Drumming Up Team Spirit

By Gemma Pitcher, ninemsn Money

Worried about stressed employees and high staff turnover? According to a US study, the answer to your problems might be..drumming.

A study conducted by neurologist Barry Bittman took staff at an aged care home in Pennsylvania and put them through six weekly drumming sessions. According to Dr Bittman, the participants reported a decrease in feelings of fatigue and depression, improving their mood by almost 50 percent. Bittman also claims the effects of the drumming lasted a whole year, and resulted in 49 fewer employees resigning from the nursing home over the 12 months that followed.

So what can banging away on a drum possibly do to improve the mood of employees?

Well for one thing, drumming is one of the oldest and most fundamental group activities known to man - we've been doing it since the Stone Age, and drumming forms part of the traditional music of almost every culture in the world. Why? Because working together with others to create a rhythm fosters a community spirit, and encourages closer teamwork (before a hunt, for example, many communities drum together or perform powerful rhythmic dances to focus the hunting party and encourage them to work in harmony).

Lowering stress and increasing teamwork

From an individual health point of view, drumming is known to have excellent calming effects. It increases the endorphins in our bloodstreams and lowers the levels of stress hormones in the blood. Participants in even a short drum session report feelings of relaxation, wellbeing and even mild euphoria. Not a bad state to have your stressed-out employees in.

The concept of working together with a group of others to create a rhythm is known as entrainment - you'll find that if you make a random, rhythmic noise (clapping your hands, for example) and stand next to someone making another random noise (hitting a triangle, say), you will soon find that your noises come together to create a mutual, satisfying rhythm. Rather a good metaphor for a team in the workplace, in fact.

Drum your workforce back to life

If you want to test the effect that drumming can have on your team, invite a drumming facilitator to a company awayday or meeting. A drum session can be as short as ten minutes or as long as a couple of hours, and the results are surprisingly dramatic. A short drum session is useful as a fun icebreaker before a workshop or group session, whereas a longer one leading to a recognisable composition is great for a team of people who need to work together more effectively.

A group of people from across different teams who start drumming together are visibly relaxed and energised after just a couple of minutes, and as they get further into the exercise, it's hard to find a single person without a beaming smile on their face. Just after a drumming session is a great time to lead a workshop on the lessons to be learned about interconnectedness, creativity and team cohesion, as people are always left feeling energised, upbeat and unified by the psychological effects of rhythm.

You might even find that using drumming courses or weekend workshops as incentives for staff achievement plans both rewards your team and sends them back to you with a newly positive and constructive attitude to their work - a benefit for everyone.

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