#applied improv

[philosworkbench]

I just rediscovered a long-forgotten facilitation exercise and it legit made my entire day already.

[philosworkbench]

Yes And, A Good No, and the Dangers of Wing-Walking

I did a weird thing for an improviser to do today. I declined an offer.

“No” is something people say every day. Kids say it a lot. I don't have kids; I had cats, and they would often say something very much like no. But in improv, we're taught to say yes. Specifically, when someone on stage with you says something to define the shared fictional reality, we call that “making an offer.” When that happens, you're supposed to accept it and heighten it as far as it will go.

If your scene partner says that you're both monkey space pirates and it's time to capture the frigate of the talking bananas, well then you just better put on your monkey space suit, pull out your monkey space cutlass, and get ready to fight! Is it ridiculous? Of course, it is. (I mean how are you going to pull out your space sword after you’ve already put on your space suit? Stupid monkey pirate!) Nevertheless, you Yes And! It's banana hunting time! Take no banana prisoners! Eat all you kill! #YOLO #LivingThatMonkeySpacePirateLife #blessed

There was this guy with an interesting online tool for facilitators --  bizarrely enough, a different online tool than the one I talked about yesterday. (I’m networking a lot, y’all. And by y’all, I mean cold vastness of Tumblr.)

This guy was ready to make me his U.S. distributor-partner for his product. No buy-in, all commission, and the ripest territory on the planet. Perfect side hustle, if not a full hustle for the right person.

I said no.

It f*cking terrified me.

Beyond the pros and cons of the opportunity and the reasoning for my decision, what most intrigued me was my emotional reaction. I'm not destitute. My spouse and I are okay, even in the midst of COVID. Why did it freak me out so much to say “no”?

Honestly, I think there are a lot of reasons. Here are the ones that kept me up tonight.

Yes And is great medicine if you have the disease it’s meant for.

If your team or entire organization has become a stalled, “no but” culture, work on Yes And. When you and/or the system has become so stable that it's stagnant and momentum towards a vision has become inertia towards change, work on Yes And. When you need to shake things up and create opportunity for positive disruption, work on Yes And.

Cut to 20 years later.

I’ve done Yes And. I’ve taught it a lot. I’ve seen what happens when a room of people have to make a decision and their only experience running things is from a career spent in improv. It has come to me as no surprise that the hypocrisy of the improv community was laid bare by the #MeToo movement. A healthy respect for no is crucial.

This is when some improv people tie themselves in knots. “It’s not that we’re asking people to say ‘no’ to each other, but to say ‘yes’ to themselves.” Fine. Whatever looks good in your Bullet Journal. Even if improv didn’t need a worldwide reckoning around consent, it would still need to learn how to say a “good no.”

A Good No means Listening to your Full Self

To explain this, let’s go back to why we try to break people of “no” when they first start taking improv classes. It’s because their “no” at the time is usually based in fears.

I’m afraid of looking stupid so I say no to anything my partner says -- I just can’t risk it

I’m afraid of not understanding what’s happening so I say no to anything too crazy

I’m afraid of not being funny so I say no to anything to too normal

And, if you squint enough to read between those lines, you’ll see similar fears that show up in almost every meeting at work:

I’m afraid of looking less valuable so I say no to my peers’ ideas -- they might keep mine from being recognized

I’m afraid of putting my name to something that fails so I say no to innovation -- or at least no until we have all the necessary data (because by then the opportunity will have passed and we can blame a lack of good intel)

I’m afraid of not making a name for myself so I no to the simple, no-frills solution that will work, but that no one will notice

These are the bad noes. (These are not the Glengarry noes.)

There’s nothing worse than watching an improviser try to improv while fundamentally afraid of the art form and uncomfortable with themselves. Improv and all theater begins with a fearlessness around “nakedness.” Don’t really get naked when improvising. We get too many letters. Instead, take Peter Brook’s advice from The Empty Space:

“The creative actor also longs to cling on to all he’s found, he too wants at all costs to avoid the trauma of appearing in front of an audience, naked and unprepared—still this is exactly what he must do.” (Brook, 1968, p.142)

It sucks to be naked like this while doing bar-prov in front of a bunch of drunks at 12am, so we teach Yes And. It’s probably not so much “be more naked on stage,” but more, “it’s awkward to try to cover yourself on stage so we’re all going to just keep covering each other. Trust that your partners are there to keep the grossest parts from hanging out.” That’s Yes And.

When improvisers understand that, you start to see them use “no” again. But now, it’s not an awful, awkward, scene-halting “no.” It’s authoritative, exciting, and directional. A good no can be the best yes and. It doesn’t stop the motion, it transforms it.

Back At Work: Good Noes are Good News

Time to read between the lines again, to see how this translates from improv to the boardroom -- by which, of course, I mean Zooming with your team members while you all pretend to be wearing pants.

