Work and Jazz – First Verse

Although I started playing guitar when I was 13, I took my first formal guitar lessons as an adult. Along with learning about Jazz and improving my guitar playing skills, I have noticed several parallels between Jazz guitar, learning styles and successful teamwork.

Learning Style – Understanding How to Learn and Teach

The most commonly discussed modes for learning, are Visual, Auditory, and Tactile. It turns out I’m mostly a visual learner. I have discovered that even after hearing a guitar lick many times, the only way I can reproduce it is by watching my fingers make the correct movements on the strings. Although playing guitar requires auditory skill, I primarily learn how by seeing my fingers move on the fret board of my guitar.

This got me thinking about the training I’ve received over the years; the most effective method for me was hands-on. Listening to an instructor explain how to use the system did not work for me, but using software with dummy data, I could see the system perform the task, and effectively learn it myself.

Knowing how we learn, and looking for training programs tailored to that learning mode can enhance our job performance. It is also important to keep learning modes in mind when putting together training programs for others. If we expect to successfully teach our audience a task, the procedures must be presented in all modes: auditory, visual, and tactile.

Jazz – Simultaneously Simple and Complex

Most of the basic rules for music are not particularly difficult to understand. Jazz uses a subset of the rules that make jazz what it is, but once these rules are understood, the chords and melody for most jazz standards are relatively simple songs that a novice can play. However, advanced Jazz players understand the subtlety of the structure and are able to enhance the music with their own personality and style. They understand how to improvise around the melody and use chord substitution to create a much richer version of the song.

Work organizations, like Jazz bands, follow relatively simple rules of operation and protocol that are easy to learn. However, it is within the basic work structure that high performers understand the complexity of the organization and how to enhance operations with their own personalities and style. In the example below, I followed the basic rules of the organization and worked with all of the appropriate people to get answers to my questions. My experience and understanding of the operations was useful because I knew the right questions to ask of my co-workers.

• At one point in my career I was in charge of investigating consumer complaints. Based on my experience, I knew that there could be many facets of the situation that possibly contributed to the complaint. I worked closely with various co-workers to obtain additional information such as production data, maintenance logs, and the results of raw material inspections. By performing this level of ‘due diligence’, every consumer complaint was viewed as an opportunity to ensure all procedures are being followed and to ultimately enhance the overall strength of brand.

Look for my next blog as I continue my thoughts on work and Jazz.

Photo credit: Depositphotos.com 46950533 by estudiosaavedra