A is the head of a drama group that is taking part in a national drama competition. A is a good leader and has good management qualities. However, A is a person who is unable to accept criticism. During their many trainings many of the group members felt that A was not grasping his lead role well. They felt that he was not bringing out the character in the right way.
Then there is B, a new member to the team and also taking part with them in the competition doing a main role as well. Having worked with A for sometime, he understood that it was difficult to approach A and tell him that his acting was not good due to several reasons. Firstly, due to A's personality. Secondly, due to the fact that B is new to the team and does not have as much experience as A in acting.
Time is running out; someone needs to tell A. No one in the team has the guts to approach A and most of them are not bothered about the competition. However, B wants to win. How do you think B can approach and tell A?
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Tactfully ask A why has his performance drop from his usual standard. In this way, A would have to ask where B thinks he has underperformed. This would give B the opening he needs to explain his view. This would also protect B as he did not openly state that A was bad but rather not as good as before, a sort of pacifying method if you may.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I would suggest that B takes a "politically correct" method to persuade A to improve on his acting.
Hi Jay!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a real tough one.
One solution is, B could ask A and the other members for their opinions to his acting.
After A has finished expressing his or her views on B's acting, B should take the chance to first make some positive remarks on A's acting, and then subtly suggest that he has a sudden new approach of portraying A's role.
Hopefully, A, being a good leader, will take B's suggestion into consideration and improvise on his or her acting.
I think it is really up to B to phrase his words in a respectful manner, but on the other hand, it is up to A to learn to take criticism into his stride. It is important for a leader to be a good listerner to his followers, aside from being a good speaker for his followers.
cheers,
wanyee
Dear Jay,
ReplyDeleteHmm I do not think A will be a good leader if he cannot accept criticism. So all decisions will have to be made by him and no one is supposed to disagree with him.
I think first thing is to motivate the rest of the members on about this competition. This could be done through smses or emails or phone calls or even a speech to everyone during one of the trainings. B need to remind those people who are in the team that since they have joined in the team, it shows that they are out to win and must be willing to commit to trainings. Moreover, this is a national competition and all the more, they cannot lose face out there.
When everyone is ready to give in their best, B could suggest letting each and everyone a chance to act in front of the rest to let them vet. In this way, everyone will have a turn to criticize one another and find ways to improve on it together. And also, A would not feel that he was being criticized on but just evaluated on. =)
Regards,
Huiwen
Hey Jay,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see you actively commenting on other people's blogs. Did you manage to fix your problem with the word verification system?
Like Huiwen, I don't think that A can be a good leader if he doesn't know how to accept criticism. Also, if most of the group are not concerned about the competition, I don't think A has led and inspired them well. I think that good leadership and good management are somewhat different concepts.
It's always problematic when people are not motivated to do something well. I guess most of the other members don't really care enough to tell A about his problem, which means that B may have to solve this problem by himself.
Perhaps B can use his role as newcomer to his advantage instead. Under the pretext of fully understanding the entire production, he can talk to A about the motivations and the emotions of the lead character. He can phrase his comments as clarifying questions instead, and thus subtly expose A to these contrasting viewpoints.
I was quite intimidated when I came to your blog and saw the title of your post. :) It sounds like someone is about to start a gang-fight!
Cheers,
Benjamin
Hi Jay,
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with Wanyee. B can firstly ask A's advice on his or her acting personally. After A's comment, B may firstly praise A's performance and then express his idea on how the role can be portrayed even better in a respectful manner. B should try to advise A instead of criticizing him. I think A would be willing to take B's advice in to consideration
Best Regards,
Zaizhi