Once we have a foundation of Yes And, and our default setting is to rally around each other and support each other. Then, revisiting No makes sense. You can bring your full selves to it. You’re not making the “no” choice out of fear.

This is great news because then you can say no with complete candor but also complete support. You can say, “here’s where I’m at right now.” People know where you stand and can factor in your real, honest feedback. If the team knows that everyone on the team gets what “Yes And” means, they can hear “no” in a whole new way.

So why was I so upset about saying “no” today? Like everyone who's ever done therapy, I blame my stepfather.

The First Law of Wing-Walking

Amazingly, it is not, “you don’t talk about wing-walking.” You apparently talk about it a lot, especially while your stepson is growing up in your house.

My stepdad was in Organizational Development. (So, I guess you could say, I’m a “legacy,” or whatever. #NBD) 30 years ago, he would often say, “Matt, remember the first law of wing-walking:

Don’t let go of what you’re holding onto until you’ve got hold of something else!”

Years on the couch. (For other stuff. Not for that.)

I’m in a lot of transition right now. I’m trying to launch a new company. I’m trying to do right by the companies I work for now. And COVID feels like a bad time to be dreaming big, but I am.

But I don’t feel I am holding onto anything. I’m just keeping a ton of different stuff in reach. I haven’t “burned my boats,” and yet, they are drifting further and further from shore. Without me.

I have a beautiful vision for my future, but I haven’t gotten anyone to buy it yet.

And then comes this guy, and he has something to hold onto.

Getting Lost in the Role

One of the best moments in a long-form improv is when you find a truly interesting character that you can consistently play from scene to scene. You “have” them.

The audience is intrigued. You feel good at improv when you play them. And, best of all, you get to stop thinking about who you are for a while. All of your anxieties about “am I good at this? What should I do next?” have to leave a message at the beep. You’re somebody else now. And they’re busy.

But what about when you’re decidedly not getting lost in the role. You just feel “lost.” That’s kind of where I am at right now. Not as bad as the “upside-down,” but definitely the “in-between.”

And here’s this guy, and he has a branded polo shirt with my name on it if I want it.

But I don’t.

I want a branded polo shirt with my own company’s name on it.

And yes, in his mind, I could have absolutely built my own company while I did this for him as a sideline. There were plenty of Yes And reasons why this would have been a great partnership. He helps facilitators. I help facilitators. Except I’m not really helping facilitators yet. I just want to.

Whose Thing is it Anyway!?

So, now I think I can finally come to the point. Sometimes you have to pass up good things.

When you are not sure of your path forward or not confident the path you want will happen, the universe will sometimes send you lifeboats. And you may not realize you’re only saying yes to it because it’s a lifeboat. It’s better than flapping around in the water.

But is that a good Yes?

Is it going to bring you closer to your path forward? Or will it give you hours of distraction so you’ll have the perfect excuse not to move forward? What will you say when you look back?

“Yes, I really wanted to have my own monkey space pirate ship, but while I was building it, another monkey came by and offered me a chance to work part-time on his ship. I figured I’d get back to mine eventually, but I just kept doing so well on his. His is awesome now! As for mine, I don’t know. Maybe when I retire.”

Just writing that has me shaking a little, like an honest-to-god baby panic attack. Not a full-blown attack, but one you would serve around on a tray at a cocktail party.

I was terrified of saying no today because of all the fear of passing up a good thing.

But now, as I reflect on it, having spent the last 1700+ words ruminating on it, I realize that what’s f*cking terrifying is taking a good thing when it’s not actually your thing.

Don’t get me wrong; many of the best accomplishments have been the work of dedicated people working diligently for other people. If you see an organization with a mission you believe in, that treats you right, and treats the world right, jump on that.

But if you know you need to now do something on your own, even if it fails miserably. If you need to pass up the good thing so you can have the space to create your own, do it.

Say a good “no” to the stuff that isn’t truly for you. 

Even when it’s terrifying.

[martingilbraith]

Nimble - free facilitation webinar recording & resources

Nimble – free facilitation webinar recording & resources

  Thank you again to everyone who participated in today’s free facilitation webinar Nimble: off script but still on track, and especially to today’s guest presenter Rebecca Sutherns. Here below you will find the session recording, presentation slides and other resources shared.

In this sessionwe explored how to be nimble and responsive in facilitation, how to improvise and stay on track – even…

View On WordPress

[martingilbraith]

Free facilitation webinar - Nimble: off script but still on track

Free facilitation webinar – Nimble: off script but still on track

Are you interested to learn more about facilitation, and ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP) in particular – in a free, one-hour, interactive online session that offers an experience of virtual facilitation as well? Register now on Eventbrite for this latest addition to my series of free facilitation webinars.

