The Quartet Approach employs a performing string quartet to demonstrate teamwork excellence. During the 2-hour program, the clients are seated among the musicians. While the quartet rehearses and performs, the clients experience a team working together from within. Step by step, they become aware of the quartet' s progress towards their goal. At multiple times during the session, the clients (as well as members of the quartet) are guided through an illuminating dialogue about the work process as it unfolds. When the quartet performs, a powerful message is discovered about teamwork excellence, effective communication, successful leadership and the need for innovation.



Prior to Performance Seminar:

Client agrees to engage The Quartet Approach Jeremy Gershfeld, principal of The Quartet Approach, meets with the lead client to determine the issues which the participants need most to address. He can provide surveys and research materials to explore these issues. The client and The Quartet Approach agree on a date and location for the performance seminar. The location must include space for the string quartet and room for all participants to sit in close proximity around the string quartet.

Mr. Gershfeld enters along with the other members of the string quartet. He explains that the quartet and the viewing participants are embarking on an inquiry, in real time, about the special attributes of a 21st century, high performance team. This is not a pre-planned lecture. During the first hour of the session, the string quartet performs music from the classical quartet literature, stopping intermittently, while Mr. Gershfeld facilitates an inquiry into what makes this “high-performance” group work well together. What is the relationship with the cellist and violinist here? What happens if the musicians pay attention to only their part and not the whole? What happens if the quartet members don’t agree on the structure of their work plans? The quartet members and the non-playing participants are asked questions in response to the music. Together each person is an important part to the whole of the session, and leaving anyone out would leave the inquiry incomplete. After exploring different variations of how the quartet engages each other, the quartet performs with their coherent teamwork conditions in tact. After the first hour, three of the four musicians leave the room. The entire group takes a 10-minute intermission. When everyone returns, Mr. Gershfeld leads a discussion with questions about what happened in the session. Participants are led in an open-ended thought process that connects the dots about how the quartet members successfully engaged each other and how their own organization can benefit from this process.