You are stuck in the airplane for hours with little information, you are waiting for traffic piled up in front of you, or a false alarm fire bell empties your building to the parking lot. These are times when big changes happen to everyone’s routine and people get stressed out.
Right now I’m in the first case. I the middle of my flight to Munich we diverted to Boston because the main cabin lost all power. Sleepy travelers, who have not been given much information find various ways to cope or find some control.
This is a time when I hope that everyone on the airplane has taken an improv class.
Accepting offers you are given: often they can’t be changed so accept them and move forward with what has been given.
- we are diverting to Boston
- we are sitting on the tarmac
Making your partner look good: makings things better or easier for others make you both feel better.
- the flight crew can’t change things, taking it out on them doesn’t help
- helping other unhappy passengers get bags, move past, eases tensions
Serve the story: what can you do to make the situation the best for everyone instead of focusing just for yourself.
- Don’t be the loud person who has to get off right away
- The story changed so focus on what comes next to tell the story as it is now, what is the next flight I need now.
The principles of improv are great for life every day, and really come into clear relief when the pressure goes up.
What are situations where you have used these ideas yourself, or what have you seen where you wish others had taken an improv class?
© 2011, Improv Notebook. All rights reserved. info@improvnotebook.com
Rich Cox, Business and Performance Coach, combines years of experience in business, finance and technology with his extensive work in leadership communication and improvisational theater. Rich teaches innovation and leadership communication with organizations worldwide including improvImpact, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Google, Microsoft, Visa, Cisco, the Bravo television network and the Oracle Foundation. Rich speaks on Applied Improv around the world and is the co-founder of ImprovNotebook.com and coaches and performs improv with BATS Improv, Fully Improvised and Over The Moon And Under The Bed. Prior to coaching, Rich was a CEO, VP of Marketing, Marketing Consultant and Engineer and walked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2003. Rich lives with his two dogs in San Francisco.  Follow Rich on twitter!
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Good story Rich….and I like how to apply the theories of Improv to life.
Here my similar story:
It’s midnight when I arrive at a hotel to check in. I’m tired. I’ve been traveling most of the day. The line to the reservations clerk is really long. It takes me over 90 minutes to get to the counter.
I followed the advice you mentioned above….had a very pleasant conversation….found out that the entire staff was working hours past the end of their shift. I decided to ask the reservations clerk for something. Very calmly I asked if there way anything the hotel could do to compensate for the long wait.
He gave me free internet service for my stay (a $13 dollar value each day).
Finding out where the flexibility is…and exploring it.
Remembering what I wanted helped: I wanted to get checked in and not get too stressed.
Thank you Improv!
Rich, these are good suggestions. Re-framing a percieved negative will often ease the stress and move the story towards a happy conclusion. Then you get to write about it!
Thanks Rich. I like it. I once had to smuggle my plane-traumatized cat into an airport hotel conference suite and I sure used my improv skills there. (Commit and act like you know what you are doing).
I am constantly impressed by improv’s ability to change people and situations. It quickly creates a culture of goodwill and co-operation. So I am feeling inspired to fantasize about situations that I’d most like to inject that culture. Hmmm… traffic jams, post-storm clean ups, school teacher orientations, the climate talks in Durban; tobacco industry strategy meetings; Congress… wow how fun is this?
In reading your note I also got an image of a plane FULL of people who had taken improv classes. That is SUCH a happy image. And what is my grandest wish? That they are on their way to Bermuda to an improv retreat that I had planned. Aaaahhhhh.
Indeed!
Here’s my story. Also featuring Boston’s Logan Airport.
It’s a year or so after 911. The Logan TSA staff are rigorous. The line is long. People are shifting and sighing. Tapping feet and rolling eyes. The tension is thick. I am not really early, but not running late for my flight.
And THEN…
A red light on the wall near the x-ray begins to flash and emit a rhythmic percussive beep. More like a bleat really. More like a wounded robotic sheep than the chipper Road Runner out-smarting Wiley E. Coyote. Everyone begins looking up at it. Looking at one another. More sighs. Questions. No one official appears to be addressing it or doing anything different. I see lots of furrowed brows or wide eyed expressions of fear.
It seems to me it’s some false alarm, but I become anxious for it to just stop. It’s annoying.
It does not stop.
OK, “yes, and” I think.
I pick a pitch a third up the musical scale from the bleating red light and begin harmonizing with it. Softly, but audible to those nearby.
A few neighbors in line turn to look at me. Some look away quickly. But a few smile. And I smile. And keep singing, a wee bit louder. I move around the scale, to the 5th above and down to the 3rd below. [for those readers w/o a music theory back-groud, I am creating little pleasing chords out of the previously annoying beep. ]
I see a few more smiles around me. And some not really smiling but no longer with a face that says “WTF?!!” More like the expression of resignation, or perhaps even acceptance.
Traffic, indeed.
No great heroic or coureageous deeds in my comment, but a recognition of some widespread, heartfelt agony and some small steps I take to feel better, and that spread the harmony.
Fortunately, I could reach my previous workplaces by bike (I love biking) or by train (very relaxing, too). However, my current job, which I really like, does require a half an hour drive.
I am amazed, not to say shocked, by some drivers’ behaviour. Traffic isn’t too bad on my stretch, but it can get crowded. The way some drivers zone in on my bumper can get annoying or plain scary. With two little children at home, my safety matters more to me than before I was a mom.
Instead of joining and spreading the feeling of rush rush, hurry up, get out of my way, I choose a different mindset.
Yes, I am on the road, yes, it is crowded. And?
And – I choose to believe there is enough space for everyone on this road, and we’ll all get where we need to be at the right time – even if it is not the time we had thought of, ourselves.
And, most of all, I choose to think of the other road-users as warm-blooded people, just like myself, instead of cold steel tin cans on wheels who are blocking my way.
I try to behave politely, treat the other drivers like I would want them to treat me. When I can, I will make room to allow others to insert and most of all, I try to make eye contact, give friendly waves… and SMILE!
Recently, a younger colleague (early twenties) told me she does learns these skills in driving lessons: social driving behaviour. I (38) never did. I do not know when they started teaching it. Maybe people forget when they are on the road – but very few people out there actually practise it. However, this is not for me to worry about – if people stress out, that is their choice to make.
The effect is immediate. I feel calm and enjoy a relaxing trip. I am aware of what is going on on the road and react more alertly. After the drive, I can start my day or evening with a much better energy. Essential to get through dinner with young children as other parents may know. I’ll be relaxed and take time to play with the kids.