BOOM! Blog | Team Building Events Toronto Ontario Canada

Drummers on Wall Street

Like many of you, I have been seeing and hearing the news surrounding Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park, New York. It appears that the drummers involved have caused quite a controversy and while they may have intended to be helping the cause it appears they may actually be hurting it. They have been playing most of the day and well into the night and as well as garnering noise complaints from both the neighbourhood and the protesters. They have caused a divide in the movement itself. Since drumming has been so positive for me, I wanted to dig a little deeper to try to understand what is going on.

Throughout history drumming has always had a purpose. It has always had the incredible power to unify groups of people. Its ancient uses were in ceremonies to celebrate various occasions in a village and also to prepare warring factions for battle. The drum has had a long history in war. The armies of Rome had drummers along side the commanding officers that played rhythmic versions of the commanders’ orders. Drums could be heard over the battlefield and played beats to keep the troops marching.

Nowadays, drumming has many realizations. It is true that it has been a big part of freer gatherings of people expressing their concerns over a cause; to show unity and ”togetherness”. But it is hard for onlookers to have an appreciation for the power of drumming when it is used disrespectfully. I have learned that there are actually two drumming groups involved in this protest in New York. There is a group of drummers that agreed to play during two windows of time during the day. But another group who just wanted to play wherever they want as long as they want.

Drums have the power of sooth as well as annoy. I have always said that playing drums in a group is about two things: Listening and Respect. This respect is also for the listener; if you don’t respect your listener then drumming becomes a selfish act. When you take listening and respect away from drumming it becomes noise, and it makes it hard for those us who care so deeply about the great power of drumming to be taken seriously when we speak about its benefits.

http://occupywallst.org/article/drumming-and-occupation/

http://gawker.com/5852992/

Are you in sync?

Working on a project with a team can be a truly fulfilling experience, but only if you make the most use of it. Great teams are filled with multiple talents, knowledge, experience and best of all, ideas. Once your team has got the direction of execution figured out, how do you make sure you stay in sync? While you all started out on the same page, it is worthwhile to figure out how you sync up with others to make sure the right things are happening at the right time. Even though there is a project leader and a plan, only you really know if things are fitting together in the moment and that may require some finesse. Only by being truly aware of whom you are working “in- concert” with at a certain point will things happen the way they should. As well, don’t forget to shift your focus to different members of the team as tasks and time-lines dictate. The more you know about where you connect other team members throughout the project, the smoother it will go.

Where there is creativity, there is a chance of conflict. The magic is in how you resolve it.

Every organization wants to be more creative but setting up the right environment for people to be their creative best is paramount and can be difficult. The challenge is making sure that the people involved in the creative process are suited to work together, that they don’t all think the same and that they are not out to sabotage others.

The best way for a person to be truly creative is if they feel are in a situation where they have the respect and trust of those on their team. Creativity demands experimentation, “thinking outside the box”, being a bit wacky sometimes or willing to look at making a dramatic change. It should be exhilarating if a bit scary. Good ideas often take you to the edge of the comfort zone and that is a good thing.

Creativity in the corporate world often involves an accumulation of ideas and perspectives. You need a ton of them to get that “one” that is really a winner. Within creative moments there will be and should be conflict. Conflict is not bad if it is truly conflict over an idea. Often, it is simply a different perspective. Where conflict can be bad is if it is based on personalities, as these can get emotional and thus complicated and time-consuming to resolve.

This all gets back to having the right environment to allow for creativity to thrive. Respectful language and real listening are crucial; a careful discussion of pros and cons. Creating something together is often about the advancement of everyone involved and that goal should be reiterated when things get off track.

Commonalities & Differences

We all love it when we meet people who share our likes and interests. Everything is so easy; conversation, picking restaurants, spending time together. Marketing for countless products targets similarities in groups of people. Companies who help find people a soul mate use commonalities as currency. It’s comfortable to be around people who share your interests and ideals.

As with anything, there can be a downside to this. It can limit experience and growth. Hence the sayings, “opposites attract” and “vive la difference!” Being around people who were different from you can challenge you think about things in new ways.
Being a musician, one of things I love to do when I travel is have a music lesson with a local player. I love how it expands my mind and it never fails to humble. It teaches me that there are so many exciting ways to accomplish my goals. The big lesson is that in order to learn something new you need to leave your familiar ways of thinking at the door. It gets in the way. It blocks you from doing the most important thing when learning something new… listening! It is the approach that is enlightening and the thing I remember the most. It stretches me and makes me think differently, change me, even.

Out of the comfort zone.

Ok, I admit it, I am a fan of the TV show Battle of the Blades. If you have never watched it, it takes professional hockey players and pairs them with professional figure skaters. Each duo has a week to prepare a short skating program that is judged by a panel of 3 experts. TV viewers get to vote for their favourites. It’s fun, and the winning duo gets $100,000.00 donated to their favourite charity. Clearly a win-win, but the part that has fascinated me the most, is the courage that these hockey players are demonstrating by getting outside their comfort zone. This is not easy for these guys. It is not always pretty but they have obviously decided to give it their all, no matter the level of figure skating they can attain. To be fair, sometimes they actually pull off some moves convincingly, but most often you can tell they are working and working hard. These guys are a great example of humility and what it means to be a risk taker. Imagine being seen nationwide doing something you have only done for a very limited time and that you have just a little training for. Wow! No matter what you may think of hockey these days, I certainly give these guys some credit. If you need a little inspiration I would suggest you have a look. Sundays and Mondays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

The right balance.

