Nobody really calls that leadership, because it happens in a rehearsal room instead of a boardroom.

But in my experience, it's the same job. And those rehearsal rooms taught me things about leading people that I've never found in any sort of business book.

You need the right cast before you lead

The first decision to make is who gets to be in the room, and it's the decision that's most likely to be rushed.

If you get the casting right, half of the job is done before you've started. But if you get it wrong then no amount of direction saves it.

I don't just cast for skill. I cast for who lifts the energy in a space and who drains it.

One brilliant dancer with a bad attitude will slowly poison a whole company. One generous person can raise everyone around them. I believe that's true on a stage and it's true on any team.

Yep, the talent matters. But how the talent behaves when things get inevitably tough matters more.

People will perform better when they feel safe

You can't push someone past their limit until they trust you.

I've had performers do things they didn't believe they were capable of, but I never demanded this. I built enough safety first that they were willing to risk looking stupid in front of me and their team and that's how I unlock the brilliance.

I noticed that fear makes people play safe. And safety makes people brave.

So before I ask anyone for something difficult, I make sure the room feels like somewhere you're allowed to get it wrong.

We try the mad idea.

We fall over.

Nobody dies.

And once people know the floor won't disappear from under them, they'll jump way higher than they would have if I'd just barked orders at them.

I truly believe this applies to any creative team. The people you lead will only take real risks if failing in front of you is survivable. If it isn't, you're pretty much guaranteed safe, average performances where nobody wins.

Direction they can understand beats direction they must obey

There's a big difference between a cast that does what you said and a cast that understands why you're asking this of them. Yes, obedience will get you the moves you're looking for but understanding adds a whole dimension of soul on top.

If a dancer knows what a section is about, specifically what it's meant to communicate and why that message matters, they'll make a hundred tiny decisions in the moment that I could never have written down.

They fill the gaps with their own intelligence.

That only happens if I've taken the time to bring them inside the idea instead of handing them counts and walking away.

Leaders who only give instructions will get compliance. But leaders who give people a reason to move get judgement, and judgement is worth much more, because it keeps working way beyond rehearsal time.

Calm is a decision.

Live performance goes wrong all the time.

Something breaks, someone drops out, the timeline collapses, the brief changes the day before - you name it and I've dealt with it.

I'm also well-aware that my performers take their emotional temperature from me, every time. If I panic, then everyone panics, and panic looks rubbish on a stage.

So I've learned to be the calmest person in the building on the worst day.

Not because I feel calm (the mini-explosions going off in my head are wildddd), but because I know my team needs me to be.

I think that's a leadership skill that should be taught first and foremost. Your team has eyes on you constantly and they're picking up everything you are putting down. Whatever you're giving off, they'll amplify it and hand it straight back.

The project isn't just the project.

The biggest thing I've learned is that getting the best out of people isn't a soft skill you develop on the side while you work on the project. It IS the project.

The creative direction and choreography is the easy bit. The crazy hard bit (which usually means it's the most valuable bit), is building a team of people who trust each other enough to be brilliant together when a production needs it.

We all know what that looks like from the outside in, even if we don't have the words to describe it.

A team that was led well looks totally different from a team led badly, and the audience feels that too, even when they've no idea they're feeling it.

I think that's the bit I'm proudest of. Not the creative or the choreography I've created over the years, but the rehearsal rooms I've built them in.