I took a bass class at music camp this past July, and I’ve stuck with it.
Yes, that’s right, double bass. The big, upright, elephantine instrument that’s taller than I am.
It’s highly impractical.
It weighs about 25 pounds.
It’s a pain in the you-know-what to wrangle into my Honda Accord whenever I need to take it somewhere.
And I’m not that great at it yet. For the most part, I’m just outlining the root notes of the chords of songs when I play with a group.
Nothing fancy.
But sometimes nothing fancy is just what’s needed.
Take last weekend, when I spent Saturday at a weekend music retreat.
Basically, a weekend of jam sessions.
Now, the problem with playing bass, since I don’t have a wheeled carrier, is that it disincentivizes me from roaming around the venue.
Unlike with my ukulele, there’s no way I’m lugging 25 pounds of bass all over creation.
Which meant I was pretty much limited to one building… if I wanted to play my bass.
On the other hand, even as a bass newbie, without a lot of skills, I found myself enthusiastically welcomed into the music circles in that building.
Instead of being the 10th guitar, or 4th ukulele, or 3rd banjo, I was the only bass!
Instead of my voice being drowned out (as it surely would have been if I’d been playing guitar or ukulele), I actually contributed something of value to the whole.
So my chops might not have been impressive, but they filled a needed gap.
The best business teams work like this: instead of 8 guitars, duplicating each others’ strengths, you’ve got a range of different instruments, filling in the gaps for each other.
🎸 Harriet plays rhythm guitar
🎸 Kendra plays lead guitar
🎹 Tung plays keyboard
𐇸 Shermalyn plays flute
🥁 Syed plays drums
🪘 Pooja plays percussion
🎻 Ankit plays bass
Each member has a role to play. Each member fills a particular gap.
When everything is humming along smoothly, you know the metaphor: you make beautiful music together. 🎶
But what about when things aren’t going so smoothly?
As a leader, you can tell when things are off, but how do you know exactly what to do about it?
First, you need to assess exactly what’s not working.
Enter my new Team Assessment Tool!
I made this assessment tool to help you uncover the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
Inside you’ll find:
• 10 questions that should take no more than 5-10 minutes to answer
• Insights based on your results, into your team’s strengths and areas for improvement
Then let me know: where does your team have the biggest opportunity for improvement?
Don’t worry — I don’t expect you to send it to me as a song. But I can help get you grooving and making beautiful (metaphorical) music together again.
I love using play to help people-first teams and organizations strengthen connection, communication, collaboration, clarity, and creativity. If you or your team could use help increasing your impact, and getting there faster and more joyfully…
…click here to reach me via my contact form and my assistant, Trish, will help schedule a time for us to have a chat, so I can learn more about you/your team.
And don’t forget to sign up below to…