Frank Barrett - Jazz Improvisation

I was lucky enough to share a glass of wine with Frank last week, although unlucky to miss his performance (you may know he is a professional jazz musician as well as an AI / Organizational expert). In “Creativity and Improvisation in Jazz and Organizations: Implications for Organizational Learning,” a 1998 article, he notes that the following features of jazz improv are helpful to us org design mortals ...

• Interrupt habits
• Embrace errors as a source of learning
• Allow maximum flexibility through minimal structures
• Continually negotiate toward dynamic synchronicity
• Rely on retrospective sense making
• Be a member of a Community of Practice
• Alternate between soloing and supporting

Now, I know how to interrupt, and I have to face a lot of my own (and other people's errors). But it seems to me that "alternating between soloing and supporting" may be the real magic. And being a "member of a community of practice" is a pretty close second. Check out Etienne Wenger....

Perhaps that is why Frank and I talked also about the legendary Cream (who are briefly reuniting at the Albert Hall next week - and we failed to get tickets!). Can you remember the 60's?