Practice, Success and Teamwork Part 2 of 4

Practice, Success and Teamwork Part 2 of 4

Ragazzi Boys Chorus   Joyce Keil, Artistic Director

 

What part does teamwork play in building successful people?

 

In the New Yorker January 28 2002 article “The Learning Curve”, Atul Gawande discusses a research project where various working methods and the results of these methods are tested with various teams of surgeons. The teams were trying to learn some new and complicated procedures. All were trying to learn to accomplish their goals in a short time and all had good experience and came from highly respected institutions. Yet some teams were much faster and much more successful than others. Richard Bohmer, who was one of the researchers from Harvard, noted that the key ingredient for success was the cooperation and teamwork of the group and the willingness of the leader to discuss the work with the other members. The group who did most poorly had no sense of teamwork, and in fact, because they were performing so miserably, they were re-formed for each project. There was no continuity for this group. They had no pre-surgery meetings, no de-briefings and no tracking of final results.

 

This research project concluded that learning is best achieved when team members work closely together, perform the same procedures frequently and in close succession and then track their results together so they can see where improvement is needed.

 

This has implications for how we work in Ragazzi. We ask our singers to be there every rehearsal; we emphasize the importance of the entire chorus being together every week and we track results. We work with the boys to let them see their successes and achievements.

 

While we love music and seek to achieve excellence in this field, we are proud that our teaching can help our boys become successful in all areas of life as they learn to apply these winning strategies.

 

 

Joyce Keil, Artistic Director

Ragazzi Boys Chorus