Nimble: off script but still on track

Thursday 11 April 2019, 15.00 UK time 

In…

View On WordPress

[belinamaffick]

10 reasons change agents should avoid learning improv skills

Here are 10 reasons why change agents should avoid learning improvisation skills:

1. Improvisation shifts the focus from you as the tired, overwhelmed, and lone hero to you as part of a diverse fabulous community, all potential partners with which to inspire and co-create change.  If you like being the lone genius, avoid improvisation.

2.  Improvisation practices connecting people in ways that go beyond titles and roles, and focusses on what is delightful, emergent and shared from our human experience. (Some people hate that.)

3. Improvisation engenders trust between strangers very quickly.  If you are trying to change things because you feel people are generally untrustworthy, you will not like improvisation.

4. Improvisation builds skills in a ‘content neutral’ way, and gently holds the space for you to reflect on how it applies to your work and life.  You don’t talk about work, unless you want to.  Some people want to talk about their work ad nauseam.

5. Improvisation is inherently joyful.  Some people believe that if you are working to tackle difficult topics, it breaks the martyr code if you are not appropriately miserable the whole time.  If that is where you are coming from, avoid improvisation.

6. Improvisation focusses on possibility and creation, not on problems.  If you’re the kind of change agent who loves getting mired in problems and revelling in how doomed we all are, avoid improvisation.

7. Improvisation draws people from diverse backgrounds and experiences together to act on their shared values.  If you dislike diversity or find it distracting, avoid improvisation.

8. Improvisation is not linear. These skills help people to work in dynamic, complex and adaptive systems.  If you’re a linear kind of person, and like things to be step-by-step and predictable, improvisation is not for you.

9. With improvisation, you are invited to let go of the illusion of control. You have influence, but not control.  If you’re a control fan, don’t learn improvisation. It will just frustrate you.

10. Improvisation tends to broaden your focus and inspire you to look at the wider system for help, inspiration, and co-created solutions.  If you like the current scope of your stakeholders, people you meet with, etc., don’t learn improvisation.

If by some miracle you’re still up for developing your improvisation skills, we are running a workshop in Singapore on Wednesday Aug 30 and in London on Sept 9 designed just for you.

[belinamaffick]

Stop calling them ‘Ice Breakers’: Why facilitators and trainers who use the term ‘ice breaker’, ‘energiser’, or  ‘a little game’ should be gently kicked...

So, the good news is that experiential learning is becoming more commonplace.  And the skill of trainers/facilitators to contextualise experiential activities is deepening.  Activities are no longer incidental to development, but integral.  Well chosen activities have our participants practice mindsets and behaviours that are part of the learning objectives.

The bad news is that some trainers and clients haven’t evolved their language to reflect the true power of the activities we use.  I have even seen some introduce activities apologetically as ‘a little game’.  

When we use terms like ‘ice breaker’, ‘energiser’, or ‘a little game’, or allow our work to be introduced as such, we are severely limiting the perception for others (and ourselves) about the purpose and power of that activity.  Participants perceive what we are about to do as frivolous, and we as trainers/facilitators get lazy about contextualising, debriefing, and teasing out the relevant key learning.

Most activities that change the pace from participants sitting there and passively listening are energising.  That element should be incidental.  If that is all your activity does, and it does not have any relevance to the learning/development outcomes, pick a different activity.  

Pick activities that directly help them to learn how to do what they are there to learn better.  Make the links explicit.  

It is time to make sure our language is aligned with the power of what we do. No more ice breakers.

If you would like to experience an in-house or public workshop which uses experiential activities as integral to developing co-creation, change agent, and innovation skills, contact us here.

[belinamaffick]

Country #9: Philippines - Applied Improvisation Facilitator Masterclass

On June 21, I had the extreme pleasure of delivering a whole-day Applied Improvisation Facilitator Masterclass in Manila.  Our venue was the brand new co-working space O2.  Most of the participants were from the genius improvisation performance group SPIT.  Everyone there was geared to making this planet a better, more delightful place to be.  

During the class, we explored 3 models that I find to be extremely useful when thinking about designing how to build improv mindsets & practices in non-theatrical applications (like business, business-transformation, leadership, change, etc.).

The first one is by Dr. Steve Bearman in this blog.  God I love this model.  One of the things it helps me to do is to rail against the use of improvisation games as just 'energisers' or 'ice breakers'.  Pick the right game - and they are so much more powerful than that.  Many facilitators get stuck at the level of 'fun' with these games, when we could actually connect the experiences in the games with practical things the game helped us to feel, think and notice about the quality of our thinking - in regard to a certain behaviour we are working to develop.

The other two models are covered in this delightful blog by Bernie DeKoven.  Here we explore how Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow model invites us to create a sort of sine wave between upping the challenge and ability level of participants - with the aim of gaining flow in the desired behaviour.  And while we're doing this, also being mindful of getting the balance right with the second model - Bernie's Co-liberation model - between the 'we' and 'me' focus of our design.

Squeal.  Delicious day!

What's a model that you find useful in the design of experiential learning?