6a Pilot Survey

Pilot Survey Results

Thanks to everyone who took part in my pilot survey! I was expecting more people to take part but I had a total of 10 participants. I learnt a lot from doing this task. Firstly, I posted an incorrect link to my survey. Once that was straightened out it was pointed out to me that one of my questions would not allow you to tick the same answer for each category so I changed that. I was also shown that question 6 was badly worded. I was unable to change this but realise how I need to take better care in the wording of questions. Next time I would also like to have different pages for each question, which I liked on some of the surveys I completed. By completing this task I was able to gather a wide range of answers and I feel it is a tool I will use for my inquiry. 70% of the participants are currently employed in the entertainment industry.

Here is what I found:

How important do you consider the following skills for an Arts Manager such as an Artistic Director or Producer to posses?
Communication- 66% found this to be extremely important, with 22% very important and 11% quite important. It reflects what Mark said in my interview that it is a vital part of being a manager. He also said that communication is important aspect of life in general in education, relationships, entertainment and decision making.
Decision Making- I had some mixed results here with 22% saying not very important, 11% quite, 44% very and 22% extremely. I expected most people to say very to extremely as important decisions can affect the future of the business.
Organisation- Here the majority, 57% said extremely, 28% quite and 14% sometimes. Again I was slightly surprised. I think that prganisation is a vital component of any business and again life in general. It makes things easier to find, saves time and possibly money.
Leadership- 40% said extremely, 40% very, 10% quite and 10% not very. This might depnd on your job title. You may not have to do so much "leading" if you do not have many people below you. However, I was again surprised as I feel that good leadership is what makes a business successful. A good leader can make a sucess of a bad business plan but a poor leader can ruin even the best plan.
Finance- This being a weak skill of mine I was hoping for people to say not very however 28% found this to be extremely important, 28% quite, 28% sometimes and 14% very. Therefore on the whole participants felt this was an imprtant skill for a manager.
Legal Knowledge- Here the majority 44% found this quite important, 22% sometimes, 22% very and 11% extremely. Legal knowledge is important for setting up a business, buying or leasing a place for a business and hiring new employees. While you can hire lawyers it is important to have a basic knowledge of the legal aspect- company law, tax, legal procedure, the practcie etc.

Have you ever worked under great management?
70% of my participants said yes and 30% no, which was good to hear that so many had. Their reasons for the management being so successful ranged from good organsation, tkaing their needs as a performer into account, guests being pleased, good communication, clear aims and objedctives, managemtn working as a team and being efficient.

Have you worked under or know of arts managers that have been performers?
80% here said yes with only 20% no. Pretty much everyone agreed that performers can make good managers as they understand how things work and have been through it all themselves. One answer was that they have good dicipline, motivation, confidence, communication and are empathetic but firm.

What do you feel would be the hardest challenge in making a career tansition from performing?
Although I needed to reword this question, the results found that loss of income took the highest percentage, followed by loss of status, not knowing what to do, sense of emptiness, emotional problems, physical problems and loss of friends last.