Abstract
The notion of leadership competencies is a much-debated issue. In this article, we propose that how the leader makes sense of his or her competencies is key to leadership practice. Specifically, we look at how leaders reconcile discrepancies between the self-perceived proficiency of various competencies and their corresponding importance. Empirically, we study leaders within the music domain – how choral conductors make sense of their competencies in the shaping of their professional practice. We investigated how choral leaders in Scandinavia ( N = 638) made sense of their competencies in the face of demands in their working situations. A mixed methodology was used, comprising a quantitative survey with qualitative comments and in-depth interviews with a selection of the respondents. The results show that when choral leaders shape their practice, they frequently face competency gaps that compel them to act or adjust their identity. The key to this sensemaking process is how they move competency elements they master to the foreground and wanting elements to the background. The concept of ‘sensemaking affordance’ is introduced to account for how various leader competency categories are negotiated to safeguard overall efficacy.
Highlights
The concept of organisational sensemaking was originally developed to better account for the apparently ubiquitous imperfections of real organisations (Weick, 1995)
The results show that when choral leaders shape their practice, they frequently face competency gaps that compel them to act or adjust their identity
The results show that the unfolding of a choral leader practice is imbued with sensemaking
Summary
The concept of organisational sensemaking was originally developed to better account for the apparently ubiquitous imperfections of real organisations (Weick, 1995). Sensemaking generally refers to how people seek to understand ambiguous or confusing issues or events, and since its inception the concept has been applied and developed by a number of scholars (Brown et al, 2015). We apply sensemaking to the individual leader in the open-ended structure of a professional practice and explore how leaders make sense of their competencies. We study leaders within the music domain, and how choral conductors make sense of their competencies in the shaping of their professional practice. Conducting is in one respect a generic leadership practice similar to other organisational domains, while at the same time offering specific qualities that have inspired leadership research (Hunt et al, 2004; Mintzberg, 1998; Koivunen and Wennes, 2011; Atik, 1994; Bathurst and Ladkin, 2012). Beyond the emblematic role of gestures, choral leadership is a 'regular' organisational domain
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