The dream works when the team works.
Instrumental and musical excellence are indispensible prerequisites for the long-term success of a chamber music ensemble. However, it is also essential that ensembles function well as a team.
In the pursuit of the comprehensive development of an ensemble, Team Effectiveness Coaching complements artistic and musical work and progress. My Team Effectiveness Coaching does not deal with musical or artistic issues, but the focus of my work is 100 percent on team dynamics and questions of effective collaboration. The aim of my work with ensembles is to support their development at the team level going in parallel with their artistic progress.
Client ensembles with whom I work are often facing a difficult existential crisis, for example due to the loss of an ensemble member. They seek professional support in integrating a new ensemble member, for example, or perceive irreconcilable differences in their plans and views. Other ensembles use the opportunities offered by professional team coaching to specifically improve the effectiveness of their collaboration, to precisely define their actual common goals, or to work on their team culture.
Reflection on team dynamics builds on prior and ongoing individual reflection. The better each team member understands themselves, their own behaviors and patterns, their needs, and their reactions and impact on other team members, the better they will be able to work together on and with the dynamics within the team.
Both the individual and collective subconscious significantly influence communication and work within any ensemble. Engaging with unconscious emotions, behaviours and expectations at the individual and team levels is essential. Only by bringing unconscious elements to the surface some of the unconscious individual and group dynamics can be made visible – for the individual member and for their teammates. This very serious and often hard work can lead to significantly more effective and fulfilling collaboration – and to more long-term stability in the ensemble’s composition.
Would you like to find out more about my Team Effectiveness Coaching for ensembles? My services are aimed at instrumentalists or singers who have been working together for some time or who aspire to do so and are pursuing a professional future as an ensemble with a stable lineup.