An Unexpected Lesson from the Choir Loft
Ottawa has no shortage of places that slow you down and make you think, a Sunday morning in a local church turned out to be one of them. That's exactly what happened to one writer who, sitting through a service recently, found their mind drifting back to a childhood camp song: "Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones…"
It sounds almost silly. But that simple, almost childlike song ended up reframing two powerful passages from the readings, and sparked a deeper reflection on what renewal, community, and leadership actually look like in practice.
Renewal Is a Process, Not a Miracle
The central insight from the piece is deceptively straightforward: renewal isn't a lightning bolt. It's not the dramatic moment when a struggling team suddenly clicks, or the single speech that turns everything around. It's a process, slow, sometimes invisible, driven by consistent effort and shared purpose.
The church choir becomes a metaphor here. Think about what a choir actually does: individuals with different voices, ranges, and backgrounds come together under a director's guidance and produce something none of them could alone. Nobody in the soprano section is competing with the altos. Everyone is listening, adjusting, responding, and the whole thing only works when people trust each other enough to be vulnerable.
That's a leadership model worth borrowing.
What Ottawa's Community Spaces Are Teaching Us
Ottawa is, in many ways, a city built on institutions, government, universities, hospitals, nonprofits. And yet some of the most meaningful leadership lessons here happen in the quieter corners: a volunteer choir at an Overbrook parish, a community garden steering committee in Hintonburg, a mutual aid group in Vanier coordinating drop-offs.
These spaces share something. They operate without hierarchy in the traditional sense. Nobody's getting a performance review. People show up because they care, they stay because they feel seen, and they lead because the need is right in front of them.
The "hallelujah effect", that rush of collective accomplishment when something clicks, isn't reserved for Sunday mornings. It can happen in a team debrief, a community meeting, or a volunteer shift. The conditions just have to be right: psychological safety, shared purpose, and a willingness to listen before you speak.
Practical Takeaways for Everyday Leaders
Whether you're managing a team at a Kanata tech firm, running a volunteer program, or just trying to be a better collaborator, the choir analogy holds up:
- Listen more than you direct. The best choir directors spend as much time listening as conducting.
- Trust the process. Renewal, whether in an organization or a relationship, rarely happens overnight.
- Celebrate small moments. Every rehearsal that goes well is worth acknowledging, not just the big performance.
- Make room for different voices. A choir with only tenors isn't a choir.
Worth Sitting With
In a city that can sometimes feel like it moves at the pace of a Senate committee, this kind of reflective leadership writing is a welcome reminder that the lessons we need are often already around us, in community halls, church pews, and yes, the occasional camp song.
Sometimes the most powerful professional development isn't a conference. It's a Sunday morning, a familiar melody, and a room full of people trying to make something beautiful together.
Source: Ottawa Life Magazine