My reference to the word ‘balance” is the ability for a group of people to come together in a task in such away that all the elements are in just the right proportion. I just had the pleasure of working with a groups from a school board superintendents field office today who seem to come by this naturally. Because they are rooted in the education field, so I am guessing inside them somewhere was a little instilled kindness and an ability to nurture and listen more than some others. Being aggressive was simply not in their nature. This particular session included people who were long time members of this team and a couple of new hires. I was impressed at how the the long time members made the new comers feel welcome. But balance is not a naturally occurring thing; in people anyway. It is created by a sensitivity toward others. It is created by listening and thinking about how to work together, not just by working. After spending a couple of hours with this team and enjoying their “balance” I am sure great things will come from them.

Trust. Do you have it?

The more I work with teams the more I see that a real issue in organizations is simply trust. But it is hardly talked about out loud. We as humans are always looking for trust in all our dealings. Trust provides us with the security of knowing what will happen. It gives us some predictability in an unpredictable world. But it doesn’t take much to destroy trust. If you innocently don’t follow through on things, don’t remember to do something you promised, even the most minute things can get people to trust you a little less. People remember the most remarkable things, especially when it comes to something they trusted you to do. Funny thing is, nobody ever comes up to you and says they don’t trust you anymore when you mess up. They just quietly don’t trust you anymore. But if you notice someone has become a little bit colder to you, you might think about if you violated their trust somehow.

Use these tips to build trust:

1. Be trusting of others. Sure you may get burned once in a while but isn’t this a better way to go through life?

2. Tell the truth. Seems simple but…not everyone does.

3. Take responsibility for your actions. Admit your mistakes and remember they are learning experiences. Everyone messes up sometime!

4. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. People remember!

5. Be predictable and consistent. Be yourself and let people know who that is. Even if they don’t like your messages, they will trust who you are, what you say and respect you for it.

6. Do the right thing. For every situation there is a “right” thing to do. Do the right thing consistently and trust will come.

Music is supposed to be fun!

I was fortunate enough to be on Faculty at the Royal Conservatory of Music Community School in Toronto for 20 years. My roles were that of a private instructor specializing in drums and percussion and as Conductor /Artistic Director of the RCM Percussion Ensembles. In that wonderful time, I had the pleasure of teaching so many interesting students. Many who went on to have music careers but so many more who when on to just play music for the sake of enjoyment. Because anyone could come to the community school no matter their age, in a given year I could have a age range of private students from 7 to 70. Teaching taught me so much about people, and perhaps the biggest lesson I learned was not to judge too quickly (which I did more quickly in my early teaching career). I learned that talent is such a small factor when it came to achieving success. Hard work always wins. Those with lots of talent are always in danger of feeling like they don’t need to work hard and they often end up quitting when something does not come easily, which eventually happens.

Now you should understand that drum students are not like other typical music students. Unlike piano or violin, nobody’s Mom or Dad is out there saying “Now I want you to take drum lessons or else!” , “And you are going to practice 2 hours a day!” Usually is it the opposite. Young drum students usually have to beg their parents for lessons and to get them an instrument. Adult drum students often came in saying ” I took piano as a kid and hated it but I have always wanted to play drums!” Young and old alike play drums because of the fun factor ( as well as the “cool” factor). Many people don’t even know drummers can read notes (well at least some like me can). Over the years I have taken in many a piano student who just wanted to put the fun back in music. Now I don’t mean to slam learning piano. I think it is a great instrument and one that everyone should spend some time with. It can teach you so much that will definitely be valuable. But for many people, it is easy to get caught up in the rigidity of having to perfect those scales, technical studies and pieces as well as get high marks on those exams. It can easily happen that there isn’t much time left to have fun in a practice session. And fun is not a word I would ever use for a piano exam!

Kids falling in love with music are so wonderful to watch. They improvise with ease. (A great life skill!) They are not thinking about what they are trying to perform but they are falling in love with sound. (It is not unlike the way that very small children fall in love with colour when they finger paint). They don’t know what a wrong note is, they are just putting sounds together and responding to what they hear. Often if they are under 8 or so, they play with such ease using very relaxed movements (movements that adults spend months or years trying to achieve). They imagine, create and are not scared to do something silly. It is so much fun! The challenge of every music teacher is to not let that joy disappear as children progress as players.

These days I teach on a larger scale (still using drums) by helping organizations work together better through my team building programs. However, I also quietly allow them to regain their love of playing music again. Something that they left behind many years ago because they didn’t like practicing or didn’t do so well on a music exam. They get to experience a side of themselves they didn’t know they had. Occasionally, just occasionally when everything falls into place, the experience can be so powerful that it brings some people to tears, because making music with other people is one of the most joyous things you can do.

