In HRchat episode 317, we get a world-famous music artist and community builder’s take on why embracing people where they’re at is key to driving progress, why high performance rests on a team of good players, and how to bring diverse groups together to achieve inspiring performances.
My guest is Astrid Jorgensen, Founder and Director of Pub Choir. At each Pub Choir event, Astrid arranges a popular song and teaches it to a non-trained audience in three-part harmony. Each event concludes with a performance that is filmed and shared on social media.
Pub Choir gained international attention in November 2017 when their rendition of Zombie by The Cranberries went viral on the internet.
In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent cancellation of planned Pub Choir events, Astrid launched Couch Choir. She arranged and uploaded three vocal harmonies of the song (They Long To Be) Close To You by The Carpenters to social media, inviting anybody to learn a part, film themselves singing it, and send it back for inclusion in a final video. There were over 1000 submissions from 18 different countries, and the project was featured on Australian Story. The final video was also shared by Richard Carpenter!
Astrid has also worked as a producer for ABC Radio Brisbane and has performed as a keyboardist in Australian indie rock band The Grates.
Listen to HRchat 317 and Get Astrid Jorgensen’s Answers to These Questions:
- You’re a keynote at the intelliHR upcoming Performance Summit. How do you draw high-performance out of such a diverse choir mix?
- You’ve mentioned how ordinary people showing up and bringing their real selves can create world-class results. How do you think this translates to business environments?
- What would you recommend to leaders seeking to create environments where people can bring their authentic selves to work?
- With the Pub Choir shift to Couch Choir, you’ve certainly got some thoughts on diversity and accessibility. Can you share some of your learnings?
- How, in your experience, has increased diversity contributed to high performance?
Astrid will be a keynote at the July 28th Performance Summit produced by intelliHR. Learn more and register here: https://intellihr.co/PerformanceSummit2021/