Archive | April, 2012

Replenish your toolkit – 6 training and facilitation soundbites for the week of April 30

30 Apr

One of the best parts of being in a community of educators is that there’s always something new to learn from other like-minded individuals. Call it, adding to your toolbox.

Colleagues, mentors and thought-makers are constantly swapping tips, tricks, and anecdotes to help craft our work to make it stronger, more meaningful and more relevant.

Here are some of my own reminders and learnings from the past week. I hope to make this a weekly feature you can use to replenish your own toolkit.

  1. Know your purpose – meaning, remember the purpose of each exercise/game/discussion you introduce. Does it tie back to your desired outcomes?
  2.  Don’t brainstorm cold – treat brainstorming like an athletic endeavor – to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your brainstorming sessions, prepare your team with an energizer or warmup that gets them in an alert, present, and slightly brain-fried state. You’ll get those ideas popping faster.
  3. Introverts have longer runways - remember that introverts often just need more time to process ideas and thoughts. Help them feel comfortable by giving them the topic before brainstorming sessions, and utilize more small-group discussion.
  4. Experiential learning and facilitation go hand-in-hand  – a facilitator’s job is to help lead your students to the answer (to the truth). Key to uncovering those answers is adding an experiential element to your session where participants are more active and in control of their learning. This leads to self-reflection which leads to participants finding the answers to the questions facilitators pose. What’s more rewarding – to be told the answer or to discover it yourself?
  5. Choose simplicity - key to retention (beyond adding an element of self-reflection and direct application to the work being done) is simplicity. Have you broken down your teaching points into easily digestible bites? Make sure you leave time for a wrap-up that covers key points.
  6. Observe by playing  – With just 10 minutes, you can learn and observe the dynamics of a team by playing one simple Improv-based game – key to applying an Improvisers approach to training and facilitation is recognizing that Improv is a teachable skill set, and not a comedy routine. Teach a team how to improvise, and watch their communication and collaboration soar.

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TOOL: Create opportunities for connection

30 Apr

Here is an important tool to add to your toolbox that doesn’t require an internet connection, or proper knowledge of emoticons.

It’s connection.

How can you create or find more opportunities to increase cross-functional support, empathy, collaboration and trust across an organization?

It can start with increasing the frequency and quality of interactions that your staff has with each other every day. It means increasing the ability to connect with your peers, share ideas, break down barriers and step away from your computer screen.

Create more opportunities for your staff to interact and get to know each other.

In designing the layout of Pixar Animation Studios, Steve Jobs famously requested there only be one restroom location  in the building – so that employees would have more opportunities for the kind of spontaneous interaction that fuels creativity. Today we see many companies bringing in catered lunches or creating cafeterias and open spaces which can encourage a sense of community, connection and camaraderie.

Sometimes building connections is as simple as providing opportunities for employees to work  with those they wouldn’t normally interact with.

The DreamWorks Improv Performance troupe is made up of wonderful people who represent almost every department at the company. We have animators interacting with visual effects artists interacting with engineers.

When there is a problem to solve across departments, these employees are no longer strangers to each other – they are allies and generous collaborators. The trust developed on stage carries over into the work environment and helps to build a stronger organization.

The more opportunities you can create to bring different departments, viewpoints and strengths together, the more connections will be formed to enhance the innovative and collaborative tendencies of your organization.

Step one to humanizing an organization is to create more opportunities for human connection. It starts with stepping away from the computer. 

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What Doesn’t Motivate Creativity Can Kill It – via Harvard Business Review

25 Apr

We’re adding tools to our toolbox this week to enhance the creative capacity of individuals and organizations.

In promoting a creative environment, Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer of Harvard argue there is a balance to be achieved between the open mode necessary for creativity (to borrow from John Cleese) and the closed mode we need to put those creative ideas into action and results.

One sure-fire way to kill innovation is to rely on carrot and stick motivators.

Motivating others to do creative work involves a delicate balancing act of goals, rewards, evaluation and pressure that promote intrinsic rewards, a sense of purpose, the freedom to fail, and a clear idea of the problem being solved.

“In the end, it’s level, form, and meaning of the motivator that makes for that perfect balance. Being told to do a tough job in a particular way, with no tolerance of failure, little expectation of recognition for success, and extreme, arbitrary time pressure, can kill anyone’s creativity motivation. But being given the same job, in a positive atmosphere where false starts are examined constructively and success is recognized, can drive creativity — and innovation — forward.”

What Doesn’t Motivate Creativity Can Kill It – Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer – Harvard Business Review.

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What’s the drill – April 25: Break through a creative slump by re-framing the problem

25 Apr

What is the real problem you are solving?

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford

To break through a creative slump, consider re-framing the issue at hand. Take the suggestions from this recent Fast Company article, for example.

Design school students were asked to design a new suitcase. Before the ideation phase, students were encouraged to broaden their thinking by breaking down the problem they were trying to solve. It wasn’t simply a new suitcase that was the issue, but a new way to think about the needs of a traveler.

By first asking “what problem are we solving” we can simultaneously focus our thinking and open up our possibilities to encourage every day creativity and innovation.

Henry Ford solved the problem of faster transportation and in doing so, knew what his customers needed before they did.

 

 

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To be creative is to be in an”open mode” – How to enhance creativity in groups

24 Apr

British actor and comedian John Cleese wants you to be more creative. He also wants you to understand that creativity is not a talent, it’s a way of life.

In this impassioned speech that’s making its way around social media, Cleese provides an argument for building a creative life and organization that aligns nicely with current research and trends on the subject.

What do we know so far?

