Trumpeting the secrets of teamwork

Jazz musicians can teach business leaders a lot about when to take control and when to take a step back.

In a bar at an Oxford college a seven-piece jazz band is half-way through a lengthy improvisation. But this is not just a jam session. The audience consists of senior managers hoping to gain some insights into team dynamics from listening to melodies like "Love for Sale" and "It's a sin to tell a lie". While the latter may be a useful tune for executives to remember in the post-Enron era, the academics running the course insist the evening with the jazz band is more than a gimmick designed to spice up several days of management theory.

"Many people in business are used to speaking in terms of systems and diagrams," says Dr Marshall Young, who directs this strategic leadership programme at Oxford University's Templeton College. "Ordinary people are more expressive, and the jazz performance introduces a new language for discussing team dynamics."

Using jazz as a metaphor for organisation is, it seems, nothing new in the world of management theory. Papers – indeed whole journals – have apparently been devoted to the subject, though a music degree might be more useful than an MBA for anyone trying to understand the finer points. "It can be overcooked," admits Dr Young, "but this session really keeps people's attention. It always gets rave reviews from the managers who attend our courses."

The sessions are run by Professor Harald Knudsen, a Norwegian business school dean and amateur trumpet player. Over an hour and a half he weaves a lecture on leadership and team motivation around a series of solo and band performances. "I use both the names and lyrical content of the melodies to underline key thoughts," he says.

The audience can see clearly that while all the jazz players have to co-ordinate their instruments, they are also given space to improvise and perform as individuals. The band leader, like the company chief executive, may pick the band members, but still needs to help each soloist to have his moment of glory. The musicians also need to be able to slip seamlessly from one mood or rhythm into another – a feat which must surely be the envy of every change management specialist or executive going through a company merger.

Professor Knudsen, who describes himself as one of several "old boys" who perform as a band for Norwegian business audiences, believes jazz music can be a very practical and enjoyable way of teaching skills which many managers find elusive: "Communication is not just about words, but about moods." Companies, he claims, need to create the right moods or atmospheres for their staff, and to understand how to shift tempo when circumstances require.

Although the jazz lecture was developed with executive courses in mind, it has been given to audiences as varied as Norwegian ship owners and oil company managers. Professor Knudsen has also used it for postgraduate business school students. His Oxford host, Dr Young, says it would be possible to incorporate courses like this into MBA programmes in the UK. "We believe that the arts are an effective way of getting students into the so called 'soft skills' agenda. People can become locked into their own organisational way of doing things."

Watching full-time musicians in action may be a highly enjoyable demonstration of how your own company could harmonise itself, but being part of the audience isn't the same as qualifying for the band. Most of us are unlikely to possess the talent of the professional musician. But Professor Knudsen claims this isn't the point. "Team work in business also requires a high level of technical competency."

While leaders need to be able to pick the right people, they also need to know how to use them. "There is always some underlying tension between individual brilliance and getting the best out of the other guys in a band. In business, I need to ask myself how I can avoid being a burden or limitation on the creativity and ability of the people I have chosen," he says.

Participants in the Oxford leadership courses include everyone from the tone deaf to the accomplished musician, but the impact of the jazz session seems to be the same for both. Carol Stigley was chief executive of New Zealand's local government association when she signed up for the Oxford course. "I suppose I had always thought of jazz as a series of diva-like individuals performing, but the event showed me that they were extremely skilled at sharing leadership and understood when to pass the baton on to each other."

The use of body language and eye contact as a means of communication was, she says, particularly impressive. "The band was able to change tempo without stopping for discussion. They were all very attuned to each other." Now a non-executive director sitting on company boards, she says she uses some of the techniques she observed in the jazz band. "I definitely think more about non-verbal communication in my work, and I observe people more to assess the mood in meetings. I learnt a lot from the Oxford course."

Whatever the lasting benefits, few business gurus find their audiences asking for an encore of their latest PowerPoint presentation. But, the jazz lecture at Templeton regularly overruns, with requests for extra discussion. It could be because it's held in a bar, but Marshall Young thinks there is a more fundamental reason. "It's a clichéd paradox that leaders can be educated but not trained. But the jazz session allows people to explore aspects of leadership in an enjoyable way."