Glastonbury Inspiration for better team performance

Using music to engage your team is a novel, fun and very creative way to help your team build their skills and their relationships with each other and with your business.

So we’ve just had the summer solstice, which can mean only one thing – Glastonbury! The power of music to engage, lift moods (even when faced with epic mud!), and bond friends and strangers alike. A magic formula! A formula that is not only useful in our personal lives though – those benefits just listed would be incredibly valuable in your work place teams too.

In all seriousness, music has earned much credibility through many studies now, as a unique way to engage people, boost moods, bond people, improve wellbeing and even as a way of treating dementia – to name a few of its perks. But don’t just take my word for it:

In an article about “The relationship between music & wellbeing” published by The University of Sheffield in January this year, they state:

“Cognitive reasons [for functional music listening] include increasing concentration and attention, while social reasons include bonding and group cohesion.

They also stated:

“…. the authors grouped all the FML into categories to describe the ways in which music can enhance wellbeing. These included:

• Affective (mood enhancement, increased arousal)

• Social (in group formation, atmosphere)

• Cognitive (stimulation of thought)

• Eudaimonic (personal growth, transcendence, awe)

• Music facilitated goal attainment (motivation, persistence)”

An article on Peoplelab says….

“There’s a science behind this mutual love of music, and the effect that it has on our brains. Dr Oliver Sacks, noted neurologist and author, explains the science behind these ideas:

“Humans are uniquely able to produce and enjoy music—very few other animals can do so. But not only is music one of the fundamental ways we bond with each other, it literally shapes our brains. Perhaps this is so because musical activity involves many parts of the brain (emotional, motor, and cognitive areas), even more than we use for our other great human achievement, language. This is why it can be such an effective way to remember or to learn. It is no accident that we teach our youngest children with rhymes and songs. As anyone who can’t get an advertising jingle or a popular song out of their head knows, music burrows its way deep into the nervous system, so deep, in fact, that even when people suffer devastating neurological disease or injury, music is usually the last thing they lose.”

So why not take your next team building event as an opportunity to bond and grow through music?

Live Wire is one such way of achieving this. It’s been created by the team that brought you Charity Bike Build, so you can be sure that there is a fantastic social benefit to this team building challenge too.

Not only do your team get to stretch themselves through learning new musical instruments, they have to really use and develop skills such as ‘great listening’, ‘collaboration’, and ‘synergy and cooperation with team members’.

A brilliant article posted by The Coach Federation in April this year, lists 5 positive exercises and impacts that a music activity can have on your team, which echo those skills mentioned above.

The benefits of such a team building activity don’t stop there though. At O3e, the creators of Charity Bike Build, we will only ever create a team building event that not only benefits you, but also benefits your community. We’re firm believers in taking CSR seriously and in a meaningful way. Through a Live Wire event, you can help to build a children’s music library at a local children’s centre, or you can donate another Live Wire experience directly to a local children’s group or local Mencap centre.

An article by Community Playthings clearly explains many of the benefits to children having access to music, including development of listening skills and development of social skills, amongst many. Whilst an article in the Guardian,shows the incredibly positive impact your donated session could have on your local learning disabled community, including reducing social isolation.

Have fun with your team – get your groove on – help your community – develop valuable skills – get your team in rhythm.

A recent newsletter of ours, gave some great ideas on how you can organise a Summer festival inspired team building event, accessing the benefits of music as well as other festival themed activities.

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