46: Team Building and DJing with Amani Roberts

Team building can develop relationships in ways that profoundly impact the team. When people get to know each other, they are able to work together more effectively and efficiently. 

This week’s guest, Amani Roberts, is a DJ, music producer, podcaster professor and creative who loves to help people unlock their creativity by teaching them how to DJ. After a successful career as a corporate executive, Amani took the leap into the creative space.

Amani and I talk about his experience in both corporate and creative settings, lessons learned, and his new business of team building through DJing.

 

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Read the related blog article: Insightful Management Lessons from a DJ

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Creatives and those with an arts background tend to be more comfortable taking risks and being vulnerable. It comes from years of practice in their art-making of creating something new, pushing themselves and the boundaries and getting feedback.
• As DJ or manager, it’s helpful to be able to read the room - to look around and recognize when the energy has dropped, people are mentally checked-out, feeling frustrated or uncomfortable. Look for signals of disengagement such as: leaning back in the chair, eyes wandering the room or glazing over, starting to speak but then stopping.
• Music is a universal language that brings people together and helps them learn about each other.
• A great team building activity will transform a group of uncertain participants into a high energy, engaged group. At the end of the exercise, the people will still be talking about the experience and connecting personally.
• Team building should be fun with times of laughter, but also serious in that people are authentically connecting. With music, it’s not unusual for people to become emotional and that enhances the relationships.
• Team building brings people together into a tighter team, enabling them to work more effectively and efficiently together. It’s like a shortcut that speeds up the getting to know each other process, even if you’ve known each other or worked along side each other for years.
• Especially for geographically dispersed teams, the relationships and bonds that get formed in these activities can have a halo effect that lasts for weeks, months or even years afterward.

 

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