Yan Maschke, August 18, 2017

Some say that life is a stage, and we are all performing on it.  The question is how we each decide to show up. Today I'd like to share my story of intimidation and inspiration first time performing on a big stage.

When the artistic director of Groundworks DanceTheater David Shimotakahara first called to invite me to be one of the dancers for its annual fund raiser "It Takes Two!" performance event, I felt honored but intimidated. 

After clarifying what is expected of me, both in dancing and fundraising, I gracefully accepted his invitation.

It was an amazing experience and a bit out of my “comfort zone”. Reflecting on this process, I took away 5 leadership lessons. If you are interested, I'd like to invite you to ponder some of the leadership questions as well.

1. Be strategic in choosing what we do

Right after I accepted this fundraising challenge, I was requested by another reputable arts organization to support its fundraising campaign in a leadership capacity. The "Chinese" in me felt that I didn’t want to say "no". But the "leader" inside guided me to respectfully decline the second invitation in order to focus my efforts on the first commitment.

As busy leaders, constant demands are placed on us. It's up to us to choose what we spend our energy on. If we focused on everything, we don't do anything well. 

As a leader, what is your strategic focus?

2. Be clear what success looks like

Each dancer has a fundraising goal -$10K. Amongst the 7 dancers this year, a winner would be announced at the end of the show based on who raised the most funds. 

One of the other fabulous dancers secured $10K from a major health care organization right in the beginning of the process. For a less experienced fundraiser like me, that was intimidating. 

At that moment, I chose to focus my effort on reaching the individual fundraising goal vs. the somewhat discouraging chance of being the 1st place.

I then broke down the personal goal to detailed fundraising action steps.  I outreached and connected, and I am humbled by the support. At the end of the 3-minute performance, I didn't win, but I raised more than triple the target amount! 

As a competitive over-achiever, it was important that I managed my own expectations in the beginning. I decided that I should feel like a winner as long as a defined target is achieved and exceeded - one that is a stretch but still realistic, one that is inspiring vs. paralyzing.

As leaders, we aim to paint a clear picture of success with our teams. A vision that elicits inspired emotional response is great. Underneath that vision should be clear, well thought-out, and realistic goals (refer to "SMART" goals for specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound goals).  Effective goal setting is also important in managing expectations of ourselves and those we serve, such as shareholders, the board, our community, etc.

So, how do YOU define success for you and for your team? How do you set SMART goals? How do you manage expectations of yourself and those we serve?

3.   Own the stage

I was nervous about being the center of attention and performing at the fabulous venue of the Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where world-renown artists perform every season. My Groundworks dance partner Michael Marquez was not only an amazing dancer and choreographer, he was also an unassuming coach who calmly guided me through the nervousness and discomfort. He said, "Pretend to be a queen for those 3 minutes on stage!".

So I did!

Professional or personal, life is a stage. We all perform on it. We are the owners of those moments and our experiences. No matter how uncomfortable things may seem, we can choose and adjust our mindset, and decide to OWN the stage!

What stage are you owning? What stage are you not owning that you want to own? What do you want and what are you actually doing to own it?

4.   Pay attention to the hearts in addition to the heads

In the beginning of the process, I was heavily focused on learning the technical moves of the dance and reaching the fundraising goal, I was consumed by my own nervousness and stress.

One day I realized that I didn't really connect with my dance partner Michael. I apologized, I started to ask how he was enjoying the process, and what his inspirations are. With Michael's help, I also moved from looking at my feet (mechanical connection) to making eye contact (human connection) while dancing. These small shifts changed the quality of both the dance and the dance experience. My stress subsided and I started to feel the flow.

As a leader, how do you engage both the heads and the hearts of our human resources to inspire the desired actions towards your vision and goals?

5. Reach out for support.

Growing up in my Chinese family, asking for money is an absolute no-no. Having lived in the US for more than 20 years and having been influenced and impressed by the philanthropic spirit in this country (particularly in Cleveland Ohio where the support for the arts is superb), I had developed emotional readiness to seek support. I genuinely presented myself as someone truly interested in supporting the arts. People I reached out to are amazingly receptive and gracious. They shared the vision of spreading the impact of the arts, and they wanted to support me!

Success comes from working with a team and from leveraging resources - both internal and external. As a leader, how do you leverage available resources to achieve shared vision and goals?

If you promise not to laugh at me, I invite you to check out this 3-minute video and share my sense of excitement, nervousness, and inspiration. 

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