Hi Reader,
Over this past weekend, my city hosted more than 175 live music acts. How’s anyone supposed to choose?
We finally picked one of the bands playing an acoustic set. But instead of just relaxing and enjoying the music, I strangely found myself studying how they worked together on stage. The soloist took the lead, and the piano player never took their eyes off them and were listening closely, ready to match the pace and follow every shift in rhythm. It felt less like a performance and more like a conversation between musicians.
We caught a few other bands over the weekend (as there were still 174 more to choose from) and I noticed the same thing with each one. I’d never really watched bands this closely before, but it struck me how tightly they had to stay connected to create such a beautiful sound, regardless of what the musicians were like off stage.
One of the groups we saw was a jazz quartet, and they were especially fascinating. The atmosphere was relaxed, with the musicians chatting with each other between songs. This performance was part of a late Sunday afternoon Jazz Vespers in an old church, a tradition that began in New York City to give jazz musicians, who often played late into the night, a chance to still "attend" church on Sundays.
In a jazz quartet, the musicians take turns leading in something called “trading fours.” It’s like a kind of musical conversation where players respond to each other’s notes and ideas. The vocalist, who was also an incredible saxophonist, had this amazing way of keeping the other three perfectly in sync under her direction.
Dissonant harmony
As I’ve talked about before, we all have different personalities, yet when we are trying to work on something as a group, we need to figure out how to come together. I think this is why watching this band play really resonated with me, on how we can make our project work come together easier by listening closely and connecting.
Ed Freeman, the creator of Stakeholder Theory and an amateur musician, mentioned something called dissonant harmony during our stakeholder podcast a few months ago. It’s when certain notes clash and create a harsh, unstable sound that makes you want it fixed. The way to fix it is by moving back into consonant harmony, which feels smoother and more satisfying.
This pretty much sums up my life as a project manager. Most days, I feel like I’m just trying to take the clashing notes out of the mix and bring the whole kit and caboodle back into something that actually sounds like music, bringing us into consonant harmony.
Clashing notes
Those clashing notes aren’t always triggered by people. Sometimes they are things like an annoying technology glitch. Just last week, I spent almost a whole day wrestling with a computer update I had accepted in the morning. I then opened too many tabs, worked on too many documents and refused to let the computer reboot, and fought tech slowness all day. My project planning was definitely in dissonant harmony that day.
The consonant harmony version would have been simple: ignore the little popup asking me to update, wait until the end of the day to run it, shut the computer down, and let it do its thing while I finished my day off with a nice dinner.
Dissonant harmony can also show up in our project people. Different personalities bring different ways of doing things. One person might feel strongly that the team should go in one direction, while another is convinced the opposite path is better. And just like that, we’ve got a clash…especially if both people charge off in opposite directions.
So how can we guide our teams into consonant harmony?
Consonant harmony
Consonant harmony is a combination of musical notes that sound stable, pleasing, and agreeable to the ear, leaving us feeling resolved and comfortable.
For a project manager, that translates into something simple: we all get along. But harmony doesn’t just happen. First comes the forming and storming, those uncomfortable stages where we learn about each other’s styles, preferences, and quirks. This process can feel messy, but it’s the groundwork that eventually allows a team to click.
When we push through those early challenges and really listen to one another, we move closer to true consonant harmony. The result isn’t just a project that works. Instead, it’s a team that works. And when a team plays in harmony, the music they make together can be pretty extraordinary.
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Barbara Kephart, PMP
Founder and Chief Project Officer
Projects Pivot
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