Jazz groups are constantly refining and improving their performance.  Jazzthink strives to do the same.  For the last couple of months, I've been reviewing how well we deliver value to our clients.  That has led to a tighter focus for our keynotes, seminars, and facilitations.  Jazzthink will now focus on provoking productive teamwork.  We want to help our clients generate REAL SMART Teamwork. (No, my addiction to acronyms has not changed!)  See the website for more detail on what REAL and SMART represent.

As I reread my notes on the challenges and opportunities people discussed with me in preparation for a Jazzthink session, the recurring themes were toxic teams, under-performing talent, frequent turnover, and frustration with productivity in what mattered most to the organization.  The leadership issues that emerged were almost all related to the productivity of the team.  How do I motivate and mobilize my team?  How do I align the talent on my team?  How do I sustain the momentum of my team?  How do I refocus the attention of my team from the negative to the positive?  How do I support my team in continuous improvement and in producing exceptional results?  So leadership, as my clients see it, is a crucial part of productive teamwork.  But the real bottom line is the results produced by the team in the service of the organization, its customers, and the well-being of the broader community.    
 
The people who engage Jazzthink want something that will clarify how great teams work and something that will inspire their colleagues to move in that direction more consistently and effectively.  They want Jazzthink to provoke productive teamwork.  Their evaluations confirm that there is something about Jazzthink's unique blend of music, wisdom, and conversations that makes the insights and learnings of the session stick.
 
The Jazzthink essentials are still there.  Music moves the soul in uniquely powerful ways, so we will continue to begin our sessions by surfacing the wisdom in the room with the question, "What qualities of productive teamwork do you see in the performance of the jazz group?"  We still believe fervently that the key skill needed to improve productivity in teams is the ability to have the right conversations with the right people at the right time.  Teams improve their productivity one conversation after another.  Conversations are the essential tools in accomplishing the productive teamwork desired and in removing what's interfering with the specifics of reaching that goal.  Conversations are also the most common form of improvisation or jazz in human experience.  So Jazzthink helps people make the connection between the sounds generated by a swinging jazz group and the ways in which the sounds of their conversations generate productive teamwork where they work, serve, or worship.
 
I do have a BIG FAVOUR (not an acronym!) to ask.  I have revised the Jazzthink website to reflect this new focus.  If you can find a few moments to look at the new Homepage, Who We Are, and What We Do at www.jazzthink.com and send me your comments and suggestions for further improvements, I'll be so grateful that I will give you a copy of my new book - REAL SMART Teamwork: Jazz, Conversations, and Productive Collaboration - when it comes out this fall. Here's a question to consider while you are reading:

Just e-mail me your comments and suggestions at fraser@jazzthink.com.  Many, many thanks.
 
Have a great summer with lots of refreshing rest.
 
Cheers,