My friend and colleague Chris Dierkes was preaching yesterday http://www.cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca/news-sermons-resources/  referencing Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.  Chris triggered a thought for me using Tolkien’s metaphor of music as the sound of the universe; in short that the universe, and quite frankly, our teams and organizations, are at their best when there is balance, even harmony.

That is different, categorically, from unison. Harmony is a series of different notes that sound simultaneously in relation to each other, and because of this relationship they “sound” balanced. So for example, if at a piano you play ‘c’, ‘e’ and ‘g’ at the same time, you’ll hear a ‘c ‘ major chord, and the notes will ‘fit.’ You could even play  ‘c’, ‘e flat’, and ‘g’ and you’ll hear a ‘c’ minor chord. The notes will still fit and there will be a different ‘feel’ to the sound.  Choirs are an example of harmony, with sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, all singing their own notes but creating these harmonic chord sounds. And great guitarists, Joni Mitchell and Keith Richards are but two examples, will sometimes tune their guitars differently to play with the sounds of the resulting new chords and even ‘dis-chords’. The sinister guitar sound in the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” is an example. (In concerts watch the ‘guitar tech’ bring a new guitar to some performers for the next song, it’s not that the first guitar is broken, it’s very possible that the new guitar is tuned differently.)

So as leaders, we might consider, what are the harmonics of our team? Are there people who are not only singing too loudly, but may be out of tune? Are there voices that are singing too softly, or even not at all? Or are there times when ‘dis-chord’ may be the best, especially as we’re learning new songs.
  
May this week be a week of harmony for each of us.