Fanning the Fires or Leading With Empathy? Aesthetic Learning “Tipping Points” in Improvisational Theater

• In Event: Researching Aesthetics, Empathy, and Education

Abstract

Statement of the Problem & Background
When principals face emotionally laden, political conflicts, how do they attempt to solve problems empathetically without fanning the fires of these conflicts? Empathy, typically regarded as a “soft” people skill, is a critical asset for school leadership students as it is important to learn how to respond effectively to student and community needs (Begley, 2005), and take a proactive, as opposed to reactive stance to problem solving (Weick, 2007). Evoking understanding of the self and managing emotions (Neck & Manz, 2010) is an essential part of leadership development, yet scholarship remains thin in this area and developing empathetic leadership can be challenging.

Methodology
This paper reports on the aesthetic learning process of developing empathy in school leaders through improvisational theatre in a school leadership institute using qualitative, arts based research methods (see Barone & Eisner, 2012; Bresler, 2013; Eisner, 2009). Three improv actors worked with a main facilitator, five leadership coaches and forty educational leadership students to solve school problems. A particularly intensive role-play that occurred during the height of the institute was videotaped, transcribed and analyzed using emotion coding (Saldana, 2009) of discourse, interactions and body language.

Results
The results revealed three emotional transitions. In “Identifying conflict in the community and in the self,” a high school principal discussed an intractable problem from his workplace experience (see Figure 1): “My situation is working in two towns in a consolidated district. I want to build more of a sense of community. Not only within the schools but also within the two towns. They battle each other. They battle within each other also.” The second emotional transition was “Confronting resignation,” wherein the lead facilitator discussed the principal’s resignation around this problem, culminating in role-play where the improv actors performed as the characters of the two communities engaged in a conflict. Lastly, in “Developing empathy,” the final transition, the leadership students contributed new insights based on the improv skit.

Scholarly Significance
The main contribution of this study to leadership development is an empirical understanding of how empathy can be developed in educational leadership course using improv theatre. Through the artistic process of role-playing, the principal was able to identify and discuss his emotions with the lead facilitator and develop empathy for the school community members through watching his experience acted out by the improv actors. As a result, leadership students developed empathy for the principal, and for the school communities. The main theoretical contribution of this study is the demonstration of empathy for establishing a proactive versus reactive problem solving orientation identified as crucial for effective leadership (Weick, 2007). Instead of accepting resignation, or emotional “numbness,” which can stymie the problem-solving process (Isaksen, Dorval, & Treffinger, 2011), the leadership students became more emotionally engaged, thus producing several solutions for understanding the communities’ perspectives, which is a key factor in effective group work (Milliken, Kurtel & Kurtzberg, 2003).

Author

• Jen Katz-Buonincontro, Drexel University