205. Redefining Dance Team Leadership: From Captains to Collaborative Roles

205 Today's Leaders

[00:00:00] Hi, I am Dr. Chelsea. Welcome to Passion for Dance. I'm on a mission to create happier, more successful dancers through positive mental skills, and I know that culture has a lot to do with whether dancers are able to learn and master these mental skills. But culture isn't just about coaches and teachers.

Peer leadership like captains, seniors, advanced company dancers, they set the culture as well. It's the leaders who teach culture to the rest of the dancers. The studio owner can talk about values. The school coach can have a wonderful goal setting session, but it will all fall apart if the older, more veteran dancers don't uphold the culture.

So let's talk about captains. This is usually relevant to school teams, but if you are a studio setting, don't tune out just yet because you have leaders at your studio, too, whether you give them an official title or not. 

There are athlete leaders in both school and studio settings. There are dancers who influence your culture positively or negatively, [00:01:00] whether you label someone a captain or not.

So should you have a formal captain or has the landscape changed too much and leadership doesn't work the way it used to? You might be like some of the many coaches I talked to who feel like today's dancers are different.

They're maybe not ready to be leaders, they don't know how, or it just causes too much stress and drama. So the easiest decision is that formal captains on a team is just not worth it. If you feel that way, I get where you're coming from. I have felt the shift as well, and after 20 years of coaching and teaching leadership, I can tell you you're not crazy.

Things are different, and over the last decade especially, athlete leadership has evolved significantly, and I think it reflects broader cultural shifts and how teams function and how younger generations relate to authority and peer influence. But just because sport, culture and leadership and our athletes have changed, that doesn't mean you shouldn't still consider having captains or be able to reap the benefits of having positive and [00:02:00] valuable team leaders.

Because when you have strong leadership, everything about your whole season is better. Coaches. I'm also not here to tell you what's right for your team. Captains are not always the answer. However, I figured, I've heard from so many people who struggle and feel ready to throw up their hands and give up on having formal leaders because it's just all changed that it's time to dig into it.

So today I'm gonna put on my researcher hat and I wanna share what I found. In the most recent athlete leadership research because things are different, but it's not that black and white. So let's get into five things that have changed about athlete leadership and what that means for today's coaches and dancers. 

Welcome to Passion for Dance. I'm Dr. Chelsea, a former professional dancer, turn sport psychologist, and this podcast is for everyone in the dance industry who want to learn actionable strategies and new mindsets to build happier, more successful dancers. I. I know what it feels like to push through the pain, take on all the criticism, and do whatever it takes to make [00:03:00] sure the show will go on.

But I also know that we understand more about mental health and resilience than ever before, and it's time to change the industry for the better. This podcast is for all of us to connect, learn, and share our passion for dance with the world.

The first thing that I've noticed when working with teams and the research supports this change is there's a shift toward shared leadership models. Leadership and dance teams is no longer dominated solely by captains. Many teams are successfully embracing the idea of shared or distributed leadership. Where multiple athletes. Both formal and informal contribute to leadership roles. This could mean formal captains with many leadership roles and duties, but then there's other dancers like juniors or seniors without the leadership role, just someone who's got an exciting idea to help the team. They're all encouraged to step up and lead on a different scale.

It could be one practice, one small project, or maybe at a much bigger level. [00:04:00] But it's the overall philosophy of sharing leadership in a way that encourages more dancers to step up, which improves motivation and cohesion as well. 

I've seen this work differently on different teams. It depends on your distribution of dancers experience and their talent, but it can definitely work to spread the wealth, share the leadership roles.

I once worked with a team that had 10 seniors. It was unique that there were so many, and they were all talented, so that year distributed leadership worked best rather than having to choose three captains that were in charge all the time, they all took ownership and stepped up according to their own strengths at different times in the year.

I think the idea of shared and distributed leadership resonates with a lot of dancers today because they want to belong and to contribute. They wanna feel like they're giving something to the team and they wanna be heard. So if dancers are given more responsibilities and everyone shares that role, they're more likely to step up and work harder for the team. Hence, this [00:05:00] idea of distributed leadership. 

Of course it's not perfect. It doesn't mean everyone has a role that could be too many cooks in the kitchen. Just the idea that there's this shift from, even if you have formal captains, allowing other dancers to step up and take leadership roles in smaller projects, one practice here and there, just allowing for more team contribution. 

The second shift in today's athletes is the decline in the reliance on a captain as the one and only principal leader. Even teams who have formal captains, they're not always seen as that primary role model on the team. I came across this large scale study involving lots of sports and found that only 44% of athletes and coaches viewed the team captain as the main leader.

Meaning many teams still have captains, but that captain isn't the top dog number one athlete in charge all the time. The way we used to think about them, and I think this shows that [00:06:00] captain's traditional leadership role may be outdated in some contexts. I see it in dance teams in the sense that there are multiple ways to be a positive leader and what we think of as a traditional captain may only account for some of that.

Traditional captains on dance teams might be the one who is good at picking up or creating choreography. They may be the one who is more organized or the most talented. But there are other types of leadership that are just as valuable on a team like the motivational leader who is the best at those pre-competition pep talks, or the social leader who always checks in on teammates and notices when someone needs a little extra attention.

