Leadership Lessons from a Musical Masterpiece
Moonlight Sonata is a famous classical piece of music. You have likely heard this composition and noticed the haunting nature of it. It’s the kind of song that you can feel moving toward something powerful. It builds with the purpose of telling a story without words.
Recently, my brain was in a mental tug-of-war. I was listening to a recording of Moonlight Sonata by a musician named Isaac Schankler. In this version, he added a fascinating twist to the performance. While recording the song, one of Isaac’s hands was playing a measure ahead of the other hand. His hands were performing the same song, but they were not in sync.
As I heard the recording, I found myself torn. Each note was precise, every chord deliberate, yet something felt off. My brain bounced back and forth between, “Yeah, those are the correct notes and chords,” and, “Wait, something isn’t right.”
In other words, the individual elements were correct, but they were being forced into the wrong places. What I felt in that moment mirrors the experience of many workplace cultures.
For example, I have a client that is comprised of about 20 people. Their organization frequently works in small groups. They are in an industry that requires a lot of problem-solving, and their go-to strategy is to collaborate in teams. These groups are made up of talented individuals, but their collaborative efforts felt strained, as if they were trying to swim against a current.
While the employees genuinely liked each other, their work was becoming exhausting, and the fatigue had taken a toll on the quality of their relationships. So much of their work felt forced. Their leader assumed they were having communication and teamwork issues, which is why I was brought in.
The main issue we discovered was how the groups were formed. Their leader had assumed that each group needed one person from their five main departments, but that was the very thing that was slowing them down.
Their struggle mirrored Schankler's performance of the Moonlight Sonata. They, too, were wrestling with misaligned dynamics. Once their leader understood this issue, she was quick to dive deeper and figure out how to get her people in the right places. When the new groups were formed, the entire culture shifted. The quality of their work improved, but more importantly, they enjoyed collaborating again.
This idea of getting people in the right places reminds me of the time when I was working on a puzzle with a friend’s 9-year-old daughter. It was one of those 500-piece puzzles, and the image we were constructing was very abstract.
Early in the process, she put two pieces together. We both questioned if that was the correct placement. The colors matched, but they didn’t snap together perfectly. She replied, “Let’s just leave it for now; we can fix it later.”
Later finally arrived, and we were left with one puzzle piece, but it didn’t fit in the only spot that remained open. We spent the better part of an hour trying to find the original piece that was out of place so we could complete the puzzle.
On that day, I was reminded that getting the pieces in the right place from the very start is wise. This applies to puzzles and to people.
As leaders, we can become comfortable with the roles people play, their titles, who they partner with, and how we form groups, but we have a responsibility to make sure that those we are leading are in a place that allows them to be at their best.
Much like the Moonlight Sonata, we can play the version where the left hand and the right hand are in sync or perform the awkward version that feels a little off. No one wants to work in an environment that feels off.
When leaders assign individuals to the right roles, we create a culture in which success becomes not only attainable but inevitable.
Musicians take the time to carefully place each note. Leaders must do the same with their people.
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