The Communication Station

Welcome back to the land of the living folks.

It's been a very interesting weekend in pipe bands.... I suppose it's always interesting, but this weekend is incredibly interesting.

The big news is the collapse of the City of Chicago pipe band. This band is one of the fastest rising stars in pipe bands these days and it is very disappointing to see it crumble.

According to the pipes/drums article there was an issue with lack of communication. I can appreciate that, it's hard to keep up with everything at once in the leadership roles and thus, communication can break down. It's too bad it ended this way. Waste of a great drum corp I'll say that much.

Where's the lesson? I suppose it can be found in the sit down, bottle of wine chat Wes and I had Saturday evening. Communication is everything in management. Communication between managers (Pipe majors, sergeants and lead drummers), communication to band members, and communication of vision.

I feel as important as the first two are, the communication of vision is the absolute most important. Having your vision, and sticking to it, helps people know where they stand. Whether it's existing members, or joining members your vision helps them know if they want to be part of your band. Without a direction, nobody knows whether they're coming or going.

So Wes and I took the collapse of Chicago to heart. This is a band much like ours, grown quickly, and unstable. We also have communication problems on both sides of the fence. So we have to make a strong effort to bring it back to where we were successful. Trust our instincts again, and create a vision for the band.

For my part I have to help Wes with the management of the band. I also need to lead my drum corp with confidence. I have these awesome guys in the band that have strong personalities and they need to be managed as much as the drum sound or the music. I need to help everyone achieve their best.

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This weekend also sent a breath of life into my pod cast idea. I was contacted by Donald A. Morrison's daughter who coordinated with myself and Mr. Morrison and I am pleased to announce that my first podcast interview will be with Pipe Major Donald A. Morrison in the next few weeks.

If anyone has any stories or history to share with me regarding Mr. Morrison, or anything else for that matter, I sure would appreciate it.

Have a great day, spend a little time looking at how your band communicates within itself. There's always room for improvement.

I'm on a plane to Windsor tomorrow morning so who knows what I'll dream up for tomorrow!!


Cheers

Sean