Improving the quality of meetings using music

Abstract

Music’s power in leadership and the development of trust has been both recognised and documented at least since the time of the Ancient Greeks. The potential impact of faceto- face meetings, as opposed to communication by other means – even aided by a battery of technological developments – is also widely accepted. The authors argue that modern quality-driven managers are missing a significant opportunity by their apparent failure to perceive and exploit the synergy between these two elements. The article commences by tracing the history of the use of music and its influence on interpersonal behaviour. It continues by exploring the various attributes of music that can be brought to bear on improving quality in meetings. Finally, it describes the many tools and opportunities that managers have to exploit the power of music in targeting greater efficiency in communication, cognition and cooperation among quality-focused teams.