Currently and inlyssnande or media skillful and artistic visionary. Or all of the properties on one and the same time? What requirements should the board of directors, employees and the general public ask the managers in the world of culture?
currently a number of cultural institutions in the capital on rekryteringsjakt. The royal dramatic theatre, the museum of Modern art, The municipal theatre and Dance house shall appoint new managers before year-end, a couple of them already this summer. It means new business for the recruitment companies which are often hired to match the profile of requirements with the right candidate.
Fredrik Hillelson is the ceo of Novare Human Capital which annually makes a dozen recruitments in the field of culture. Currently, he looks for a successor to Benny Fredriksson as the ceo of Kulturhuset Stadsteatern. The process shall be completed no later than during the month of June, the more he can not say.
– It is often more complex, as more stakeholders are involved. It is not only the owners and the board to relate to, but it can also be a recruitment committee, trade union representatives, artistklubbens members and so on. Many people want to feel involved and to create a confidence that it will be a meaningful process, “says Fredrik Hillelson and continues:
” the Whole field of culture is to stimulation more and more. For example, it is no longer common with open ballots when to appoint a new theater. But the man has a political approach because the cultural institutions, the state, municipality or county council as the owner.
Fredrik Hillelson mean at the same time that it is not possible to be konsensusinriktad. A manager must be both responsive and have the ability to make decisions.
– You need to find that leadership is fun. Are you really more interested in doing other things, you should not be ceo, ” says Fredrik Hillelson.
on the Alumni, believe that there are more similarities than differences between cultural sector and other industries. At the same time, she believes that the activities with a strong commitment among the staff – cultural, political or non-profit organizations – sets other demands on the leadership.
” the Risk is that you underestimate what can happen when passionate employees channel their force in a different direction. It can be devastating. A manager for an IT company who does not know how to work with dedication may not get the staff’s full potential, but risk not explosive move in the media in the same way, ” says Carolina Engström.
It is important with an understanding of how crucial engagement is for the business, she says, at the same time that it takes integrity and courage for leadership.
– It should probably not be the first chefsjobbet, ” says Carolina Engström.
have different causes. Daniel Birnbaum went voluntarily on to new challenges when he left his post as superintendent of the museum of Modern art for eight years – his avgångsbesked was not the culmination of any media scandal or drama.
But it is not uncommon that the managers of the profiled cultural institutions are publicly contested. In april resigned, for example, Eirik Stubø, against her will, as Dramatenchef, among other things, audits of the working environment in the theatre.
Then-vice president Maria Groop Russel took immediately over the royal Dramatic theatre’s executive director, which meant that the royal dramatic theatre’s stage shared in the leadership of the theatre. After the reorganisation we are looking for the royal dramatic theatre, now a theater manager, who will not have primary responsibility for the finances or human resources.
in business administration and has studied organizations in the cultural sector. She believes that the artistic independence is crucial for the legitimacy.
– There are financial requirements, there is a letter of appropriation from the ministry of culture, there are expectations from the industry, employees and smakskapare. It might probably make you are attracted by a shared leadership, with an artistic director who can establish an ostensibly independent, ” says Jenny Lantz.
That cultural institutions are faced with demands from different directions affects the organization’s inner logic and creates a delicate task for the responsible managers, she says.
” My colleague Nils Brunsson has pointed out that organisations with conflicting interests, often feel good to särkoppla talk and action. Otherwise, the type of organizations easily handlingsförlamade. He believes that there is a need for a certain degree of hypocrisy in order to create legitimacy externally and drive inward.
– It would feel wrong to encourage our cultural institutions to become better at hypocrisy, but somehow, they are forced to relate to different stakeholders. But perhaps there is less acceptance today of the gap between talk and action. We want it to be authentic. The scope for hypocrisy has decreased in times of increased transparency and social media. It is even a challenge for the manager to manage, ” says Jenny Lantz.
today, cultural institutions must not only live up to the expectations of artistic freedom, also equality is crucial to achieving legitimacy in the contemporary era. Not least the debate around the royal dramatic theatre in stockholm revealed.
– It is formulated as a conflict, but I think that it is a cognitive trap that we must try to avoid. There are reasonably many with artistic pretensions who also understand the problems with gender inequality the workplace, ” says Jenny Lantz.
that shared leadership can be a way to make it clear that cultural institutions are actually also workplaces.
– You can’t compromise on the work environment or the law, it can not be weighed against the artistic freedom. Leadership in the field of culture is all about getting people to feel good and at the same time create great culture. I see no contradiction, ” says Carolina Engström.
Fredrik Hillelson points out that shared leadership makes great demands on cooperation, and in the worst cases, can create new konfliktytor, but that it can work with the right combination of personalities.
– Since the complexity and the requirements have increased, I believe that we will see a greater trend with shared leadership in the field of culture, ” says Fredrik Hillelson.
