Improv Notebook » business

Applied Improv Principles: Making and Receiving Offers

Richard Cox — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:35:27 +0000

In the article What is Applied Improv? I discussed seven principles of improv that apply in the work environment. Here I expand on the concept of “Making and Receiving Offers”

An offer can be anything that you communicate. The definition is so broad that it is challenging to describe other than to say “everything is an offer”. Saying “hello” to someone on the street is an offer, opening your mouth to talk in a meeting is an offer, and putting forward an idea in that meeting is also an offer.
Accepting offers means listening to them and making an offer in return in the spirit of “Yes, And”. In the examples above accepting the offers could be saying “hello” back, pausing and giving your attention to the person that wants to speak, and nodding and saying “interesting idea” to the person offering it in the meeting.
Blocking those same offers might look like ignoring the greeting hello, talking louder and turning away to prevent another speaker, or replying to the idea offers with “yeah, right. moving on”. It stops the action, diminishes the offer and negates what has happened.

How many offers to you accept in a day? How many do you block? Often it’s easier to block them, to keep going, to stick with the status quo. But in accepting offers you start to innovate, build, challenge yourself and others.

Take an inventory after your next meeting to see where you are on the accepting/blocking scale.

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Applied Improv Principles: Make Your Partner(s) Look Good

Richard Cox — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:53:12 +0000

In the article What is Applied Improv? I discussed seven principles of improv that apply in the work environment. Here I expand on the concept of “Making your Partner Look Good.”

Making your partner look good means listening, encouraging, and looking for ways to support what others are doing and is necessary for collaboration. It means suspending our tendency to make ourselves look good, and let go of competitive, adversarial and antagonistic behaviors that can be present in group dynamics. The good of the group is best served by everyone helping to push forward ideas.

Partner is a term that comes from acting and means your scene partner. When you apply the concept more widely in an applied improv setting it could be a co-worker, spouse, child, parent, boss, client, or the person who takes your ticket at the movies. In each case the way in which you can make them look good might be different, but the concept is the same. For here, I’ll just say partner.

What makes your partner look good? Pointing out their mistakes publicly, sarcastic remarks, or silently letting them go down in flames in a meeting are all examples you may have seen that do NOT accomplish the goal. Look for ways to help them, have compassion, be graceful, let them off the hook, empathize. Even more than that you could turn it around, improve, build, expand, transform, or celebrate what they have done or said.

In the chapter on saying Yes in Improv Wisdom * by Patricia Ryan Madson. She suggests an experiment of looking for any way to say yes and build on the ideas and desires of the people around you. This is an excellent way of making them look good. Find the goodness in everything they do and tell them! Don’t fake it – really search for the truth of the goodness. If you are open to it, you can find it.

* Madson, Patricia Ryan 2001. improv wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up

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Applied Improv Principles: Yes, And…

Richard Cox — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:27:27 +0000

In the article What is Applied Improv? I discussed seven principles of improv that apply in the work environment. Here I expand on the concept of “Yes, And…”

Yes, And… is as simple as the using the phrase “Yes, and…” in responding to others as a way to build on their ideas and expand them. It is also the term used to describe the concept of accepting what other say and enhancing, expanding, and building on that idea to move things forward. This is in contrast to “Yes, But” and “No” which stop collaboration and forward momentum.

Yes, And makes you more positive. It can filter into all aspects of your life. This is talked about extensively in the book Improv Wisdom * by Patricia Ryan Madson. She offers this experiment in the first chapter on Yes:

For one day say yes to everything that’s offered. Set your own preferences aside. Notice the results. See how often it may not be convenient or easy to do this.
Obviously, use common sense in executing this rule. If you are a diabetic and are offered a big piece of pie, you’ll need to find a way to protect your health. Perhaps you can say
boldly, “Yes, I’d love to have this pie to take home to my son who adores cherries.”

It’s good for everyone including to yourself. It can be surprising how often we tell ourselves NO once you become aware of it. Take notice of for the rest today how many times you say yes to yourself vs. how many times you say no.

* Madson, Patricia Ryan 2001. improv wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up

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What is Applied Improv?

Richard Cox — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:57:03 +0000

Applied Improv

Improv, or Improvisational Theater, is a pure form of collaboration, creativity, and communication as a performance art. Applied Improv is the adaptation and use of improv games, exercises and activities in any context other than performance. There is a wide range of contexts that improv is applied including healthcare, wellness, therapy, training, communication, soft skills, K-12 education, and many others. Further, Applied Improv has a practical and sometimes specific outcome other than fun or entertainment.