Most parents want their kids to take music lessons and there are many good reasons for that. Supposedly it develops better connections between their right and left brain, makes them better thinkers, allowing them to get better grades, allowing them to have better career opportunities and so on. All noble goals, but my advice is if you have kids, encourage them to have fun with music. All that other stuff will still happen. And if you are an adult wishing to play, or you are trying to get better, allow yourself to start with the fun, the rest will come. The fun must be there when you play because if it is not no one will want to listen to you. And I bet that the journey of progressing on your chosen instruments will have a profound impact on other areas of your life.

Cultural integration and Shadow Puppets

I am very fortunate. I have played in this band called the Evergreen Club Gamelan Ensemble for 22 years now. ( In case you don’t know Gamelan is an Indonesian word for orchestra and our version of this “orchestra” is made up of a collection of bronze pots and gongs, hand drums, a bamboo flute and a zither called a Kacapi). The music can be often meditative and relaxing or aggressive and exciting. Over the years we have had the good fortune to play all over the world and make several cd’s. 5 of the 8 original members are still with the group. Still after all this time, I am amazed at the dedication and teamwork of this group. For me, it serves as a real life example of what people can accomplish when they work together. Our most recent venture was couple of concerts that featured two things you don’t see everyday. 1) A collaboration between a gamelan and a couple of brilliant turntable artists along with singers and 2) a shadow puppet play by long time member and goofy wizard Rick Sacks.

As a group of white guys playing musical instruments from another culture halfway around the world, we are always looking for ways to put our own stamp on the sound and traditions of these amazing instruments. Adding the turntable musicians of iNSiDEaMIND certainly did that. I have to admit when I learned that we were doing a concert along side “turntables” I was a bit skeptical. A gamelan is not particularly loud but turntables well… you know… they need amplification and that can be dangerous. However, the first rehearsal set my mind at ease because of the artists great sensitivity to our sound and aesthetic. They did what everyone needs to do when they join a team (especially a well established one), they listened and found their way in. The results were incredible, taking the listener in so many directions and creating a struggle to actually define what you were hearing. After that, it was all collaboration, give and take, and glorious results. Tunes with structure with room for improvisation, a musicians dream. The added talent of singers Jennifer Moore and Maryem Tollar took things to places that can only be defined as other-worldly.

As if that wasn’t enough, after intermission and a huge set change. we premiered a new work ” The Adventures of the Smoid”. A new shadow puppet play by Rick Sacks. First of all, if you don’t know, shadow puppet plays are a very old at form of entertainment in Indonesia where in puppet-masters present 2 to 3 hour long plays with incredibly ornate puppets accompanied by live gamelan music. They usually take place in a central location in a village with the light for the play coming from a glowing fire behind a taught piece of fabric. I saw one myself in Bali which was captivating. Creating this brand new play took a lot of work and planning on Rick’s part. He had to bring his vision to life by creating the story board, followed by designing and making of the puppets. The creation phase of the accompaniment itself was a dream because Rick let the group create their own take on his ideas. He provided the direction but allowed the players to come up with just the right musical accompaniment for the differing scenes of the play based on his concepts. As well a few of the musicians also had to learn a new skill… becoming a puppeteer. Forced with the usual challenges of any project, getting everyone together and tough time-lines, the process was an absolute joy because of the teamwork this group continues to practice . The results…well… being a performer in the show myself I can say modestly that it was a success. The audience loved it. As for me, I look forward doing it again or doing anything again with this team of people who have learned how to work together in such a magical way.

Do you still want to be on the team when the team has changed?

Nothing lasts forever! We all know that but we refuse to believe it sometimes. One of the most challenging situations we get into at work is being part of a team ( department / division) for a while and then it begins to change. The change could be caused by a number of reasons but often its a new direction from the management or the addition of new personnel, probably both. When we put the best of ourselves into our work we can have a hard time with these changes. After all, both these reasons will probably cause us to poke our head out of the sand because the same old-same old is not the same any more. When this happens we usually have some hard choices to make depending on the degree of the changes.

In thinking about this, I think there are a couple of major factors at play. People and attitude. The workplace is so much about people getting along, this requires a certain setting aside of criticisms and comparisons. Let’s face it, you are not going to love everyone you meet. The key to an interesting world is the fact that we are all different. We only love a few people in our lives so it is important to find away to like as many other people as possible or life can get pretty grim. Presumably someone has been brought into your organization because of their unique skills and what they will bring into the organization. The key is really to start to appreciate how having this person be a part of the team will lead to your success. (And by your success I mean keeping the company alive and prospering so you still have a job). By supporting new team members this can only help you and the team succeed. Too many times I have seen people in organizations simply sabotage other people. This of course leads to an awful workplace environment and a lot of changes of personnel. Not to mention making every ones job more difficult.

A lot of this comes down to ego and open mindedness. The most successful people in organizations know they need change and other people to be successful. If you really feel you are not up to the challenge of working with the changes then probably it is time to move on. After all, even loving someone you really care about can take effort at times.