Show Time!

Imagine this scene: just before a presentation to a key client, your top performer throws a hissy fit and says he won't begin unless he gets ground coffee and he wants the lights refocused on the best side of his face. Welcome to the world of Tania de Jong, co-founder and artistic director of the musical theatre group Pot-Pourri and the one-stop entertainment business Music Theatre Australia.

Tania says her most stressful professional moments are when performers throw diva fits and threaten to walk out just before a show is due to begin. Tania's job? To calm the diva down and ensure the show goes on. This is no easy task - and not what her law degree taught. Managing personalities in the ego-rich world of performing arts takes talent.

Tania de Jong and Jonathan Morton started Pot-Pourri in 1987. She is a soprano; he is a baritone. Their repertoire of favourite songs from popular operas and musical theatre includes comedy, cabaret, magic and acrobatics. They present fast-paced operatic entertainment, giving audiences all the best arias and themes and sparing them the boring bits. 

The business began to win corporate gigs, manage bigger concerts and started producing CDs and touring Australia and overseas. It added new singers and sought ways to attract repeat business. In 1996, Tania launched Music Theatre Australia (MTA), an entertainment agency providing bookings for performers including circus acts, bands, comedy shows, magicians and inspirational speakers.

The Challenge

After losing key administrative staff and two senior performers, Tania had to find ways to keep her top acts. She says: "Because I'm so busy, I often rush ahead without explaining things properly but expecting people to keep up with me. It puts a lot of pressure and demands on them."

The Solution

The first step was the hardest: acknowledging her shortfalls as a manager. Tania says that in a perfect world she would really rather just be one of the performers. But given that she is running a business that she is passionate about, Tania has had to do some confronting self-evaluation: how to work more effectively with her staff and fellow performers.

Instead of being consumed by her own roles, she now consciously spends more time listening to staff and explaining the big picture so that they understand where the business is going and how they can contribute. She does this in one-on-one meetings and by involving the team in planning. Last year the whole team went on a two-day rural retreat to Marysville, Victoria to do some strategic planning. Tania says: "This was a great break away from the office and we employed a couple of experts in communication skills and NLP to work with the team. We had fun team meals, gave out awards and had time out to see the local attractions and go for beautiful walks."

Tania also now recognises the importance of giving staff a sense of ownership and autonomy. She says: "I try to let people make mistakes and step back from micro-managing so that they aren't constantly looking over their shoulders." She has introduced profit sharing for staff members who show potential; two managers are currently participating.

Tania periodically brings in management consultants to work on team building. They do Myers-Briggs and Enneagram personality testing and explore how individual personalities affect their interactions with each other. Tania says: "They have helped us to refine our communication skills through learning to understand and accept each other; they teach skills for working in a business environment - something that people in the entertainment business don't necessarily understand." 

Tania says people too easily glamorise working in the entertainment industry. "They think it is all about going to events and performances without appreciating the amount of preparation that goes into it. So I try to make this very clear at interviews." When hiring administration staff, she looks for people who are passionate about the performance side of the business but not so caught up in the glamour that they lose sight of their primary roles, which centre on mundane work such as event schedules and itineraries, venue and technical liaison, planning of change rooms and meals for the artists, phone calls and emails.

"The real secret to retaining staff is getting to know people so that they become your friends ... then they will do anything for you. If you don't get to that stage, it's very easy to lose people if the respect and trust doesn't build." She indulges her team with post-performance drinks, team outings such as go-carting, comedy nights and dinners. It all keeps them laughing - and happy to stay for the next act.

The Result

In June 2008, Tania was made a Member in the Order of Australia for her service to the arts as a performer and entrepreneur and for establishing and developing music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities. In 2006, she was named Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year.

Staff retention has been strong. Most of the core administrative and sales staff have been with the company for 3-5 years. Tania says: "We're always looking at who has the potential to be part of the profit-sharing program. That helps the bottom line because they bring in more customers and serve them better." 

Tania doesn't just measure staff morale by retention rates. She tunes into her crowd: people who feel appreciated and involved ooze commitment to the business - they answer the phone with a smile and attract more customers.

Author Credits