A couple of weeks back, “Everybody Come Together” by The Youngbloods was playing at the fitness center while I worked out in the morning. I hummed along and watched other people riding the stationary bike, climbing the stair master and stretching out. It was 5:15 a.m. People smiled. Several walked over and chatted with their buddies. You heard laughter.
I won’t say all of this was unusual. In general, our workout facility is pretty together with people making friendships, telling stories, helping on the weights. There’s lots of conversation and smiles mixed in with the grunting, sweating, groaning and scowls of intensity.
This isn’t to say the song that morning created additional happiness, though I believe it did because I know it affected my mood as I sang along and thought about my day and the best way to approach it in a positive manner – by bringing people together. What it made me consider more is whether we could change our approach to the day by listening to specific mood music.
This is not an un-researched area. Waiting areas at medical centers use this approach by putting on calming music. You’ll find dentists, chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists all use similar approaches – putting on lighter music to relax their patients and get them in a better frame of mind.
And, we all listen to specific music for different reasons. We might want to get away from a bad day and listen to loud bashing acoustics. We might want to get motivated to work harder and put on some hard driving rock and roll. We may find ourselves reminiscing of something sweet and we put on romantic tracks. We reinforce the mood we want, or use music to get away from something we wish to forget.
Which circles us back to the issue of bringing people together and creating a more positive atmosphere – something it seems to me almost every individual, company or organization would appreciate. Who can be against better productivity, teammates helping each other, relaxing and listening to others when we have differences? If we played more songs like “Everybody Come Together,” maybe we’ll get a bit closer to that objective.
Fitness centers have this figured out. So have many retail stores. Why haven’t more big businesses? Do you ever hear “I Just Want To Celebrate” by Rare Earth when you walk into a corporate environment? How about “Come Together” by The Beatles? I highly doubt it.
You might get mind-numbing elevator music or some standard tracks that pass the corporate filter, but that’s the best it’s going to get. It must be too risky to rock out. Maybe leadership thinks it will interfere with work rather than enhance it. Or they feel employees will get distracted and start dancing or something weird like that.
It seems to me dancing and singing at work would unite and unify your business culture. Think how you feel after you’ve been singing or dancing. There’s a joyous release. You’re ignited and invigorated. It feels good. Energy surges through your body.
Compare those feelings with anger and agitation brought on by watching too much television news. You’re stressed, burned out. You want to argue with other people. Productivity decreases.
It seems like a dang simple formula to implement. It won’t guarantee results. But it sure makes sense, and it can’t hurt, can it? Share this column with your boss. Forward this along. Maybe if enough higher-ups read it, they’ll consider a change. We might start coming together. WHOA, can’t have that happen, can we?
I won’t say all of this was unusual. In general, our workout facility is pretty together with people making friendships, telling stories, helping on the weights. There’s lots of conversation and smiles mixed in with the grunting, sweating, groaning and scowls of intensity.
This isn’t to say the song that morning created additional happiness, though I believe it did because I know it affected my mood as I sang along and thought about my day and the best way to approach it in a positive manner – by bringing people together. What it made me consider more is whether we could change our approach to the day by listening to specific mood music.
This is not an un-researched area. Waiting areas at medical centers use this approach by putting on calming music. You’ll find dentists, chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists all use similar approaches – putting on lighter music to relax their patients and get them in a better frame of mind.
And, we all listen to specific music for different reasons. We might want to get away from a bad day and listen to loud bashing acoustics. We might want to get motivated to work harder and put on some hard driving rock and roll. We may find ourselves reminiscing of something sweet and we put on romantic tracks. We reinforce the mood we want, or use music to get away from something we wish to forget.
Which circles us back to the issue of bringing people together and creating a more positive atmosphere – something it seems to me almost every individual, company or organization would appreciate. Who can be against better productivity, teammates helping each other, relaxing and listening to others when we have differences? If we played more songs like “Everybody Come Together,” maybe we’ll get a bit closer to that objective.
Fitness centers have this figured out. So have many retail stores. Why haven’t more big businesses? Do you ever hear “I Just Want To Celebrate” by Rare Earth when you walk into a corporate environment? How about “Come Together” by The Beatles? I highly doubt it.
You might get mind-numbing elevator music or some standard tracks that pass the corporate filter, but that’s the best it’s going to get. It must be too risky to rock out. Maybe leadership thinks it will interfere with work rather than enhance it. Or they feel employees will get distracted and start dancing or something weird like that.
It seems to me dancing and singing at work would unite and unify your business culture. Think how you feel after you’ve been singing or dancing. There’s a joyous release. You’re ignited and invigorated. It feels good. Energy surges through your body.
Compare those feelings with anger and agitation brought on by watching too much television news. You’re stressed, burned out. You want to argue with other people. Productivity decreases.
It seems like a dang simple formula to implement. It won’t guarantee results. But it sure makes sense, and it can’t hurt, can it? Share this column with your boss. Forward this along. Maybe if enough higher-ups read it, they’ll consider a change. We might start coming together. WHOA, can’t have that happen, can we?