Dance floor and balcony

The Impressionist painter Edgar Degas created a painting called The Dancer.

The painting is of a dancer, who is beautifully poised and completely immersed in the dance, in a dreamlike scene. But the angle of the painting is special: there are crew members and people waiting backstage next to her. This three-dimensional perspective is so good that Ronald Heifetz of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in his book "Leadership in the Line of Fire," calls it the "dance floor and balcony theory.

The dance floor is like a spotlight that focuses on the details in front of us, allowing us to experience and deal with the matter at hand in an immersive way. When you are in the "dance floor" state, you will devote great enthusiasm to the work at hand, focusing on every detail, this focus can help you quickly find and solve problems, and help enhance communication and cooperation with others.

The balcony represents a global, macro and strategic mindset. Standing on the "balcony", you don't just see a small piece of what's right in front of you, but the bigger picture, a view that can help you find real opportunities and see problems early on that you might encounter.

     The dance floor and the balcony is not easy to transform the reasons why

1、the solidification of thinking patterns

Dance floor thinking trap view, some people are particularly good at dealing with the work at hand, with excellent execution of the details and the task at hand. However, it is not difficult to find that people who are usually busy with the details of their daily work are less attentive to future intentions and plans. From the balcony thinking trap, the big picture perspective takes time and experience to develop. This visionary perspective is often based on strategic analysis and long-term planning. However, this also means that the close contact with the actual operation level may be lost, less able to feel the difficulties and pressure faced by the front-line staff, which is also their "occupational disease".

2、Limitations of ability and resources

Everyone has their own field of expertise and knowledge boundaries, in other words, everyone has a "comfort zone", when forced to leave the comfort zone, not only do you need to have the relevant knowledge and skills, but also need to be adaptable, learning ability.

3、 Emotional and mental factors

People working on the dance floor (do specific things) is often a skill or knowledge area experts, they are in the field of in-depth study and long-term practice, so that the professional skills they master, resulting in deep confidence. But when pushed into situations that require a global perspective, or asked to participate in high-level strategic decision-making, they may feel uncomfortable or lack of confidence. The fear is that, with insufficient knowledge base and experience in the field, they will make the wrong decision or recommendation. The opposite is also true!

     Compare the following four situations, are you more of a dance floor or balcony person?

1、Working habits

At work, like to go into details, find out the problem and solve it quickly? You are highly alert to every little problem, and want to get results immediately, to see your efforts can get clear results.

But if you are not only satisfied with the small results in front of you, but also value the long-term goals, even if you can't see the obvious results now, you are willing to work hard for the big goals in the future.

2、Communicate with others

Do you prefer to discuss a specific problem and how to complete a task more efficiently with your colleagues at work? Such communication is often specific and clear, and you can drill down into the details together to find out the crux of the problem and then find the answer together.

But if you will discuss team management, or a project should be how to plan and develop, such exchanges are more in search of and establish a long-term perspective, to make sure that we all work in one direction.

3、 Look at learning styles

Do you like to study more thoroughly in a certain skill? The advantage of this learning style is that you can become a real expert in a certain field, when others have related problems, the first thing that will come to mind is to find you help.

But there are other people who are not satisfied with just one area of study, and may know a little bit about design, some marketing strategies, and project management methods. This way of learning allows you to have a certain understanding in a number of areas, to become a versatile, and in the team can often provide different perspectives and suggestions.

4、 the direction of interest

Some people watch short videos and the news, preferred global events, this kind of people like to have an overall grasp of the big picture, they are interested in the macro, market dynamics, want to know where the big trends are. Another kind of people, prefer to study a subdivision of new technology, new art genres, or a specific industry news.

Regardless of which side of the spectrum you favor, you should be aware of your self-limitations and switch flexibly. How do you do this?

1、 Integration and Retreat

As we go about our daily business, do we ever wonder what we're really working on? Why did we pick this job? The dance floor and the balcony reminds us to learn to stop once in a while, from a higher place to see what we are doing, thinking about what we really want, what we are doing now is right or wrong, or even do this, what help for the future? The daily chores are important, but don't let them make us forget our beginnings.

2、 Participation vs. spectating

To really influence what's going on, you have to get back on the dance floor. It's no good just being a "spectator" on the balcony, the same way you don't think about the big picture in the first place. And it's not a one-time task. You need to keep going back and forth between the dance floor and the balcony, taking measures, observing the effects, and then adjusting your strategy based on your observations.

3、Practice and Absorption

After discovering their own shortcomings, the best way to put into practice, people have two major systems: one focuses on creating value for customers, known as "value creation"; the other focuses on self-growth, known as the "growth system". Do you often reflect on your own behavior? The purpose of this reflection is to see if you have made any progress, what has changed today compared to yesterday? How did these changes come about? This sense of continuous self-improvement needs to be cultivated proactively.