Spoiler: read this text while listening to this song
I confess that I am still new in the world of Jazz, but one thing has called my attention in every new album I listen to: how is it possible that each artist in the band knows exactly what note to improvise, and in the middle of that chaos of notes, find a harmonic cohesion creating true works of art? My most recent example of reflection is an album by Milles Davis: Kind of Blue, where the band members are John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Paul Chambers. Basically the Jazz hall of fame "in a nutshell" all masters of innovation.
Perhaps Davis is not the example of a leader we look for today, given a series of infamous episodes in his personal life, but we can learn a lot from the way he managed his band. Davis was known for always looking for new members, giving the sheet music at short notice, or simply not offering any sheet music at all. Such attitudes were simple, but were rooted in principles of diversity, creativity, trust, respect, and above all: chaos.
We often create processes, pipelines, career programs to encourage the quality of the notes that are played by our teams, but we forget that these same elements can be pruners of their creativity and also of their own motivation, so managers go on orchestrating an out-of-tune symphony, trying to eliminate chaos when in fact what should be done is just the opposite: embrace it.
Chaos does not mean firefighting, it does not mean demands exceeding daily tasks, nor does it mean a hostile environment. Chaos can and should be seen as a complexity to be explored. Davis knew this and took advantage of it while playing with his bands. John Coltrane and Bill Evans are of extreme complexity, talent, and creativity. Had Miles Davis given them the notes they were supposed to play, he would have reduced all the complexity to a simple, poor rhythm by relying only on the riches of his own melodies.
But this does not mean that the processes should be left aside, quite the contrary. Jazz and Blues bands improvise over two things: a scale and a tempo. The tempo is the rhythm, the posture of the team that makes the group perform, it is the reason why the musicians play, it is their passion synthesized in notes. Examples of a compass are: the organizational habits or the Scrum rituals, such as the Daily Scrum/Stand up that have been increasingly adopted in organizational management. The scale is the methodology, the "how" we will do our activities. Leaving then open space for the team to decide "what" will be done. It is the famous "Why, How, What" applied to the management posture, subtle but at the same time sublime and effective.
Perhaps the greatest lesson we can take from the Blues and Jazz is precisely the fact that, more than having, we need to be able to feel and perform our purpose. And for this we need rhythm, rituals that show us which note to play and how to improvise when faced with the complexity that is exposed to us by the vicissitudes of a day to day job. Now enjoy the rest of the song ;)