I just finished hanging around for about an hour in one of my favourite idea spaces – The Charlie Rose Show. He was interviewing rapper Jay-Z. Now, I don’t pretend to understand rap, but I was struck by Jay-Z’s insistence that “love is the only thing that stands the test of time.” Music, he contends, connects us to emotion, and especially to love. It’s about passion, pain, fear, and aspiration.
So is teamwork. And, as we’ve been demonstrating at Jazzthink for 8 years now, great teamwork arises from the music of great conversations. Jazz great Cannonball Adderley once pointed out that music is pretty simple – it’s melody, harmony, and rhythm. That’s it!
So is teamwork. If we are clear about what is to be done, if we take the time to think through with each other how best to align our talents in mutually supportive ways, and if we keep each other moving at a pace and to a rhythm that creates productive flow, then our teams will be healthy and effective.
In the organizations with whom you have worked over this past year, I am curious about the degree to which you have found clarity of expectations, mutual support, and processes that sustain the rhythm of the work. I’ve become convinced that these elements of teamwork are essential if the music of our collaboration is going to connect with the emotions, especially love, that will keep it healthy and productive.
