The Drum Cafe Core Team Building Program
Opening
Objective:
Establishing a universal dialogue. Transcending the spoken word to quickly and effectively bring everyone ‘onto the same page’, allowing us to relate easily to one another and bridge the professional, functional, and personal gaps that may exist.
- We come together here much like people have been doing for hundreds of years.
- In African culture where The Drum Cafe started – and many cultures around the world – the drums are used to bring a community together – however that community is defined.
- They come together to celebrate successes as well as synchronize energy/synthesize shared sense of purpose through the universal expression of music and rhythm because words are encumbered with biases based on the different ‘family’ from which they come.
- So a cooperative, collaborative endeavor like music helps flatten out the hierarchy and encourages all to jettison individual ‘agendas’ and recognize the greater good and purpose of the unit as a whole.
Bass Note
Objective:
Alignment of different groups; focus is on mission/purpose statement of the organization globally and the one beat/one voice that echoes throughout. Transcendence of disparities among delegates and emphasis on unified whole.
- The music has a mission, purpose, or ‘backbone’ just like your company does. It is the ‘bass beat’. The one pulse that ties all the musical voices together just as your mission statement ties the whole company together – all the offices, geographic regions, functional areas, levels in the hierarchy, etc.
- Used to gain enrollment/engagement from the constituencies present by getting them to really ‘feel’ in a perceptible way (fingertips on drums) what that mission is about rather than talk about it because true commitment comes when you can internalize and believe in a mission rather than just hear the words.
Tone Note
Objective:
Recognition and Appreciation of Diversity of individual thoughts, skills, and contributions. Explores unique manner/voice that each uses to support the global mission of the org and emphasize the synergy that results from our unique collaboration.
(Alternate objective may be to emphasize creativity/innovation and focus through a dialogue using the medium of music.) We listen 3x faster than we speak so in a verbal dialogue, not only do we have to fight through our own filters/biases from the words coming across, but there is much more space in the ‘dialogue’ to wander off, drift, and lose our presence. Music summons more of our senses and attention, sharpening our focus, and making us more receptive to the message. Creative calls/responses demonstrate a musical dialogue that supports the metaphor that has become the Drum Café’s namesake; i.e., instead of going to our favorite café, restaurant, pub, park, etc to connect and dialogue with words, this ‘drum café’ connects us in a more involved, more powerful way, leaving us much more empowered as a result of the shared experience of making music together.
- Every players has role on a team and relies on the other to do his/her job to the best of their unique abilities to succeed. Each person, function, office, etc will interpret their role in supporting the mission in his/her own unique way so that there are no right answers as long as you a) follow the bass beat/pulse/mission statement and b) listen to each other as in a conversation.
- Music is a wonderful embodiment of how unique voices contribute in their own way based on their own interpretation of how to support the ‘beat’ or the ‘mission’.
- And when all these unique voices can come together around a central purpose or beat, we can not only make discernible, powerful music, but we gain a tolerance and indeed an appreciation for the value of the diversity present around us….all real time and in the moment.
Multi-Part Rhythm:
Objective:
The first time since the beginning of the program that the entire group is not doing the same thing at the same time. Now time to apply what we’ve been teaching throughout.
- Expressly showcases the interdependence that music is about. Following a shared ‘pulse’, different rhythms are doled out (using drums or optionally boomwhackers) and a real-time multi-rhythmic ensemble burgeons, manifesting the learnings from the functionality presented heretofore.
- This also becomes the first time that the group carries the music entirely on their own as the drum café ‘training wheels’ are removed when the DC team stops playing and allows them to ‘drive’ the music all by themselves.
- This module is one of our best opportunities to model the workplace by assigning rhythm parts according to the natural groupings that have been uncovered by the facilitator during their pre-program consultation. The workplace model (along with the time available on agenda and other logistical considerations) is what largely drives the rhythm assignments/tools used (drums, boomwhackers, even sticks/shakers/hands/feet/voices….
Percussion Set:
Objective:
Ascending from the drum beat to an increasingly more ‘intelligent’ or ‘sophisticated’ harmony of rhythm and a further exploration into synergy from teamwork.
Different tools now used like percussion instruments or boomwhackers to build on the learnings from the previous 3 sessions. . A poly-rhythmic ensemble embodies the ‘symphony of talent’ that our customers and the marketplace hear externally around the globe as a result of our coordinated efforts internally.
- Its important to recognize that all of us contribute a magic and an excellence to create a musical, even orchestral ensemble that resonates within the company and the marketplace.
- The percussion instruments really now deliver the ‘seasoning/spices’ (drums are meat & potatoes) on a recipe that really sets us apart from other companies in the industry/marketplace; the 20% of the 80/20 rule which makes customers want to choose us from other seemingly similar companies offering similar products.
- In the moment, the individual voices from the composition are ‘carved/sculpted out’ to allow us a focus from all the seeming chaos around us to discern the value that may exist in each contribution, nurture and develop it, and promote it if it is aligned with our mission. Similar to our role as managers and leaders. Take time to focus on the parts that comprise the whole. Either reinforce them or re-direct them based on what you see, hear, feel, etc. Same with music.
- Of the millions of musical compositions available in our global libraries, they have all been borne out of a unique interpretation/deployment of a finite set of instruments, voices, notes, chords. All about assembly, style, delivery, etc. Same with us. We know its about dollars and cents. But how do we uniquely deliver on our product/service to get to the point of maximing those dollars and cents?
- To be the best, you have to look at continuous improvement: what modifications, what solutions, what challenges need to be overcome and with what mindset, frame of reference, tool/skill set might be used to look at something in a different way.
Celebration:
Objective:
A celebratory, high-energy close.
Final crescendo invites the entire group to voice their collective success, usually resulting in everybody up off their feet and expressing themselves through dance or otherwise, reflecting not only their enthusiasm and passion for being a part of the team and challenge at hand, but more importantly and perhaps subtley, a reflection of the safe, supported environment they now feel a part of….one that makes them secure enough to literally ‘dance like nobody’s watching’!.
- You have delivered. We are here to celebrate that by sharing our passion, energy, and enthusiasm. The organization will ask you to continue to deliver…they’ve invested in you for the time you’ve spent to come here for this meeting and now it’s about the ‘call to action’ . As we’ve been doing this afternoon, everyone is a part of the performance. There are no spectators. So before we send you out, we want to see that you all are ready to answer that call to action: with your passion, your enthusiasm, your energy.
- Show your commitment by helping us finish the meeting by blowing the roof off this place!!
