Corrections or additions?
This article by Bart Jackson was prepared for the December 4, 2002
edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Team Building: Moving Forward In Harmony — Saragail
Benjamin
American business is sometimes accused of petrified
hierarchy. Corporations are among the last institutions to embrace
ethnic, racial, and sexual diversity. Workplace dress codes still
are more stringent than those at church or any other sector of our
lives. And few experience any environs where rank is so defined or
new suggestions so suspect. Now add to this the insecurity of a merger
upheaval. Somehow, if this thing called business is going to work,
we have got to get back to being people — unthreatened,
cooperative
individuals. Could music be the answer? Can a circle of workers
banging
on drums and bells provide vision?
Those managers adventurous (or desperate) enough to seek a tuneful
solution to corporate harmony are invited to “The Music of
Business”
on Thursday, December 12, at 5:30 p.m. at the Bloomberg Financial
offices in Skillman. Cost: $40. Call 609-279-4818. Sponsored by the
Mid-New Jersey chapter of the American Society for Training and
Development
(ASTD), the event features Saragail Benjamin, who has focused
her talents on formulating practical business solutions
The Mid-New Jersey Chapter of the ASTD is a professional network and
resource organization comprised of both individual consulting firms
and corporate managers responsible for staff training and education.
Their national link affords members a global array of corporate
instruction
on everything from conflict management techniques imported from Israel
to O.S.H.A. compliance in various industries and regions. For an
events
calendar and membership procedure go to www.MidNJASTD.org.
“Basically every business client wants the same things: more
productivity
and more money,” says Benjamin. “Question is, how do you
achieve
this?” Old fashion greed alone does not produce efficiency. It
may urge individuals to go the extra mile, but it doesn’t persuade
folks to cooperate, or to be tolerant of new ideas, particularly from
workmates. While Benjamin’s solutions may first seem somewhere between
looney and fanciful, they have resulted from long years of expert
study with a full range of methods.
Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, under the tutelage of a piano playing
father, ballroom dancing mother, and duet-singing dog, Benjamin came
east to study literature and social anthropology at Sarah Lawrence
University. Upon graduating she joined several firms experimenting
with more traditional training and team-building methods. Yet all
the while, she explored a variety of artistic expressions. Trained
in opera, she began performing, then composing, then mounting large
musical theater productions that she had scripted. She became a jazz
piano player in the Manhattan club scene, and wrote several
well-received
children’s books, such as the popular My Dog Ate It. Finally she made
the connection: “I saw the marvelous teamwork that came out of
theater and music and decided that the business realm could use a
lot of this.”
Benjamin founded her New Rochelle, New York-based firm, the Music
of Business, and began helping individuals in the workplace set up
a nicer and infinitely more efficient environment in which to create.
Most of her workplace solutions are not new. For the past decade they
have been shouted at employees by loudly sincere consultants who give
the “You should…” pep talk, fold their easels, and go home.
The problem is that management does not walk the talk, says Benjamin.
Every company now preaches some combination of teamwork, giving up
control, an end to micromanaging, listening to worker suggestions,
employees taking responsibility etc., etc. Yet in most firms these
excellent ideas remain unapplied because their concepts are too
abstract.
Using the analogy of music, Benjamin descends from the mount, stops
preaching solutions, and lets the workers discover them, individually
and as a group. In sessions lasting from two hours to several days,
employees are brought together, each given a simple percussive
instrument,
and taught to make music — together. It is said that no one argues
with his own data. The truths discovered in these musical sessions,
and the obvious workplace analogies, grow poignant as they are
experienced
by the entire group.
