Abstract
Authentic relationships are essential in teams and organizations to reach their goals and optimize results as the members are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and grow in a psychologically safe environment. There is an emphasis on authentic leadership to encourage leaders to foster trust and positive relationships with their team members in this competitive society. Competition arouses the desire in individuals to be perfect and not make any mistakes. If leaders try to present their perfect selves, the team members are unlikely, to be honest, and vulnerable with their leaders too. Leaders find it challenging to present themselves between professionality and a private sense of self. To achieve the balance, the challenge of being a true leader is to gain self-knowledge to figure out how we can use leadership ability to serve others (George et al., 2007). The main goal of this qualitative research is to explore the use of dance improvisation as a new approach to university students’ authentic leadership development. The methods used in this action research are surveys, video recordings, workshops, and interviews. As dance improvisation activities provide individuals with a safe environment to explore different sides of themselves without judgment by others, this sense of community helps them to build confidence and change their perception towards criticism and perfectionism. Therefore, implementing dance improvisation into leadership development courses in universities allows university students with different cultural backgrounds and no prior experience in dancing to learn about practicing authentic leadership in a more relaxed and creative way.
Presenters
Ke Yeng LyeStudent, Master in International Peace Studies, Soka University of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Dance Arts, Authentic Leadership, Higher Education
