PACE - April 2024
How do I use leadership skills in PACE lessons?
Here are 6 important leadership skills students learn from participating in Physical education and performing arts (Drama and Music) that can be applied to many roles and careers – even outside of performing arts and sport.
1. Persistence
In PE, Music and Drama, performing arts are all about persistence and timing.
Sometimes it can take three or more auditions or trials to get to where you want to be as a performer. At the end of each audition or trial you may think, “this is my time,” and then not receive the role or position, because they didn’t need your height range, body size or skill set.
Each time you make it through the trial or audition you learn something new. Each and every role you have, no matter how “irrelevant” it may seem at the time, prepares you in some way. As a performer, it takes persistence to stay positive and continue to strive for your goals even when things get difficult. This determination is an important skill that is relevant to any leadership position.
2. Giving and Receiving Feedback
Knowing how to receive feedback well is a difficult skill to learn, but one that performers need to practice on a regular basis. In the sports or performing arts, you are challenged to receive constructive feedback without taking it personally. Often, performers need to interpret and apply feedback quickly to alter position or their interpretation of a role in the moment. This quick reception of feedback and flexibility in performance is extremely useful in almost any role where feedback is given to improve your performance.
Learning how to give feedback is equally as important as receiving it. Learning how to give feedback will help you to lead and instil trust in others.
3. Quick Thinking
Improvisation is not just a skill that is useful in the sports or performing arts to devise a tactical play, a creative sketch or tune. Being able to think fast on your feet and be present in the moment is something that is transferrable across many different leadership roles.
4. Preparation
Preparation and a good warm up will set you up for success – no matter what role you are in. A skilled performer does not wait till the day of their trial or audition to put in the preparation work. If you have done the prep work far enough in advance to prepare your game, choreography, monologue or song, you’ll feel much more confident and show readiness even before you walk onto the stage/field.
All you will need is a quick warm up before your performance to prepare your mind and body. Knowing what your body and mind need to warm up every day is something that is useful no matter what field you are in. Performers excel in putting in the prep work to be mentally and physically prepared for the day’s events.
5. Self-Confidence
Training in the area of sport and performing arts can instil a sense of discipline and confidence that can transition into being a leader. The sports and entertainment industry are difficult because you see so many talented people and may begin to doubt yourself. It challenges you to be confident in yourself, your craft and what you are going to pursue to make the best of it. You have to trust your own gut and pursue what your heart wants so that your confidence and passion shine through. Whether those roots started by practicing posture and poise in ballet, tone in choir or rhythm in orchestra, the discipline practiced to gain confidence in your skills can apply as a leader in many areas of life.
6. Active Listening
One of the best skills a leader can have is their ability to be a good listener. In performance, much of your work relies on what is happening around you. Listening is essential to build a relationship with other players, coaches, characters in your scene or game or to make sure you hit your cue for your entrance. As active listeners, performers are building skills that make them better leaders who attend to the concerns of their team.
Sports and performing arts prepares students to do more than just play, act, sing, dance or play an instrument. The leadership abilities that performers learn are important life skills that can be applied across many opportunities and disciplines.