I can’t be the first person to draw an analogy between balanced multi-disciplinary teams and jazz bands.1 But, over a (front-row!) spot of jazz at New York’s Mezzrow Jazz club, this is what I was contemplating.
Each instrumentalist (practitioner) has their own deep expertise and practice. But they are all musicians, in this case jazz musicians. They all understand harmony. They are jointly responsible for rhythm and tempo (a team’s flow and communication).
They are constantly listening to each other; always adjusting, anticipating, complementing, to ensure balance is maintained. They communicate while playing through subtle body language, or through their playing, and the other team members are deeply listening and observing for any cues.
At different times during a tune, each takes the lead, and the others immediately adjust and play supporting roles. For example, when the double base solos, the drummer switches to brushes to quieten down. The pianist starts ‘comping’, a form of rhythmic and harmonic support.
One of the band members may be the composer, but in jazz a composition is only ever a melody, a broad structure and set of harmonic and rhythmic scaffolding. Instrumentalists bring their own interpretation, style and, during improvisation, their own ideas. But always in response to and in keeping with the tune’s ethos, harmonic outline, and the real-time interpretations of other band (team) members.
I might start taking out product teams to watch some live jazz.
Of course, I’ve since discovered that none other than Ken Norton delivered a keynote on this topic: https://www.bringthedonuts.com/essays/please-make-yourself-uncomfortable.html