Remember learning your ABCs when you were younger? There’s a better-than-good chance you learned them as a song. In fact, kids learn all sorts of life and motor skills through music: how long to wash their hands, how to get themselves dressed, how to pretend to be a baby shark.
It’s not just children who learn information through song. Adults do, too. Most notably, advertiser jingles over the years have us all remembering the reading-writing hotline number, Caramello Koala’s name, that we don’t want to grow up, and that we’d like to teach the world to sing.
Music is used to anchor learning because it’s tied to memory. Several studies (including a recent study from the University of Kansas), showed that songs helped people remember things from the past more. And here’s the kicker: they were happier memories.
This happens because listening to or performing music releases several hormones in your brain. Depending on the type of music, you may feel a rush of adrenaline, feel happy from a dose of dopamine, or feel warmly emotional from a release of oxytocin.
That’s the science and power of music. And making it part of a program can improve employee performance and help teams work better together.
Interactive and Engaging
Employees often resist or eye-roll learning and development programs. That’s because many programs happen only once a year, causing participants to forget what they learned. Other times, the programs are boring. PowerPoints with too much text. Breakout groups where people wait silently for someone to initiate the task. Guest speakers who talk at you. Most people in companies have experienced these situations, sometimes all together in a one-day learning and development conference.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The power of music to instantly help us retain information or bring back happy experiences is the foundation for Team Harmony, a learning and development program from SongDivision, in partnership with Synaptic Potential, a leading company in organizational neuroscience.
Team Harmony comprises six sessions: Team Cohesion, Storytelling, Belonging, Feedback, Creativity, and Engagement. Each session builds on top of the other so that you can have a consistent team building program.
The sessions are interactive musical experiences where groups write songs while learning skills for leadership and teamwork growth. No musical experience is required or expected. SongDivision’s facilitators have performed with such acts as Aerosmith, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson. They have years of experience amping up audiences and can confidently help your team work in harmony.
Consistent and Fun
Professional and team development depends on a consistent program that engages teams. With Team Harmony, participants are given opportunities to learn to trust one another, rely on each other’s strengths, and share constructive feedback.
What’s more, the workshops are conducted in a fun way (either in-person or virtually) using music and songwriting so that learning is optimized and memorized. Music works for team building because it sets up a fun and stimulating atmosphere that causes people to let loose a bit. They become more agreeable and bond more easily.
Through music, learning and development for your team is as easy as learning your ABCs.
Our experiences are fully customizable to fit your themes, objectives, and group size, whether in-person or virtual. Let us show you how the power of music can take your company culture to the next level. Explore our blog to discover how music can strengthen team connections and create lasting memories