Listening. “It is impossible to do the job of makingmusic and not listen to one another,” says Benjamin. Fifteenpeoplesitting in a drum circle must each hear and fit in with the soundstheir fellows are making. Listening and following show themselvesto be necessary grease in the wheels of efficient production.Hierarchyholds no value here.Micromanaging. Benjamin helps the group establish a chorusand lets the beat carry itself for a while. Then she steps in andconducts with her hands. Using a host of signals she constantlyadjuststhe dynamics, increases, and then slows, the tempo. She cuts one groupout, and brings in another, all at a rapid pace. Eventually the entirechorus breaks down. “You should see the result,” Benjaminlaughs. “Everyone is ticked off at my constant meddling. Thenwe chat about micromanaging.”Showboating. Sometimes they are expert musicians orsometimesthey’re just flamboyant individuals, but almost every group has oneor two folks who will break away to their own beat. The immediategroup reaction may be to smack this troublemaker back into line andkeep homogeneity as king. But Benjamin sees showboating as a positiveenergy. She will draw the showboater out and ask her to lead the groupin a rhythm of her own choosing. Then the instructor may burden thisdiva with so many fast-paced performances that she becomes worn out.Happy but tired, she returns to the fold.Comfort level. Several aspects of this musical seminarinherently prove soothing. The most basic is sitting in a circle.”The circle is a great leveler,” says Benjamin. “KingArthur was no fool when he made his knights’ table round.” Alsoit affords and demands total vision of all participants. The verysound of rhythmic drum beating not only inspires community, but quellsstress. Dr. Barry Bittman of the Pennsylvania Medical Center has shownthat drum rhythms actually raise the fighting cells in both cancerand Alzheimer’s patients. The most frequent comment Benjamin receivesis how good participants feel immediately following the sessions.But business music must provide more than an anti-stress retreat.Individuals are brought to lead or to perform solos. With thischallenge,all rank disappears. Frequently the office temp can’t wait tovolunteerwhile the CEO stands before his circle a bundle of nerves. The groupmust then discover ways to enhance their co-performers’ comfort level.Creating an idea lab. Sometimes Benjamin will deliberatelyskew the beat and afford the group a chance to get things back ontrack. “The whole goal is to create a safe learning lab whereideas are not precious pearls, but things that flow creatively fromeverybody,” she explains. She firmly believes that the more ideasyou have been soliciting, the more solutions will be hatched.”CorningGlass,” she says approvingly, “keeps a log of every individualsuggestion made.”When the music finally stops, concrete plans are molded to fulfillthe visions. Perhaps group interviews and recruitment changes arerequired to provide a company with employees who take personalinitiativeand still blend well with the team. Changes are listed and hammeredout. But behind all new policies remains the experience. Before hisnext plunge into micromanaging, the supervisor may remember the drumcircle, and yield her staff a bit more leeway.Doubtless, to many bottom liners, this drum banging will seem to bepure piffle in what should be a restrained business environment. Butas Benjamin explains it, the company that makes music together doesindeed seem more likely to move forward in harmony.— Bart JacksonTop Of PageTaking Those TestsIf you have a test coming up — maybe a real estateagent exam, or even a U.S. Citizenship test — you can takepracticetests online at libraries in Franklin and Plainsboro townships.Cardholdersat those libraries can take the tests by logging in from home, andthe general public can access these tests by using a library computerthat connects to the Internet.Franklin Township Library subscribes to the Learning Express service,with its more than 300 online practice tests. For students, theyincludethe ACT, SAT, and the GED, plus brush-up tests for reading, writing,math, or grammar. For adults the professional tests include thosefor firefighter, police officer, paramedic, EMT, U.S. citizenship,postal worker, cosmetology, real estate agent, and real estate broker.All these tests offer scoring and detailed explanations of answersto the questions. The test results will show where practice is neededand where free online tutorial courses may be found.In Plainsboro the online service is Learnatest.com The library islocated in the municipal complex on Schalks Crossing Road. Call609-275-2897.Franklin Township Library is located at 485 DeMott Lane in Somerset;call 732-873-8700.Top Of PageSpeakers NeededThe Middlesex County Estate Planning Council seeksspeakers for its quarterly meetings. “We want professionals fromthe field of law, accounting, life insurance, long term careinsurance,banking, or financial planning to share ideas and network,” saysKenneth Vercammen, an attorney with offices in Cranbury and Metuchen.The group meets at Meiling’s restaurant in Metuchen. “Seniorcitizencoordinators and anyone who provides advice to seniors and the elderlyshould also attend.” Call Vercammen at 732-906-2180.Top Of PageStopping SmokingThe American Cancer Society hopes its new smokingcessationservice, created for employees at Public Service EnterpriseGroup(PSEG), can be copied by other large companies. Its special telephone”quitline” operates in cooperation with similar services inNew Jersey and nine other sites. It is available 24 hours a day, sevendays a week and offers free, confidential, one-on-one counseling forPSEG employees and their families.The ACS also has trained 65 PSEG employees to be wellnessrepresentatives,serving as tobacco control coordinators. For information call800-ACS-2345or go to www.cancer.org.Top Of PageCorporate AngelsBristol-Myers Squibb has given $15,000 to Deborah HospitalFoundation to help pay for medical care of Mercer and Middlesex Countyresidents. It was the company’s 11th annual donation to the 161-bedteaching hospital in Browns Mills.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
