Communication, Collaboration and Navigating Change
Thank you Pandora Team for Getting Brave with Us!
“You can always pay closer attention to someone than you thought you could.” Alan Alda
First off, thank you ALL for being vulnerable and putting yourselves out there for something of an unorthodox learning experience. We have compiled takeaways for you here. The goal here is to provide ways to continue the learning, because this kind of learning and behavior change requires PRACTICE. We spent a lot of time discovering the power of applying improv skills to your work, so let’s not lose anything, but instead keep building on it.
Session Recap
Reinforcements to keep up the Practice
Other Recommendations
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1. Session Recap
Objectives for Session:
Learning to bring diverse teams together, creating a new culture, combining diverse parts.
Tackling new and potentially “scary” professional scenarios without fear.
Navigating a fast paced landscape
Active Listening
Thinking on your feet
Communication and Collaboration
Navigating Change
Improv Anchors:
Being Present, Taking care of each other-Improv teaches us how to focus and be present noticing things about each other helps build a supportive culture. When we make time and space for play and getting to know each other, we feel a sense of support that helps during times of change.
Communication and Collaboration- The art of improvisation requires us to invest in each other interpersonal communications like listening, empathy and investing in what’s important to others and not just our agenda.
Empathy, Adjusting to the needs of the room-Even when we are not using our words, we can communicate and accomplish a lot through sheer trust and not hesitating.
Listening for Values-Deep listening means we may not agree with someone but we can accept their truth-How they feel.
Taking care of each other "Making each other look good and insanely smart"! Improvisers learn quickly that in order to take creative risks and collaborate at the levels needed to create improv on the stage, you must become each other’s caretaker. We support and take care of each other so there is no worry of failing or looking silly. What if we all encouraged and supported each other this way at work?
Accept and Amplify, “Yes” and….When we practice being spontaneous, we learn to accept our own ideas. It is equally important to accept others’ ideas. The “yes, and…” rule is a critical one in improv. We build trust by accepting others’ “offers”, and then, using our spontaneous responses, we build on those offers to create something. Let’s look at the “yes” part: Organizations lose speed and opportunities, because ideas are rejected without really being explored. This happens for a variety of reasons. New ideas may mean more work;others might get more credit; the idea feels risky; someone thinks he has a “better” idea of his own.However, every time we say “no” to an idea instead of “yes”, an opportunity is lost. That does not mean,of course, that evaluation is not useful. Or that we should commit to every idea. When we depend on our judgment muscles exclusively, though, we throw the baby out with the bathwater, the electricity out with the light bulb.
Adaptability and Resilience Our brains develop patterns quickly and how even minor changes in patterns can feel disruptive. Habits are powerful and playing games that purposely disrupt patterns can increases mental agility and psychological adaptability. These are essential for doing improv but even more important to a successful life in which we will have to navigate change that we do not see coming.
Listening and Empathy
Video on Empathy Listening and Empathy go hand in hand, sometimes we think we are listening but we aren't truly making it about the other person. We can't fix it, sometimes we just have to listen, show empathy.
Video on Listening- Sometimes listening is silent. People want to he heard not fixed.
If you want to be liked, loved and respected, listen like your life depends on it.
Most people think that they are good listeners, however more often than not, we are not really listening, we are just waiting to respond.
I think we also forget that listening is more than hearing the words that someone is speaking, and we are not listening to the whole person.
Something like 93% of all communication is nonverbal. This means that words aren’t as important than we might think. Tone, facial expression and body language are all powerful forms of expression.
Research suggest that we remember 25-50% of what we hear. That means when we talk to our boss or colleagues for 10 minutes, they pay attention to less than half of the conversation.
We all underestimate the power of being a good listener.
Listening Challenge Challenge yourself to try this exercise as much as possible throughout your day. It works best when you are in a one on one meeting or in a casual capacity with a colleague or work mate. You might not want to use it in a staff meeting, or folks might go thinking you've been hitting the happy stuff. It's simple. When someone is speaking to you, wait 5 seconds before responding. Count in your head down from 5, and then respond. Sounds easy right? Just you wait and reap the results of what might surprise you.
2-Practicing Reinforcements
Take improv classes, it’s the gym for your social skills and strengthening those muscles will allow you to more easily access them in the moments that matter in your work and life.
Books to Read:
Blogs by Kristy about all things Improv and Learning.
Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading
Creativity Post Article - Making It Up On the Spot: How Improv Comedy Creates Great Leaders