What if music showed us the way to live in harmony in the companies?

My dual connection to both the world of music (as a singer and jazz improviser) and the business world (a career as an engineer, now coach and facilitator) often leads me to draw parallels between musical creation and performance and what we experience in our organizations.

Let's take a jazz concert, for example, which is a universe I know well. Drawing some parallels can be enlightening and inspiring.

🎶 Composition: With a harmonic framework and a melody, the score is the backbone of the musical work; it carries an intention and tells a story, with or without words, it's the soul of the music! It's the work of a composer or a collective.

🏭 In business, the company's vision carries the common intention of the organization; without it, there's no direction, no common purpose. This vision is generally carried by the leader, but it can also benefit from being co-constructed collectively.

🎶 Arrangement: The combination of instruments, rhythm, silences, and nuances will give depth to the whole. In jazz, musicians are masters at diverting and reinventing standards to create entirely original tunes.

🏭 In business, the strategy can be implemented in various ways starting from the vision. This is where collective intelligence can reveal its full strength and take innovative paths that will shake up old practices.

🎶 The group: It requires diversity and complementarity; each instrument harmoniously complements the whole with its own sounds and "colors."

🏭 In business, the diversity of skills within a team opens up possibilities and allows for different perspectives for informed decisions and increased creativity.

🎶 Virtuosity is constant work; each person in their specialty must continually work on their technique to maintain their level of performance and improve.

🏭 In business, resting on one's laurels isn't an option; improving skills is necessary to adapt to new contexts and enrich oneself with best practices.

🎶 Rehearsals create a coherent whole from individual scores. Beyond the score, which provides a framework, there must be constant listening and the establishment of communication codes to stay connected. It is assumed that each musician is competent; group work focuses on overall intention, coherence, and aesthetics.

🏭 In business, governance and communication methods are necessary to organize interactions between team members. Developing listening skills will also be essential to maintain connections and enable fluidity in interactions. In a high-performing team, relationships are based on trust, with recognition of each person's skills, and team members share a common intention supported by a shared vision.

🎶 The concert: The big moment, after all the preparation, is when the audience is there, ready to listen to the story the musicians will tell them. Collective dynamics, with a shared intention, resonate in the room. Enthusiasm, authenticity, and the desire to share are all factors for making the room vibrate with the musicians.

🏭 In business, the story we tell to clients, internal or external, our ability to consider them as part of a unique system by breaking away from silo systems, is essential for establishing healthy relationships and engaging them in a common adventure, far from ego and power struggles.

🎶 Improvisation: It's a specificity of jazz; a soloist takes the lead and improvises a melody over the harmonic framework of the piece. The group supports the soloist, welcomes what happens, and supports the soloist's discourse, which is completely spontaneous and reflects the feelings and emotions of the moment.

🏭 In business, welcoming the unexpected is a basic skill in our ever-changing ecosystems; we must act intelligently, seize what comes to bounce back, readjust while not losing sight of the vision. The "organic" functioning of Opales organizations (Frédéric Laloux - reinventing organizations) goes further with the principle of an evolving purpose to be able to rebound on changes in context.

And you, what does music or other forms of art inspire in you? How can you transpose it to the business world? Does harmony in business make sense to you?

Conclusion of this musical journey: 🎶 To confidently play the score of success, a company benefits from seeking harmony, fluidity, and quality relationships 🎶

#collaboration #LeadershipLessons #Teamwork