Many companies and organisations are going through a substantial period of change. Our latest client, an international household name in the food and drink industry, was no different. With many well-known products and brands in their expansive portfolio, the client was centralising its operations. This meant that all their brand teams, with very different people, career backgrounds, skill sets, ethnicity and ages would need to work more closely together.
Events company Top Banana organised a whole two-day event with the client to help them with this organisational change and we brought in our team from Unbeatable Energy to kick off the Culture session. Our brief was to demonstrate working together and embracing differences, whilst also providing something high energy in only 15 minutes and repeat this with four different groups of 150 people! We were not fazed by this challenge, as Unbeatable Energy have the perfect tools for this job – tuned acoustic tubes called Boomwhackers. We provided these instruments for all our participants to play, as well as our team providing a high-tempo back up on West African drums.
Steve Rivers led the Unbeatable Energy team, assisted by me and Justine Hart. While I provided accompaniment on the bass drums, Steve and Justine’s effortless djembe playing was a joy. The sound we made blended well in the room's acoustics. The ceiling was high, but the sound was tempered by the copious seasonal decorations, lights, trees, massive baubles and the natural acoustics of the room. This meant that the sound travelled well to the people further back. Being a promenade venue by the Brighton seafront, the sun from the beach shone in to the room space creating a lovely warm light and ambience.
After a brief introduction, Steve announced that we were all going to have an "Orchestra in fifteen minutes". Huh? I beg your pardon!? Yes, that's what he said! Without any further ado, everyone was guided on playing and creating sounds from each of the differently coloured tubes.
A top tip was 'More technique; less strength helps get the best sound’. Each participant found their own way soon enough and quickly understood Steve's 'conducting' from the stage.
About five minutes in, everyone was making a reasonable noise, but had someone mentioned an orchestra?
So, a couple of colours were introduced to set a basic tempo. Then one by one, other colours were included with their own rhythmic patterns, which all combined to create quite a 'funky' groove. Justine and I helped any sections if things went a bit sideways (as they are bound to) but soon each part started to fit in again with the other rhythms. At times the rhythms started to speed up – at one point Steve even had to stop the music, explain that it was racing, and start again. This was okay as learning to recognise what needed changing and then adapting was all part of the learning process.
Steve then modified the original tempo, and the sound patterns were developed and transformed. Despite the complexity, the playing and syncopation then remained remarkably fixed and steady.
The rhythms had started, developed, and finished with a glorious crescendo! No one could resist cheering and applauding what we had all achieved together. It may not have been 'The Proms', but it was orchestral, and yes, in less than fifteen minutes! Encore, encore!
What can we learn about the dynamics of effectively working together in a short 15-minute percussion music activity? A 15-minute team building activity is like a microcosm of how a diverse team can work together.
Our sessions were followed by the facilitators presenting the new company ethos and culture guidelines. The experience of everybody playing, listening, getting 'it', losing 'it' a bit, and then getting 'it' back again resonated with the presentations. The cooperative morphing nature of the rhythmic tune demonstrated how disparate groups can still work (and joyfully play) with little effort.
The learning points that Unbeatable Energy and the client’s delegates drew from the sessions were:
How we act is more than what we say
We all play a part, intentionally or not
We can change what we do, but we do need to spot when to adapt
Coming together creates something new.
We would welcome the opportunity to work with both the client and Top Banana again and we are pleased to have played a small part in that ‘something new’.
By Demetri Dourambeis
Planning a company event soon? Talk to us about how we can raise the morale of your team (or your client’s team) with drumming and percussion team building.