How can a group of jazz musicians who have never worked together before play music as a collective and deliver a series of unique and great sounding performances on the spot? How do they improvise and innovate while adapting to changes in their environment? Why do they value “big ears” so highly? Why are commitment, passion, trust and respect so important when working with others? How do awareness, momentum, and leading on demand help ensure their success? And what does any of this have to do with the world of business or software development let alone a unit of commandos or a basketball team?
The musical art form of jazz can serve as inspiration and example for anyone seeking to improve their skills of leadership, teamwork, innovation and communication in today’s knowledge-based economy. Jazz musicians are constantly innovating and improvising as a collective. They must deliver on-time, high-quality performances that will attract and retain customers and do it all in real-time under continuous scrutiny. As a multi-disciplined team, they do this by integrating strong individual contributions from passionate and committed practitioners and ensuring success by applying best principles such as: committing passionately to each task, employing just enough rules to afford autonomy while ensuring that the music doesn’t simply degenerate into chaotic noise, listening and communicating persistently, acting supportively and transparently so as to engender trust and respect, and taking measured risks.
Like jazz musicians cross-functional business teams must achieve success by working in synergy and delivering innovative products and services in the face of demanding deadlines and other pressures. The Jazz Process provides a framework for improving collaboration, innovation and agility with a method for execution and fourteen best principles that act on that method. While its primary inspiration is jazz performance, it draws on examples of excellence in business, software development, music, military operations and sports while applying laws of sociology, psychology, physics, biology, and systems theory.
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