Comfortable conversation can be a powerful tool for team building.
Honest sharing, laughter, gentle teasing: really, any kind of verbal connection can be effective in bringing your choir closer together.
It’s easy to feel like you’ve failed your choir’s mission if your spend a chunk of time just having conversation. But while you don’t want to spend every rehearsal in conversation, the occasional group chat can build exactly the connections you need to make better music together.
Note, I’m not talking about a free-for-all. The chaos of everyone talking at once only reinforces cliques or small groups. A true group conversation is different.
It’s a way to do the continuing work of team building beyond the retreat, the ropes course, the trained team building professional or fancy kits. It doesn’t even have to be serious (it can be) or long – it just needs to be honest, comfortable, and together.