Leadership and communication lessons from rock stars — Lesson 2
The Magic of Chemistry. My obsession with watching rock shows online continues as the pandemic prolongs. While watching U2’s Glastonbury performance from 2011, a thought struck me. What kind of preparation readies bands to do the unplanned transitions or adjust nuances as they perform together? When Bono suddenly breaks into Yellow, I wonder if that was rehearsed. How do Edge, Adam and Larry know how to coordinate with Bono? Often in great bands, one can see musicians seamlessly communicating with each other, sometimes with small physical cues and sometimes with no cues at all. They cover up when one misses a beat or forgets his lines. This real time human to human communication is just magical.
This reminded me of a time when we were working on a large deal and a team of ten colleagues, who had hardly met each other, came together for this full-day workshop I was leading. On the preceding day, we took a lunch break and decided to order pizzas. Ordering pizzas for 10 people was proving to be complex. One of us decided to log into a restaurant website and projected the same on a large screen. We spent 30 mins deciding the pizzas considering everyone’s personal preferences. One might consider this activity a waste of time given that we were working on a large presentation. But I still remember those 30 mins as the time when we really bonded as a team and built the chemistry. In the days ahead, we rocked the presentation as though we all had worked with each other for years.
In many workshops, presentations, events I have had the good fortune to work with teams the way a band does. The team members have an inherent chemistry, we can give cues — a look, a touch, a nod — and we can communicate. We know who brings what strength and who carries what weakness. We know who can do what. When the team works with this chemistry, magic happens. Great teams are created and amazing success is achieved when teams develop this chemistry. But this chemistry does not develop in a formal setting. This develops when we humanize our colleagues and we spend time getting to know each other. Those chats, watching a game together, getting to know families, a drink together, discussing favourite movies or arguing about politics can develop great chemistry and lead to magic in work settings.
Often organizations frown upon these activities as a waste of time or as employees we usually keep our personal stuff away. We are told to leave personal selves out and we bring a sterile impersonal self to work. This is not conducive to building great teams/bands. I have in my work life encouraged building these lasting relationships and whenever I have faced challenging situations, my band came to my rescue. The joy of working together, the camaraderie, the shared experiences are infinitely more memorable than the outcome of the activity.
So, have you created your own bands, have you experienced the joy of the human to human connection, have you felt the chemistry? Maybe the secret to great teams is not infinite talent, or Ivy League degrees but ability of people to leave aside egos and prejudices and connect as humans. I have had the joy of being in such bands, discover yours..
If you want to understand what I mean, watch U2 perform All I Want Is You at Slane Castle and transition to Where The Streets Have No Name, one of the best transitions in rock history… magical chemistry.
