How To Recover From The Unexpected

In the first 5 minutes of a recent performance of the NYC Ballet, a dancer slipped and fell.  It was the very top of a 30-minute performance of only 5 dancers in a packed house of 2500.  The curtain had just gone up. Surprise flashed across her face and the audience inhaled sharply.

Back on her feet in an instant, she rejoined the dance. But an unplanned character had joined the cast:  fear, fear for the dancer: Was she hurt? Would she fall again? Could she overcome the shock that few could? The audience, enthralled from the art direction, music, choreography and sheer talent on stage, were brought down a notch: oh yes, these dancers are human after all.  The remainder of the performance was flawless, and any doubt over the dancer’s authority was nearly overcome by her talent, training and role in the cast. But that uninvited character? Never left.

At curtain call, as drama would have it (it is ballet after all), the dancer who had slipped was last in line to take a bow. When her turn came, the applause rose sharply with shouts of encouragement and appreciation. Her smile broadened, the whole cast took another bow and that uninvited character was gone, for the dancer had overcome something most of us cannot: a dramatic mistake made early in a performance that really matters, made in front of an experienced audience. By recovering quickly, literally not missing a beat, she and the rest of the cast took back control of the audience, and completed the performance with confidence and grace.   

There are some parallels here for pitching in a team. Independent of ideas being presented, unexpected mistakes can diminish the team’s chances of winning.  Forgot what you were going to say while you were saying it? Maybe a key speaker on your team is 20 minutes late to the presentation. Maybe someone responds defensively to a line of questions. No matter what the unplanned moment, how your team responds to it can make or break your presentation. Only with clear and practiced roles can your team regain control and close like a boss. Yes, it is the idea that matters most, but only seamless authority presented by the entire team (and not just the creative leader) will convince your audience it should invest in you over their other options.