But not all leaders have that captain title. Leadership Today is best when we don't rely on one or two people to play all the leadership roles. We recognize strengths and lean into them. So the way I apply this information is that whether you have the title of Captain or not in your program, it's important to learn what positive leadership [00:07:00] looks like to teach your dancers how to align your strengths and know what's expected in your current role.

 I wouldn't necessarily eliminate formal captain roles, but instead make sure all dancers understand that there's lots of ways to lead both formal and informal, and the people who are captain are not necessarily the one with the most influence on the team, and that's okay. 

Along the same lines, the third trend I see is that informal leaders are gaining prominence. Informal leaders are those without official titles. They can significantly influence team cohesion, how well everybody's getting along, your motivation, your performance on stage, sometimes more than your captains. We've seen for decades that leadership matters and people who are leading your program will have a big impact on your culture and practice and your performance on stage. The shift that I'm seeing now is that it's not so much formal captains with this power, but the influence can come from informal leaders as well, [00:08:00] and I see it both positively and negatively.

I've seen informal leaders who didn't get the senior title or the formal leadership role step into their personal strength and be a wonderful role model for strong work ethic and discipline, showing up and working hard day in and day out. They positively influence team culture without the title. I've also seen the negative side where someone with a lot of social power who is not a formal leader, really harms the team culture by being a bully or manipulating teammates.

My point here is that it's not just formal captains who need leadership training, whether you have official captains or not, there will be strong personalities on your team who shape your culture, and it's important they know what leadership behaviors you expect on your team[00:09:00] 

now while I'm advocating for training your leaders, it can be a time consuming process. But what if you can get your captains or your informal leaders on the right page ready to lead from the start? That's why I created my self-paced course Journey to Elite Captain. The only course that will turn your dancers into leaders without the drama while teaching them to navigate confrontation, communicate effectively and more.

I guarantee you'll feel the weight coming off your shoulders fast. So if you're ready to get started and learn more about how your dancers can take some training this summer and be the best possible leaders you can check it out at Passion for Dance podcast.com/courses.

All the details will be there for you to look into the program and what's included and see if it's right for you. That's passion for dance podcast.com/courses.[00:10:00] 

On the positive side of what's different with today's athletes, I believe and the research supports that modern athletes value leadership training programs aimed at training captains and other leaders are considered effective by many coaches and athletes, and they are increasing in demand. I've always believed deeply in the importance of taking the time to develop your leadership potential and not just hoping the people you want to lead, step up and behave the way you want. It takes intentional training. 

Research shows that athlete training programs help dancers develop key skills like communication, motivation, and conflict resolution. And that's why I spent the time to create that course journey to elite captain. Whether the dancers are formal captains or all the seniors, this course is designed to be a summer, maybe early season project that they can work through in [00:11:00] order to intentionally develop the leadership skills they need. I think today's athletes do want to learn and are so excited to embrace the role of being a leader, especially when someone has told them they're capable. 

So coaches, when you tell your athletes, Hey, I believe you have what it takes to be a fantastic team leader, are you willing to spend a little time to learn more about it? The answer is usually an enthusiastic yes, especially if they're the right person for the role.

Finally, an important shift is that leaders don't necessarily come into the role of captain, a fully prepared and standout leader the way maybe they used to. The act of being a captain actually builds leadership skills. To me, that's where the magic is as a coach. It's elevating people to the role than guiding them and mentoring them through the process, actively teaching them the skills or letting them take a course to hone those skills. So despite shifts in today's athletes, that might be frustrating, [00:12:00] the role of captain remains a strong developmental tool for young athletes, and the team will feel so many positive benefits of that leadership training.

So that leads me to the question I started with, should you even have captains or formal leadership on your team? I generally advocate for the positive power of good leadership on your team, but I also know it's not the only way and many teams are very successful without formal captains. In some years, you may just not have the right people for the position.

My argument today is actually whether or not you choose to name formal captains, you will have leaders on your team. Some personalities will naturally step up and influence others, so it's important that you take the reins on training leadership skills to whoever is going to have that power in your program.

I think the modern dance team culture is moving towards more collaborative leadership structures where influence is shared among many team members and not just one person with the title, but the need for leadership education remains, no [00:13:00] matter the formal structure. So if you're interested in learning more about the self-paced online leadership program, you can see if it's a right fit for you at Passion for Dance podcast.com/courses or see the link in the show notes where you're listening now. Thank you for listening in and investing in your dancers. 

If you have questions about leadership or challenges on your team. Please reach out. Tell me what's on your mind. You can leave me a voice message anytime at Passion for dance podcast.com/voicemail. I'm here to help. I wanna see every dancer reach their leadership potential, and I'd love for every coach to have an easier season because you have strong leadership upholding the culture of the program for you. Thanks for listening and taking action today no matter what,

keep sharing your passion for Dance with the world.

Thank you for listening to Passion for Dance. You can find all episode resources at passion for dance podcast.com and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more high performance [00:14:00] tips at Doctor Chelsea dot Otti. That's P-I-E-R-O-T-T-I. This podcast is for passionate dancers and dance educators who are ready to change our industry by creating happier, more successful dancers.

I'm Dr. Chelsea and keep sharing your passion for dance with the world.