Leadership is like conducting an orchestra: Synergy is everything

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra recently hosted the winners of the 2025 Greater Birmingham Young Professional of the Year awards for a unique leadership workshop with an opportunity to conduct an orchestra.

In this blog, Stacey Hayes-Allen, director of employer engagement at Arden University writes about her experience and why synergy takes a huge part when conducting.  

Yesterday I had a masterclass with Jack, an incredible conductor at the wonderful City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Jack reminded me and many other colleagues in the room of what it takes to be a great leader and as I reflected on it afterwards it really resonated and hit all the right ‘notes’ – yes pun intended! Thank you.

I was amazed to learn that in the performing arts, a conductor and musicians may receive the programme just three hours before delivering a two-hour live performance.

Think about that level of agility:

• Rapid alignment on a shared vision
• Trust in individual expertise
• Confidence to perform to a world-class standard under pressure

To achieve this, the conductor sets the tone, shares a clear vision, and then empowers each musician to bring their unique style to life.

Every section has its role, and excellence comes when individuals own their part with confidence. Great leaders do the same.

As if this were not impressive enough in its own right - particularly for the lessons it offers about control and micromanagement - I found myself watching it unfold and thinking beyond the conductor and the musicians, to the audience.

The fizzling anticipation they likely have when taking their seats. Their expectations of a world-class performance. What impact does the conductor and the synergy created with the orchestra have on them? How does it change the feeling in the room and how the audience reacts?

Much is to say a lot of fun was had.

Jack specifically asked me to ‘be silly’ with it, which I 100 per cent did. Colleagues sent me videos afterwards, and I could hear the audience laughing in unison at the same moments while watching.

It was clear that my silliness - and the visible enjoyment I was having in leading the musicians - was feeding directly into the audience’s experience. It changed the feel of the room and transformed how the performance was received.

This, in itself, was a valuable lesson in the importance of bringing good humour and authenticity to leadership, and in how those qualities directly shape the customer experience.

Sometimes, as a leader you are handed a ‘programme’ at the last minute and expected to deliver excellence.

For me as director of Employer Engagement at Arden University I am often the person orchestrating the integration of silo’d units and departments across the university to deliver solutions to different audiences.

For years I’ve heard a similar mantra from employers. ‘We work with universities but it’s out of necessity rather than choice. It’s not an easy experience and often feels like working with 10 organisations at once. It’s hard work’

What universities need to recognise is that employers are a core audience. And that audience does not want to experience isolated parts of the offer in silos. No one goes to a concert to hear only the wind section or just the bass; they want to hear the full orchestra, playing together, creating something greater than the sum of its parts.

Also when working with a university, they want it to be an enjoyable and fun experience.

In the same way, employers do not want to hear only about individual degrees or a single apprenticeship. They want to understand the full workforce education solution: how it supports their strategic goals, strengthens talent pipelines, upskills existing staff, addresses skills gaps, and unlocks talent already within their organisation.

What they are looking for is an orchestrated, joined-up offer that works in synergy with their business needs.

These were the thoughts going through my head as I watched this masterclass in action.

My final thought: leadership isn’t about being the loudest instrument - it’s about orchestrating synergy so the whole ensemble shines.