BOOM! motivational workshops are on a roll: Corporations use group drumming exercises to motivate and co-ordinate sales forces

Montreal Gazette
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Page: B5
Section: Business
Byline: DEIRDRE McMURDY
Column: Moneywise
Dateline: TORONTO
Source: CanWest News Service

Brett Maves admits that he knew, from the very outset, he was taking a major risk.

Instead of sticking to the well-established template for Black & Decker’s annual sales conference — which typically included a motivational speaker, a video presentation of the tool company’s latest product offerings and maybe a tote bag containing a golf shirt and a pen — the marketing director decided to march to a different drummer. Literally.

In a bid to inspire Black & Decker’s top sales personnel, Maves hired Paul Houle — a professional percussionist, music teacher and founder of a company called BOOM! — to lead team-building workshops focused around group drumming exercises.

At 8 a.m. on a recent weekday morning, a slightly groggy crew of 120 unsuspecting Black & Decker sales reps from across Canada gathered in the ballroom of a downtown Toronto hotel. Instead of the usual drill, however, they were met by Houle at centre stage with his drums and their tables laden with drums, shakers, bells and other rhythmic instruments.

“We figured this was either going to be a total strikeout or a grand slam,” Maves recalls. “At first, people were very tentative — it wasn’t what they were expecting at all. But after two or three minutes, they really got into it. And it generated a huge buzz.”

He says his rationale for hiring BOOM! was simple: Black & Decker faces stiff competition in the market, and because it often can’t match the lower prices of offshore rivals, it has to sell quality and innovation. For that strategy to be effective, the sales force has to be highly motivated and co-ordinated.

Intense competition isn’t the only factor that’s driving an impressive roster of corporate clients — including the TD Bank, Bell Canada, HMV Canada, Nissan Canada, Hewlett Packard and Harlequin Enterprises — in BOOM!’s direction. In the wake of an unprecedented period of global rationalization, consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, one of the crucial elements that’s often overlooked by management — at a huge cost to productivity — is the integration of new “team members” across far-flung operations.

“Corporations are so widely dispersed these days and they place such heavy reliance on remote, high-tech communication forms. Drumming cuts across language and cultural barriers. It has a primal energy that brings everyone together — without Power Point presentations,” Houle says.

“BOOM! has really caught on because it’s a really efficient way to bring people together,” adds event planner Matthew Ives of Rave Up Productions. “Common experience just isn’t that common anymore.”

After his initial performance for the Black & Decker sales force, Houle walked the group through some basic drumming techniques. Within minutes, they were playing in synch.

Houle says that in the United States, some companies that have had to adapt to rapid change have developed in-house drumming circles. At aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, for example, weekly sessions with 30 or 40 randomly chosen employees have become common.

To reinforce the message behind the medium, Black & Decker bought each participant a West African gem-based [sic] drum emblazoned with the corporate logo.

“We thought it might be more meaningful than the usual tote bag,” Maves says. “It’s a reminder — especially for long-time employees — of the need to shake up expectations.”

And that just might help the company to drum up some business.