Organizations and companies are like orchestras. There are many different people, with many different ideas and many different thoughts and feelings. Not to mention culture, race, gender, age, geography, department, seniority, to name a few.

As in a music orchestra, where we have many different instruments, with many different sounds, with varying degrees of tone, volume and presence, in a company, we have many different voices, with varying degrees of volume and input. Those different voices are representative of the different departments, divisions and levels of management.

The Drum Cafe is the perfect tool to experience this in a kinesthetic, hands on, FUN way, that truly connects and makes relevant how the sum of the whole is greater than the individual parts. How each little voice has a contribution to the music / company, and how the music is representative of their organization, and how incredible it can be, when they are making music as group.

Drum Cafe activities represent total inclusion of your audience, and put everyone on a level playing field. The drum circle uplifts, inspires and breaks down barriers.

Our team is also representative of the gamut of West African and South African musicians and business people.

An inside look at  the Drum Cafe Diversity and Inclusion philosophy and approach

Music is a wonderful natural embodiment of collaboration and cooperation and in many ways is one of the earliest forms of teamwork or team building.  First, its important to discern between a team of individuals and a group of individuals.   As humans, we are naturally different – all of us is a distinct individual.  Therefore, we of course have unique skills, thoughts, talents, and contributions.  We even have different ideas about what is best and agendas that would serve our own purpose.  So while a group is made up of people who may or may not share the same goal, a team is a disparate or diverse group of people who do share the same goal, for example, winning a championship, growing a successful business, raising a child, or performing a song.
 
This is where the music metaphor comes powerfully into play.  On any stage of musicians, be it a 4-person rock band or a 32-piece orchestra, that ‘group’ is comprised of unique talents or ‘voices’.   Those voices can be drums, guitars, piano, wind instruments, string instruments, percussion, vocals, etc. 

To create something that becomes ‘music’, they have to share the same goal. 

The ‘beat’ or ‘meter’ of the music is literally the vehicle around which they ‘measure’ each other.   If each musicians stays true to the group’s collective ‘measure’ of success, they will stay aligned around the goal of the song and be able to express themselves and their own individuality according to the rules of that song.   When each voice delivers its unique contribution, the sum total of those unique voices, when expressed in turn and with respect for one another - by listening and playing and creating and receiving all simultaneously – far exceed the individual contribution.

And a synergistic result – a song – is born.

In business, the  parallel is clear.  If we were all the same, most of us would be redundant.  We have functional talents at each level of the organization. We have specialists in certain product sets and geographic markets.  And we have a wonderful array of voices that just need to be aligned around a ‘meter’ that will deliver a result around which they can become emotionally attached to. 

If organizations can serve their teams of employees that way, they will see a level of engagement not known ever before.  The ‘meter’ in a business is the vision.  It is the overarching mission or purpose statement around which we all play….around which our energy is synchronized and our diversity is synthesized. 

If an organization can make music….there is no end to what that team can accomplish.