Personnel

Today, at work, we had a series of meetings addressing hierarchy and communication.  In smaller organizations there is a 'flatter' structure in which everyone 'pitches in' to get the 'job done'. In larger organizations, there are more 'traditional' hierarchies of leadership, managers, line managers, and staff. 

One of the more interesting problems in arts organizations occurs when you have artists who entered the professional theatre to continue to practice their craft suddenly find themselves managers in charge of a staff.  On the whole, artists are not trained in how to manage others, how to create work plans, measurable goals, provide feedback and evaluations, and structure a workflow of projects and communication that accomplishes a goal.  

So, I sometimes wonder how to empower the artist to become the artist manager while maintaining the necessity of the more typical business structure once an organization reaches a 'critical size' -- which I would argue is anything over 15 employees.

Simultaneously, I would say that it is against the best interests of my organization for my artists to 'waste their creative time' in management -- leaving everyone in a considerably awkward and at times impractical impasse.  

The key to successful 'arts management' is the balance of the arts and the management.