By Mike Conway, Founder & CEO XVenture, Emotional Agility and Mind Coach
Much is said and written on what we each need to bring to the table to be part of a great team. However, the smallest of missing pieces mean that good teams more often than not don’t become great teams.
The great therapist Dan Siegel has a wonderful acronym which describes the steps necessary for deep integration. Integration of oneself, integration with another person and the integration of a team. The acronym is PART. To achieve full integration, we need to be fully present; we need to have attunement to the environment and those we are with; we need to have resonance with the same and we need to have full trust.
Here’s a reflection on how my love of and experience in the music industry has brought to life Dan Siegel’s PART acronym and as an indicator of any great team…
It’s the fifteenth week of the Pandemic lockdown. Certainly, Sydney’s northern beaches is not a bad place to be locked down although I must confess the restrictions on typical freedom, I have been used to in life have become wearing. I’ve realised that social experiences are more significant than I had ever imagined. I’ve not been able to see my children and still not seen my first grandchild who was born six weeks ago. I’m even doing my work with the Socceroos on the World Cup journey from here. It’s been a big vacuum which can’t be filled. However, I’ve found one renewal in me which probably wouldn’t have happened without this pandemic. My love of music. It’s been almost a decade since the last time I played music professionally. The irony of this is that whilst I’m being renewed, this last two years has been one of the most difficult for many of my old friends in the music industry. The experience of not being able to live your life through music, when it is your life must be painfully difficult.
There was no particular reason for this long break from music. I just seemed to get focused on other creative experiences including writing and producing tv shows and documentaries, designing and delivering new learning programs for Universities, Schools and businesses and applying the principles I’ve learned in sport. I love all of it. However, as I’ve spent many more hours in my home- work hub than usual, slowly but surely the lessons of life I’ve learned from music have returned. In fact, one of the most powerful moments where my Mind was fully integrated occurred in a musical moment which I will share shortly.
Music has always been around me. The radio was often on. Early sounds of The Beatles; The Seekers; Frank Ifield; Elvis Presley; The Rolling Stones. My dad singing Irish ballads and Gilbert and Sullivan as he worked on the house. My Mum played piano and prepared for her classes as lead music teacher at our local primary school. Music lessons were an obvious step. My sisters commenced piano at a young age and as I went to high school guitar was my chosen subject. Whilst I initially struggled with the structures of classical guitar, years later I appreciated the discipline of being able to read the universal language of music notation. Discipline and practice. Now there’s a lesson.
I was fortunate to have gone to a school in Manchester which had an excellent reputation for music. Attending regular recitals and participating in concerts with a cohort which included Andy Connell (Swing Out Sister), John Maher (Buzzcocks), Ronan O’Hora (World class concert pianist) and Paul Thompson (classical flautist now in Missouri USA) helped set a high bar. During undergraduate years I continued playing and performing music mainly dropping into sessions for others: folk rock and supporting variety shows. All these early experiences would help me build flexibility, to be adaptable and able to fit into most music groups. My guitar became one of my most important calling cards and my connection to others.
Wind the clock forward years later and I’m playing both lead and bass guitar in sessions of various kinds in Australia whilst undertaking my day job (GM of The Wiggles). Musicals, orchestras, cover bands, award nights and a smattering of recordings. At each and every session I learnt something different. Another road map. Every new experience prepared me for the next. The mistakes from the last session needed to be removed for the next. I practised hard at my craft. All these hard yards prepared me for performing with the very best of teams. When the opportunity comes to play with the very best of teams you have to be ready. And here it was!
Picture the scene. It’s a small recording studio in Las Vegas and I’m in a room with some of the greatest recording and stage musicians on the history of popular music. Elvis Presley’s TCB Band. We’re in the studio band backing Greg Page for the recording of his new album. In those two days I learned so much about myself and what life is like when we are fully “tuned” to others. When we’re fully integrated. I realised in lockdown that this unique experience has helped me so many times to help others who also want to be a part of the great team.
Much is said and written on what we each need to bring to the table to be part of a great team. However, the smallest of missing pieces mean that good teams more often than not don’t become great teams.
The great therapist Dan Siegel has a wonderful acronym which describes the steps necessary for deep integration. Integration of oneself, integration with another person and the integration of a team. The acronym is PART. To achieve full integration, we need to be fully present; we need to have attunement to the environment and those we are with; we need to have resonance with the same and we need to have full trust.
A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about a great team I had the good fortune to meet: The Rolling Stones. They played and continue to play their PART brilliantly. They reminded me so much of another great team I had written about a few years ago: Manchester United’s Class of '92. Another one where the sum is greater than the PARTs.
Back to Las Vegas. Every musician in the room was fully connected throughout the recording session: a special connection with their instruments and the music and a deep connection with each other. To be in tune with each of these elements requires all the senses to be in play: our five senses plus our body (hands; fingers; our physical positioning); our brains and all that we’ve learned; and then our link with each other.
Guitarist James Burton; bass player Jerry Scheff; pianist Glenn D Hardin; drummer Ron Tutt have played with the very best. Elvis Presley; Bob Dylan; The Doors; John Denver; Emmylou Harris; Neil Diamond; Elvis Costello; Beach Boys; Frank Sinatra. However, despite this, they embraced, included and accepted my self as a guitarist and vocalist Greg Page, into their fold.
The obvious fear factor playing with music legends which I had when I walked into that studio didn’t last long. As my anxieties and nerves disappeared, I became one with this group of people. Each and every one bringing something unique to the team. The sum being greater than the parts! In just two days a full album had been rehearsed and recorded. A few days later we are performing the same tracks we recorded in that studio, live on stage. Totally connected. Such a treasured experience and has provided me with many lessons of life.
One famous moment. Some advice from James Burton which has been with me forever.
"It’s not what you play. It’s what you don’t play."
Wisdom for everybody.
My dear friend Eliot Kennedy has written and produced music with some incredible people: Take That; Celine Dion; Aretha Franklin; Bryan Adams; Spice Girls. I worked with Eliot on the building of the Asian girl band Blush (Project Lotus) and on the TV show XVenture Family Challenge Season 2. I often wondered how he’s consistently part of a great team. I now know. Every time he creates, he plays his PART.
When everyone plays their PART incredible things can happen. How committed are you to playing your PART in your team? Next time I will dig in deeper into how you do this.
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