Martha wrote: > What happens when the cubs don't think they're cubs any more, but are? I > think that was possibly the problem that Lindsay brought up.
> In other words, what is the proper way for the dance leadership to get > callers to continue to practice and learn? I'm guessing the very best > callers do that anyway, and the newish callers do it because they have to, > but what can we do to get people who have become comfortable with their > skill level but are not actually doing the kind of job we want, to get > excited again about "continuous improvement"? (I wrote and cut out a bunch of stuff about how the only feedback system in general use seems to be whether or not you get repeat bookings, and that's broken in many ways, because you might not get those booking for reasons other than quality, or if you have a structure where once you're admitted to a rotation you're guaranted bookings. But the general point is that unequivocal feedback would be helpful. Of course, it can be hard to get unsolicited feedback to be listened to, and in some cases it depends on whether there's a respected community elder who can tell someone "we love you, and we want you to get better, so I think you should be working on ...." whatever it is.) But in general I think the drive for improvement in what's basically a hobby is internal. People who are driven to do the work and get better will do that (at times in their life when they feel like that, anyway) and others probably won't, although life circumstances, etc, can light fires under people and make them want to get off their plateaus. What can help, externally, is to provide opportunities and frameworks for people who have the internal drive - workshops, comment cards, honest feedback. -- Alan -- =============================================================================== Alan Winston --- [email protected] Disclaimer: I speak only for myself, not SLAC or SSRL Phone: 650/926-3056 Paper mail to: SSRL -- SLAC BIN 99, 2575 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025 ===============================================================================
