In what many are now calling an ‘anxious economy’, where teams are stretched and strategies are under constant review, investing in morale can feel like a luxury.
Some leaders may ask themselves: Is now really the time for team building?
But here’s the cost we’ve discovered no one likes to talk about: Disconnected teams bleed energy, stifle innovation, and quietly unravel trust.
A 2023 McKinsey study estimates that disengagement and attrition cost a median S&P 500 company between $228 million and $355 million a year in lost productivity and turnover. It’s a quiet crisis that most businesses underestimate—until it starts showing up, typically, in missed targets, poor retention, or employee burnout.
So no, anxious times are not the time to back away from connection. They’re the perfect time to get smarter about how we build it.
And in that context, team bonding isn’t about fun.
It’s about designing low-risk, high-return moments that restore focus, trust, and cohesion.
That’s where the power of music comes in. Not as background—but as a strategy.
The science is clear: shared rhythm rewires team dynamics
A 2023 study, The transformative power of music: Insights into neuroplasticity, health, and disease enhancing cognitive function, finds that “music’s positive effects on cognition encompass attention and learning, highlighting its potential as a cognitive enhancer…and that music profoundly impacts emotional states, offering therapeutic benefits in alleviating stress, anxiety and depression.”
That may help explain a quieter post-pandemic trend: the rise of communal choirs as an antidote to isolation.
Across cities like New York and London, drop-in choirs are booming. People aren’t showing up for performance—they’re showing up for connection. A Chorus America article notes that many returning singers were emotionally overwhelmed by how much they missed the sense of community. In one case, a participant called their choir “the only hour of the week I feel fully myself.”
We’ve seen the same effect in the workplace: groups that start out polite and cautious before one of our events leave energized and aligned—not because they’ve “performed,” but because they’ve created something together. One client summed it up, “This is a universal experience that can be replicated for many different teams regardless of their seniority. It works on every level. And, even better, it just keeps paying off!”
Using music as a strategic tool isn’t magic. It’s chemistry. Designed with care—and backed by data.
Risk—when it’s safe—is what builds trust
For teams to function well, they must have psychological safety, but it isn’t built by consensus. It’s built when people are invited to stretch, contribute, and be seen in a new way.
Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” And that doesn’t happen through icebreakers.
It happens when people try something unfamiliar and succeed together, guided by leaders who provide the right conditions.
Consider how jazz prodigy Jacob Collier approaches collaboration.
In a recent interview, he said music “mirrors humanity: to make a song, people must respect, appreciate, and listen to each other.” During the pandemic, Collier coordinated massive global musical collaborations—blending individual recordings into something deeply collective. The results weren’t just harmonious—they were human. They showed how creative risk, managed well, forges deep trust.
That same dynamic shows up in our work. Music offers a space where:
- Everyone contributes, regardless of title.
- Structure replaces pressure.
- People surprise themselves—and each other.
And when the group finishes a song—whether they’re CFOs or store managers—they don’t just feel entertained. They feel genuinely connected.
And yes—music makes the message last
A 2024 Harvard Medicine article explains: “Music also lights up nearly all of the brain — including the hippocampus and amygdala, which activate emotional responses to music through memory; the limbic system, which governs pleasure, motivation, and reward; and the body’s motor system.”
That’s why we still remember childhood nursery rhymes or TV jingles.
One client used a songwriting session to embed their core values into a new UK hospitality division. He said: “That song is still stuck in my head! It was catchy, engaging, uplifting and it really captured what we stand for as a company. At the end of that day, we all felt proud of what we’d achieved, together.”
This didn’t happen because they were told to. It was because the message landed and the whole experience felt so good.
So maybe the real question for leaders forging ahead in an anxious economy isn’t “Should we do something bold with our team?”
Maybe it’s: “What will it cost us if we don’t?”
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