex – Don’t let their sensitivity keep you from honesty. I used to feel like I always had to be the bad guy. I was the one bringing the jam sessions to an end. I was the one who had to confront a team member because they didn’t come prepared. As a leader, I have struggled with this. I want to be part of the party. I want to be everyone’s friend, but I also realize that I am accountable for excellence.
When I look at my own journey as an artist, the people I am most thankful for are the ones who were willing to be honest with me. They were willing to endure my sensitivity and defensiveness to speak the truth. Sometimes it was a gentle correction and other times it was a critical “fork in the road” conversation. The artists you lead need to know where they stand. This is not being the bad guy, this is being a good leader.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Challenge Them – Artists need to be challenged. It’s how they innovate. Most artists do their best work when there is a healthy amount of pressure. Left to our own natural tendencies, we artists can slip away into daydreaming, depression, and procrastination. What we really need is a challenge that scares us – a challenge that stretches us just beyond what we think is possible.
Here are some ideas:
- Involve them in the creative process for your events.
- Give them an opportunity to lead something.
- Challenge them to come 30 minutes before rehearsal for the next month.
- Challenge them to practice more.
- Challenge them to pray.
These are just a few ideas to challenge your artists to rise a little higher.
4. Help Them Build Systems – Sometimes being a free spirit is truly about being an innovative artist. Sometimes it is just plain immaturity. As leaders, we have to prayerfully consider what is an issue of maturity and what is an aspect of artistry. It is our responsibility to help them learn to see it too. Don’t be afraid to teach them how to build systems to manage tasks and schedules. Train them how to do the most important tasks first and get them out of the way so they can be truly free to create. Help them to see how these kinds of systems can help them serve others while making their art better.
5. Don’t Beat Them. Join Them – As a leader of artists it is easy to dig your heels into systems and processes as the solution to all of your team’s problems. While better organizational structure is vital, it is not everything. Every once in a while, you need to go down one of their rabbit trails with them. Join in on the jam session. Break away from your desk to have a dance party in the hallway. If you always fight them, free-spirits will make you old before your time. If you join them every once in a while, they will keep you young.
We’d love to hear from you. What are the issues you face in leading other artist and being an artist who is led?
Let’s dialogue about this as I know there can be crazy frustration on both sides.
Join us in the comments! You can leave a comment by clicking here.
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
Yep. Growing up together is worthwhile work, and bearable this walk is when done with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I work in a government office setting that challenges my randomness. Jesus started going to work with me everyday and mostly he is helping me put on my big girl pants and learn more and more to do all things to His Excellence, without grumbling or disputing. He gives us a new song, the One the never ever ends 🙂
It’s good that God uses us and teaches us in different circumstances. I know I’ve been stretched in both artsy (and some not so artsy) settings 🙂 Thanks Rhonda!
Yes, I am feeling this tension right now. Trying to be understanding and “sensitive” to my team yet struggling to keep my expectations intact. Requirements are always being challenged and they really are NOT unrealistic: Come to practice prepared, Know your parts, work at home. Sometimes it’s hard getting some to come to practice! And then asking them to know their parts is unreliable. I’m thinking of making a new “rule”: If you don’t come to practice that week, you don’t sing or play on Sunday. I have a small team so i would be the one who suffers the most (meaning, I may be singing alone!) But I feel this “rule” may be necessary to keep the standard high. Any thoughts on this?
Louise, it’s a difficult tension to manage, but I think often by excusing people’s tardiness or lack of preparedness over and over we allow them to continue a lifestyle of putting themselves first. And that’s not just a condition of bad musician ettiquette. That is a heart condition. I don’t think it is out of bounds at all to create the expectation you are talking about. I would just make sure before you do it to set up the expectation for about a month or so. Make sure they have enough time (but not too much) to process it and prepare for it. Take that time in that month to gather them together and cast the vision that coming prepared and showing up are ways that we can truly serve each other and be more like Christ. If you make the expectation clear and connect it to the vision, then when you hold them accountable it is not taken as a personal attack. Be full of grace, but also abounding in love. As a shepherd leader, ofetn that love comes in the form of real accountability.
One final thought, I always tell my team that every one of us is a worship leader so we need to all prepare like we are going to lead. This causes a paradigm shift in the way they think about rehearsing.
David, has some great stuff on this as well.
https://www.davidsantistevan.com/how-to-plan-for-a-great-rehearsal/
You’re heading in the right direction, Louise.
David, it is like you are in our church. I am confronting right now with this struggle. It is very hard to keep the team motivated to work at home, to come prepared, to be leader in front of the congregation.
I thought that this is hapening only to me. I do take criticism like being personal. Especially if it comes from the persons that are less involved in the team, from the persons that are not working at home at all, but have something to say at the last rehearsal.
I am glad that we are normal. This is the way it goes. Still. I am willing to make a change. I am ready to be used by God in any way He considers.
Thank you for your blog. I think that I already told you that you encouraged me to start one in Romanian language. I discovered that I have so many thoughts that must be written, so other can discover new things.
Be blessed!
Marius, do you live in Romania? and If so what church do you attend? I have friends there who are missionaries.