The Project Book

CHAPTER 35 SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR SUCCESS

My first job after leaving school was in a bank, and one of my early roles was in the counting house. This was a small, dark room where a group of about eight people counted the money that came in over the counter or via armoured trucks and bagged it up ready for redistribution.

There was no natural light in the room and no air conditioning and money is, well, dirty. Yet people really enjoyed working in there, mainly because it was one of the only places in the office where you could play music and sing. So we did.

We learned the words to ridiculous songs (‘Didn’t We Almost Have It All’ by Whitney Houston is a particularly vivid memory) and goaded each other on our respective musical tastes. It did wonders for the culture. We got the work done, we were never anxious or angry, and people frequently came down to visit us in the hope of joining in one of our impromptu karaoke sessions. Particularly at Christmas when every day conjured up Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Slade and, of course, Band Aid.

Having always been a music lover, I made sure to incorporate it into my own project cultures, buoyed by the knowledge that the research supported my own early experiences. A University of Sheffield research study found that 79 per cent of people would benefit from listening to music at work. ‘When music listening in the work environment is encouraged by project directors and the workers are amenable to music listening,’ reported researcher Teresa Lesiuk, ...