Higher Engagement

Applied Improv uses games and exercises as the scaffold for learning. In some cases the game itself is a metaphor for the learning, in others the the game is a framework used to actively interact with the content.
The act of play keeps the players engaged with the material for a longer period. By keeping people engaged with material and concepts for a longer period, more learning can happen and it happens in an active way that increases retention and learning.

Reflection

Applied improv is based in experiential learning and intrinsic to that process is reflection. Daudelin* (1996, 39) defines reflection saying, “Reflection is the process of stepping back from an experience to ponder, carefully and persistently, its meaning to the self through the development of inferences; learning is the creation of meaning from past or current events that serves as a guide for future behavior.”
After each game or exercise the reflection process allows for the participants to find the meaning, extract the learning, and find their own understanding of the material.

* Daudelin, M. W. 1996. Learning from experience through reflection. Organizational Dynamics 24(3): 36-48.

Fundamental Principles

Theatrical and applied improv activities teach a set of fundamental principles that serve as a great model for using these techniques in other applications. There are several fundamental principles that underlie improv and have applicability in improv, work, and life in general* (Madson, 2001).

* Madson, Patricia Ryan 2001. improv wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up

How do you define it?

Let me know what I missed. How you frame it. Agree. Disagree. Add your voice with a comment below.

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AIN09 – 4 Bringing improv into one to one coaching

Richard Cox — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:18:53 +0000

One minute you are sitting in your cube, checking your email. The next you hear a knock and all of sudden you are on a theater stage with a spot light glaring in your eyes and expected to perform. Now you wish you had taken at least one art or theater class in high school!

This is what some clients might feel when you bring up improv games in a one on one coaching session. What I learned from the AIN conference session by Drew Tarvin was that there are the four main things to watch for:

Trust

It’s easier to be part of or hide in a group. The experience of a one-on-one session is much more intimate and you need a higher level of trust for the client to be comfortable performing when all eyes (yours) are on them. Take the time to build trust and always be prepared to keep the trust equal by playing along and contributing in the games as much as the client.

Time

The way you approach building trust and what games you play will depend on if you have a single session or multiple sessions. Keeping games simple, light, and introducing the concept of celebrating risk or failure will help right off the bat. Taking the time to let trust build and not pushing too hard will pay off every time.

Multi-level

As the coach you have to operate on two levels – the improviser and the facilitator. You need to develop your split brain and maintain observation without interrupting your game. When it does happen, it’s a great time to own that and model the celebration of taking risks.

Goal-based

Regardless of the exercise or coaching, be sure to clearly define the goals and understand how the activity is moving toward the goal. Many games are fun to play, and sometimes that is a goal for unblocking or building trust. Games can be used in different ways, make sure you know what you are trying to achieve.

What do you think?

Leave your thoughts in a comment below:

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WHAT first, then HOW

Richard Cox — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:24:43 +0000

I ran across a question on the BizMore website

How do you reach consensus quickly on a group decision?

The key concept that was missing in that title was that it was a critical strategic decision. I think that changes the game on how you approach different kinds of decisions. Here is an excerpt of my response.

I am curious about a “critical strategic decision” and moving quickly. If you are using an agility model, like the Agile software movement, then a fast decision that can be amended over time using a rapid do, evaluate, change cycle.

With more traditional environments, look to the company mission and values, or the departmental mandate and goals as your preset and agreed on criteria.

And one final thing is to identify if you have an WHAT question or a HOW question.

Are you deciding WHAT you are trying to do – an objective and a clearly stated, measurable goal?
Are you deciding HOW to get to that goal?

WHAT first, then HOW.

What do you think – Can critical decisions be made quickly?

Quick Choice – Make fast decisions in a group

Richard Cox — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:27:45 +0000

Quick Choice

It happens all the time. You are in a meeting at work, a club, a group – and you are faced with a decision. What kind of pizza? What’s the next topic to discuss? How should the group spend it’s time next? You need a decision and you need it now!

I was in just such a meeting with a group of corporate trainers, coaches, and improvisers and we created Quick Choice. An exercise to quickly (in 6 minutes) get a group decision done.

Here is a PDF writeup of the exercise for you to try. Give it a shot – and leave a comment below with how you think it will work or how it did work!

Quick Choice PDF

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