Transforming Your Team Through Music - By Thoryn Stephens - Bay Area Events Magazine

"When I saw the Chief Medical Officer from a major biopharmaceutical company leading a conga line to music he’d composed, I knew we’d achieved our objectives."

I should mention I was once a scientist myself, and while working as a cell biologist in biotechnology, I encountered all the typical types of corporate team building. There were the ropes courses, fire walks, trust falls, and even the occasional karaoke outing. The purpose of these "bonding" events was to scare or embarrass participants into trusting each other. The result was laughter at the bosses’ expense, a waste of company time and rarely built stronger teams.

After one too many sing-alongs gone wrong, I’d realized there was a serious need for an innovative approach to team building. I decided to fuse my interest in leadership with my passion for music. This led to the birth of Syncopate, a program where teams work together to create their own music and learn how to “DJ” their team song in a final “scratch” competition.

When attendees enter a Syncopate event they immediately realize this isn’t their typical team building experience. A world-class professional DJ pumps music through the airwaves while flat-screen iMacs and digital cameras sit on every table. Participants begin by introducing themselves and answering the question – “How does music play a role in your life?” This immediately breaks people out of their “oh-no-its-another-team-building-event” mindset, as everyone, in the hundreds of team building events have attested, can relate to music.

To quote Longfellow, “Music is the universal language.”

One of our favorite clients was a biopharmaceutical start-up I mentioned earlier dealing with “virtual team” difficulties, as their executive team resided in Boston and the research and Development in South San Francisco. After months of tele/video-conferences and emails they met in Sonoma for their first ever much-needed company off-site. Within an hour we had attendees working in teams composing music, attending “Scratch University” and taking digital pictures for their final multimedia presentation. At the end of the event the CEO was so thrilled with the results he stated we’d help save his company from significant attrition and fostered a stronger corporate culture.

Another favorite experience with a Chief Human Resources Officer and senior HR team from a leading internet company during a final performance. After one team debriefed the group of their learning’s and strategy for their team song, they began their final DJ performance in the backdrop of a multimedia slideshow they’d created from their team pictures. In an instant one of the Directors took a flying leap (in an oversized foam half-dollar incidentally) across the stage landing on his stomach and doing a “worm” dance move across the floor. The audience exploded with laughter and applause, and after the event accolades included Syncopate being the best team building experience in their 20+ years in Human Resources.

For more information on Syncopate, go to http://www.transformyourteam.com, call (415) 823–2554 or email info (at) @transformyourteam.com.