Corporate Drumming Programs
Getting Started
by Jim Greiner
“How did you get started doing corporate team building drumming programs?” is a question I am frequently asked.
In the early 1980’s, I was organizing drum circles and teaching drumming classes. One of my students exclaimed after class, “This is the best stress release therapy that I’ve ever done! We should do this in our office; we’re always so stressed out that we sometimes just don’t work effectively.”
Of course, not stopping to wonder how I would do this, I said, “I’d be glad to!”.
I knew that I couldn’t teach a drumming class, or just lead a regular drum circle jam session. So, I talked with the student about specifically what his office needed. He emphasized the importance of making it easy and fun for his colleagues to experience the community-building and stress releasing benefits that he had felt in my classes.
I then spent hours researching the corporate world. I also bought several books about management styles, various types of corporate structures and current corporate team-building models. I then talked with several of my friends who worked in the corporate world.
I also included some of the universal fundamentals of thriving communities into my approach to creating a drumming program that would truly serve this group. I also included insights I had during my two years of drumming in Africa about how different groups used drumming and rhythm to acknowledge and celebrate important events.
In other words, I began at the beginning by studying the corporate world and using my own interests and talents to develop a program that would serve this group. These are key elements to creating success in any activity!
When the time to do the drumming program came... They loved it! The boss loved it... I loved it!
I had an enormously powerful “Aha!” moment when I realized this was a completely new and unexpected way to bring the benefits of drumming to people who normally might never experience it! And get paid for it!
Over time, I have refined my corporate programs considerably, but the approach that I took when just getting started is based on a universal, fundamental truth that can be used by anyone who is thinking of getting into this area of interactive drumming activities:
Preparation is the key to success in any endeavor.
Those who would bring drumming to the corporate world should invest the time, energy and intention to get to know that world and the people, our friends and neighbors, who live and work in it. Learn the corporate language, ways and various operational models to truly understand their needs and goals. Don't just scratch the surface of this world, get to know it if you want to be successful within it.
Once you get to know the corporate world, then you can then apply various drum circle techniques and rhythm-based activities to corporate drumming in ways that truly meet the needs and goals of each unique group.
The bottom line is that drumming can be an immensely productive and joyful way to enrich the lives of people in all kinds of environments, including the corporate world.