Jazz Musician

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D. with Diane Olson, Ph.D.

Doug Little is a jazz musician and a member of The Motion Poets, an improvisational jazz band. Doug described improvisational jazz:

The song form provides the rules for improvisation, otherwise the music would be random. If everything is free, it is not going to be focused. You have to have some rules. Improvisation comes only after long practice makes the song form second nature to the musician. Then I am comfortable improvising over the song form. The better you get the simpler the rules seem. At the highest level the musician does not think about the form but just performs.

The improvisation over a song form is never duplicated. The whole idea of jazz is that once you have played it, it is gone. What I play will inspire the drummer to play something. The drummer might inspire me to play something. The musicians listen to one another and make spontaneous decisions. The possibilities are endless. It is always within the form and it is always interconnected with each person but it is never the same.

The joy of performing is the group sound. I can't play whatever I want whenever I want. Jazz is democratic music and everybody gets to solo but only within the context of the whole. The group is what is the most important thing. Sometimes the best thing for me to do is not to play. And to respect another's musical space.

When I do solo, I still have to pay attention to what the rhythm behind me is. I can't ignore it. I have to be a part of that. Playing in a group means giving up some of your space for the group. If a band isn't playing with any interaction, I walk out because it is no fun.

Doug's description of improvisation is a description of the dynamics of a living system. The song form provides an inner simplicity from which an unlimited variety of music can emerge (complexity). The spontaneous improvisations of each musician are unique and unpredictable (chaos) but each iteration stays within the boundaries of the song form (strange attractor) which provides a portrait of the stability and hidden structure in the chaos. Constant choices (small and large) by each musician influences the others and produce the rich diversity and creativity in the performance (butterfly effects).

The band performs at a level of optimal creativity (the edge of chaos), each member influences another (feedback), the musicians and their music come to order around the song form (self-organization), and the creation comes forth (emergence). And then, because the process is dynamic, the creation is gone, never to be repeated again in exactly the same way. While the musicians can create an infinite variety of sound, the song form remains the same across all renditions (autopoiesis).

The improvisational jazz band, like an organization, is a living system. It is as ludicrous to think of an organization as a machine as it is to think of improvisational jazz as a series of mechanical steps. If people applied mechanical metaphors to jazz, jazz would die just as organizations die prematurely when we treat them like machines. What can the dynamics of living systems teach us about the natural processes that are available to leaders if they look beyond the superficial and see their organizations through new eyes?

The song form provides the few simple rules that provide an identity for the music and a direction for the musicians, but they are general enough to allow for infinite variety as the musicians create together. The musicians do not go to their vision; they go toward the vision of the improvisation always open to new possibilities along the way.

Imagine what would happen to the speed, flexibility, and spontaneity of the musicians and to the beauty of the music if they had to consult lengthy rule books as they performed. How would the musicians feel about their work and what would the rule books do to their relationships? How competitive would the band be in a marketplace filled with jazz bands that perform more naturally? What would happen if there were no simple rules?

In an organization the shared purpose (reason for existence), vision (picture of the future), and values (how we treat one another along the way) provide the few simple principles from which infinite variety emerges as they are lived out by employees as they work and serve their customers. The beliefs are clear enough to provide guidance, direction, and alignment but general enough to allow for creativity as they are lived out in each unique situation in a marketplace requiring speed, flexibility, and spontaneity. The few simple principles provide the dynamic balance of order and chaos.

At first living out the simple principles of an organization, like a new song form, is awkward and requires commitment and processes for feedback and accountability. With repetition the simple principles replace the organization's outdated and often dysfunctional unwritten rules and become conscious, internalized, and automatic. Like great musicians playing from the same song form, great employees aligned with the same purpose, vision, and values are more powerful than if all are soloing.

Improvisation is constant creativity. Tremendous numbers of connections, that can recombine in infinite ways, are made continually as the musicians exchange vast amounts of information with one another and with their audience. The performers listen to one another, get in each other's skins, and make spontaneous decisions within the context of the song form. They trust one another, and they believe in their ability to learn and perform in real time.

The band members act in concert, and great music emerges. Imagine what would happen to the creativity of the musicians and to the beauty of the music if the musicians needed permission for every decision they made and if everything had to be figured out ahead of time? If they couldn't experiment and make mistakes? If they had to always be efficient? How competitive would they be in a marketplace demanding new and innovative music? Would they feel alive?

In an organization constant creativity is possible if there are stretch goals that challenge the artistry of all and if leaders create the conditions for self organization: the shared and inspiring identity, the necessary information, and the opportunity for diverse people to spend time together to develop authentic relationships and great teams. Then leaders must let go and give employees the freedom to experiment and learn as they proceed trusting in them to find what works.

The best jazz is played when the talents of each musician are called upon along with the synergy of the group. Each performer leads and follows and solos and retreats to the background at the appropriate time in harmony with one another. Distinctions between leaders and followers blur (fractal boundaries).

Band and band members have a purpose greater than selfishness: create in service of themselves and the audience within the larger identity of the song form. Imagine what would happen to the beauty of the music and to the relationships between the musicians if everyone went their own way, if the band members were not allowed to demonstrate their unique talents, or if team synergy was ignored?

In a healthy organization people's talents and team synergy serve and are aligned with the purpose, vision, and values of the enterprise. At times talented people need to step forward and lead. At other times the synergy of the team is needed. The key is to optimize the synergy of each rather than to maximize either at the expense of the other. As in jazz, everyone in a living organization leads and follows, is a soloist and a team member, and serves the larger enterprise and marketplace.

No one is in control of the jazz band, and the music is not predictable. Change is perpetual--not an event to be endured. The jazz musician is interested in music not in hierarchy. Structure flows from creative needs--it's not imposed upon creative potential. Imagine what would happen to the creativity of the musicians and to the beauty of the music if the performers tried to dominate one another, tried to control the outcome of the improvisation, resisted change, or imposed artificial structure over the artistic possibilities?

Leaders can relax control only if they trust in the natural ability of people to bring order to chaos by self-organizing around a clear purpose, vision, and values. A leader needs faith that the self-organization will fulfill the living organization's inherent potential.

Trust and faith can be increased by paying attention to the great things people do every day in even sub-optimal organizations. They self-organize all the time (usually driven underground by efforts to control) to overcome the ill-considered things mandated and done by well-intentioned but mindless leaders who then often reap the rewards and recognition earned by the selfless and anonymous employees. The greatest impediment for employees trying to serve customers is always the organization. Imagine how well employees would do if supported rather than obstructed by the organization and its leaders.

Leaders of enduring organizations are artists at heart and understand intuitively the dynamics of living systems. They understand, as do the jazz musicians, that sustainable life and great jazz are dependent upon diversity, flexibility, cooperation, and interdependence. Like most of those leaders, Doug Little doesn't know about chaos and complexity theory. He just makes music naturally and feels alive in the process. Like Doug, who leaves a band he doesn't have fun being with, employees should leave organizations that do not allow them to work in a more natural way and to feel alive.