What happens to leadership and collaboration when words take a back seat and a shared rhythm emerges instead?
We’ve already experienced this for ourselves: at a team event with Helge Rosenbaum and teamdrumming, the Valdivia team discovered just how quickly drumming together makes the dynamics within the team visible and tangible.
In conversation with Daniel Bauer from Valdivia, Helge Rosenbaum from teamdrumming describes which behavioural patterns become apparent during group drumming, what managers can learn about control, presence and letting go – and how the experiences from a team event can be applied to everyday working life.
Daniel Bauer:
What is the mindset of participants at the start of a team drumming event, and what changes within the first few minutes?
Helge Rosenbaum:
“Many arrive with a ‘business mindset’: observant, reserved and, naturally, sceptical (‘Let’s see how this goes…’). In the first few minutes, this often shifts because the body reacts faster than the mind: the experience is immediate. As soon as the first shared rhythms emerge, you often see shoulders relax and smiles appear. Then ‘I’m judging’ turns into ‘I’m part of this’. But the participants also quickly realise that music has a great deal to do with their own ‘business’.
What becomes particularly clear when words fade into the background?
Then, in leadership, it’s all about relationships and timing. Who is really listening? Who is giving space? Who is dominating? Who is focusing on the bigger picture rather than their own impulse?
Without language, all that remains is presence, clarity and the ability to connect. And this is precisely where patterns quickly become apparent – patterns that are often well concealed, for example, in meetings.
What role do control and letting go play, and what exactly do leaders learn from this?
Control manifests itself as ‘insisting on the right outcome’: slowing things down, correcting, ‘dragging others along’. Letting go means: maintaining the framework + listening + fine-tuning.
The lessons learnt are usually very concrete:
• Control creates order in the short term, but often also leads to less initiative and less flow.
• Letting go without a framework creates freedom, but also a lack of focus.
The effective middle ground is: providing clear direction whilst still trusting the team to set the pace themselves.
Surprising or underestimated side lessons – what do you observe most frequently?
· A culture of learning from mistakes: Set-backs are not failures, but rather material for realignment.
· Micro-communication: A glance, a gesture, a breath can convey more than ten sentences.
· Energy management: Those who ‘do’ too much become loud but ineffective.
· Role awareness: Not every leader needs to be at the front all the time. Sometimes the strongest contribution is to stabilise, support and connect.
Typical ‘aha’ moments in which leaders gain a new understanding of their impact?
Possible insights (examples):
“Whenever I apply pressure, the teamwork breaks down.”
“If I just pause for a moment and really listen, the team suddenly becomes more precise.”
“I thought I was helping – but I’m actually overriding everything.”
“If I just pause for a moment and really listen, the team suddenly becomes more precise.”
“I’ve confused ‘control’ with ‘security’.”
And many, many more. Many realise that their inner attitude acts as a metronome. It is not the ‘what’ that shapes the system, but the way one is present.
What does Teamdrumming reveal that often remains hidden in day-to-day working life?
It reveals, in real time, teamwork, the capacity for resonance and the need for a shared point of reference:
· Who is guided by the shared goal?
· How does the team deal with uncertainty?
· Where is a shared pulse lacking (priorities, decision-making logic, trust)?
In everyday life, this is often masked by words. In the shared musical process, the quality of the collaboration becomes audible very quickly.
To what extent is leadership behaviour unconsciously reflected in the shared rhythm?
To put it very simply: leadership acts as a ‘reference signal’. If a leader becomes flustered, the ensemble often becomes unsettled. If they remain steady, this also has a stabilising effect on the ensemble. It is like a mirror reflecting one’s own attitude: timing, clarity, but also uncertainty, etc., become visible and audible in the shared rhythm.
What determines whether a team-building session – or a workshop involving team drumming – continues to have an impact later on?”
Three things:
- Identification: What exactly was our pattern – and what was the alternative that worked?
- Translation: 1–2 clear principles in everyday language (e.g. “listen first, then steer” / “a shared rhythm before discussing details”).
- Repetition: A mini-ritual within the team (2 minutes is enough) to ensure it doesn’t just fizzle out as a ‘nice day’.
How can leaders consciously integrate this?
The first small steps, which get you started immediately and effortlessly, are often the most important:
Examples:
Pulse check-in: ‘What’s our pace right now?’ (choose from ‘too fast, too slow, just right’)
Listen before acting: In meetings, spend the first 30 seconds ‘gathering your thoughts rather than solving problems straight away’
Use mistakes: Irritation = inspiration: What’s good about this? What can we learn from it?
Your most important advice for leaders: How can team events be used to truly strengthen connection and leadership?
Fundamentally, team events should provide concrete insights as well as being an experience in their own right. Music, as an analogy, illustrates, amongst other things, the essential principles of successful collaboration. It challenges and fosters the skills that every strong team needs. Music helps teams break out of entrenched patterns and find new solutions to the current challenges posed by a complex world. It creates a safe space for experimentation and learning.
Thank you very much for the interview!
(Image source: teamdrumming)
Your contact at Teamdrumming:
Helge Rosenbaum
teamdrumming
Haarhausstraße 1
42115 Wuppertal
Mobile: +49 173 6 95 70 60
Email: info@teamdrumming.com
www.teamdrumming.com
