The Hamlet Project

I have leadership and authority on the brain.
This line has an authoritative ring.
I rarely sound authoritative.
I realized this when teaching young people about directing. I remember a game of Mother May I (AKA Grandmother’s Footsteps) that opened my eyes.
When in the role of the Mother, the leader is charged with telling the others what to do. The usual method is:
“Betty, take 3 giant steps forward.”
And Betty is supposed to reply, “Mother, May I?”
And the leader says, “Yes, you may.”
Anyway – in playing this with a group of kids, I noticed a lot of them saying, “Betty, could you take 3 giant steps forward?”
At first I suggested that they be more direct – and then I realized that they were doing exactly what I had done.
It was me who was leading by saying, “Could you…” instead of direct instruction. So I worked on becoming more direct. But also on embracing a softer leadership that could ask, “Could you…”