HRchat Podcast

Why Embracing People Where They're at is Key to Driving Progress w/ Astrid Jorgensen, Pub Choir

The HR Gazette Season 1 Episode 317

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

Bill's 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 and get Astrid's answers to these questions: 

  • You're a keynote at the intelliHR upcoming Performance Summit event. 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:/

Support the show

Feature Your Brand on the HRchat Podcast

The HRchat show has had 100,000s of downloads and is frequently listed as one of the most popular global podcasts for HR pros, Talent execs and leaders. It is ranked in the top ten in the world based on traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness. The podcast is also ranked as the Best Canadian HR Podcast by FeedSpot and one of the top 10% most popular shows by Listen Score.

Want to share the story of how your business is helping to shape the world of work? We offer sponsored episodes, audio adverts, email campaigns, and a host of other options. Check out packages here.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

HR in Review Artwork

HR in Review

HRreview
Career Club Live with Bob Goodwin Artwork

Career Club Live with Bob Goodwin

Bob Goodwin (Career Club)
A Bit of Optimism Artwork

A Bit of Optimism

Simon Sinek
Hacking HR Artwork

Hacking HR

Hacking HR
A Better HR Business Artwork

A Better HR Business

getmorehrclients
The Wire Podcast Artwork

The Wire Podcast

Inquiry Works
Voices of the Learning Network Artwork

Voices of the Learning Network

The Learning Network
HBR IdeaCast Artwork

HBR IdeaCast

Harvard Business Review
FT News Briefing Artwork

FT News Briefing

Financial Times
The Daily Artwork

The Daily

The New York Times