|
EVENING STANDARD
Once ‘too wacky’ for business, jazz improvisation
has new parallels in the corporate world, says Tina Bexson.
Think of jazz. Think rhythm, communication, interpretation and improvisation.
Then think of the relationships and dynamics of your workplace. Notice
any comparisons? You should. According to forward-thinking management
gurus, the jazz metaphor is now especially relevant to what people want,
need, and increasingly do at work. As the American leadership consultant
said, “Running an organisation is like leading a jazz ensemble:
it’s all improvisation.” In the past it had been described
as being “akin to conducting a symphony orchestra.”
Over here, Dominic Alldis, a London jazz pianist and composer, is giving
presentations to companies and business schools using music as a metaphor
for a range of organisational issues such as teamwork, leadership and,
most of all, creativity. Many of his eclectic mix of clients, including
Barclays Bank, Diageo, Mars, New Look, the Work Foundation (formerly the
Industrial Society) and LVMH, are now using the information as part of
their training packages. “When I approached them three years ago,
I wouldn’t even get a letter back.” says Alldis. “It
was seen as too wacky for them, but now there is a lot of interest.”
“Music is a universal language for communicating ideas and emotions,
and musical concerns such as technique, listening and preparation all
provide a stimulating insight into familiar management concerns.”
In the leadership presentation, Alldis contrasts the role of the conductor
of an orchestra with how leadership functions in jazz. He reveals how
the orchestral metaphor is old and hierarchical and how the jazz metaphor
of leadership is more rotational and empowering where people build on
each other’s ideas. “Metaphorically you can say everybody
wants to be a jazz musician. Everybody wants that kind of freedom and
creative input.
If you are managing people you can help them create their
own melodies and develop their own ideas so they can be blended with the
group. In addition to releasing their individuality and creativity rather
than follow scores that have been predetermined. It’s also very
important to establish a kind of rhythm or groove, to lock in to some
kind of pulse, which is something everybody hopes to feel when they are
working in a team.”
It is during the “interactive workshop” that you can actually
experience these concepts in practice. You are put into small groups and
given percussion instruments, such as bells, xylophones and chimes, to
prepare pices of music within a fixed period of time. Alldis hopes each
group will succeed in creating an imaginative piece that will be performed
and appraised by the others.“
All the ideas are coming in spontaneously,” he explains. “It’s
incredibly powerful for people because it’s in a language other
than speech where one can express one idea at a time. It opens up their
emotional side and they get away from the rational way of perceiving everything.
It’s a rich space.”
David Linthwaite, a director of sales at the BBC, thought so too. On
the back of a departmental reorganisation, he arranged for his team to
have a two-hour session with Alldis, which included the creation of a “musical
experience.”
“Dominic connected music creation with business challenges and
it helped re-enforce important messages about teamwork and leadership.
The musical performances were remarkably good, given the short time and
lack of talent, it has given us a motive to talk further about how we
work together, and most of all it provided a common language regardless
of ability or experience, prompting us to think about listening more.
It gave me great confidence in our business challenges going forward.”
Tina Bexson
Business Correspondent
June 2002
Back to the media page.
|
|