  1. Everyone has the ability to be creative
  2. Creativity is unrelated to IQ
  3. There is an optimal way of operating that we can adopt to enhance our capacity for creativity.

Says Cleese, key to that optimal mode is openness.

The opposite of an open mode, is a closed one – and Cleese argues creativity is not possible in this closed mode.

Instead, when we operate from a place of openness, we are relaxed, expansive, contemplative,  curious, and more inclined to humor and curiosity – without as much pressure to get a specific thing done quickly. This sort of relaxed state promotes creativity (just ask Jonah Lehrer).

We as leaders have the ability to promote a certain mood and mindset that allows creativity to flourish – and with that comes an understanding of how to manage with creativity in mind. 

To get into that open mode, we need:

  1. Space
  2. Time
  3. Confidence
  4. Humor

When we mix all of these factors together – we have the ability to play, to be childlike, to not have the fear of making a mistake , to experiment – and an openness to anything that happens.

We cannot create from a place of fear.

The creativity that comes from an Improvisation ensemble is the result of an open mode. Here, we risk saying things are illogical and wrong because we know that part of being creative means nothing is truly wrong. We know mistakes are gifts, an offer or idea might lead to a breakthrough, trust is imperative, and positivity and building on ideas creates the free-est of possible atmospheres.

Cultivating a creative atmosphere for your team starts with your mindset. What can you do to promote one of openness?

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Discover simple exercises to boost your creativity

23 Apr

 “I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.”…. Pablo Picasso 

“I begin with a can opener and then it becomes something else…” – anonymous creative person

To be creative, is to see something in a new way.

Everyone has the ability to be creative. In fact, creativity is a muscle that can be strengthened through practice.  As a trainer and facilitator, I work with groups to flex their creative muscles. This work serves to enhance their observation skills, pique their curiosity, broaden their vision and make new connections.

To strengthen your own creativity muscle, consider these ideas:

  • To be a child again:  Having a “child-like” view of the world gives us a beginners mind – a way of seeing familiar things as if for the very first time. This mindset leaves us more open to the world around us. The more you can be open and present to the world around you, the more fuel you’ll have for your creative fire.
  • Shake up your routine: take a different route to work, try a different coffee shop – see if you can make one or two small adjustments to your daily routine to help open you up to new surroundings and let your brain waves pulsate in a different environment.
  • Adopt a new perspective:  the beauty of working with others is that we learn new and different ways of thinking. Next time your team is stumped, pretend you are a famous historian, artist, political figure or even Oprah. Ask, what would this person do? Sometimes adopting the persona of a stranger helps us to feel more comfortable expressing our ideas and trying on the mind of another.
  • Think outside (what kind of) box:  we often hear, its important to think outside the box – but sometimes all it takes to be more creative is to describe the box differently.

To enhance creativity, its important to promote new ways of thinking about and viewing our everyday perception.

Find an everyday object in your home, and see if you can come up with 10 different uses for it in 10 minutes. You’ll be surprised at the new and different ways to view something that used to seem mundane.

What did you discover?

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The changing definition of failure

20 Apr

Yesterday we discussed how taking a positive approach to failure can lead to innovation and enhanced creativity.

When we as individuals and organizations change not only our definition but overall mindset around what failure is, we open ourselves up to taking more risks, seeking new connections, not getting bogged down in what we did wrong, but instead focusing on what we did well and can replicate.

Call it positive psychology, call it “looking for the bright spots”, call it “embracing failure” - the truth is the definition of failure is changing in a positive direction. 

What is your definition of failure?

I believe failure is neither black nor white, right nor wrong – but it can lead us closer to the truth, to deep learning experiences and to the insights that can help to create a more meaningful life.

Here is how my definition of failure shifted once I began taking Improvisation classes:

The old –  failure is often very personal. Just the word alone has a stigma associated with it, and often brings up feelings of shame. Failure causes an inward, closed-off response.

The new – a failure is only a true failure if there is nothing to be learned from the experience. When we aren’t punished for failing, we feel less fear to take risks, to seek out new learnings and to commit fully to whatever it is we are doing. Failure lifts us up instead of weighing us down.

Do you tend to see the positive, or the negative when you look at failure?

Tools including emotion regulation, mindfulness, and self leadership can help to moderate your relationship to failure.

What we know is, with most things – we have a choice.  We can work to strip the emotional (and often very personal) charge from a failure situation so that we view a “mistake” as a real gift.

 

 

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Leadership Lessons: It’s Adversity That Defines Who You Really Are

19 Apr

“Embrace what you actually get”…

If every business is a stage, and we can choose our performance, then we have the ability (with practice, and mindfullness) to define the way we view and act when presented with a challenge. The first step (as it is on stage) is to accept whatever is given to us, and then to do what we can to see the positive, “yes, and” it when possible and make the most of the scene and the offers around us.

Leadership Lessons: It’s Adversity That Defines Who You Really Are.

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Why taking a positive approach to failure can lead to innovation

19 Apr

The constant push for innovation and creativity requires new knowledge creation.

How do our mindsets encourage or discourage this knowledge creation?

I believe it starts with positivity. We know we can train our brains to be more positive. Now, let’s take a look at the “business” case for positivity. 

Last week I had the privilege of sitting in on an inspiring lecture in the graduate school of Organizational Psychology at Columbia University. The class was entitled, “Positive Psychology”, and this happened to be the very first time a class on this growing field was being offered.

The mindset of an Improviser is rooted in many aspects of Positive Psychology, most notably is the way in which we view FAILURE.

Consider – what is your reaction to failure?

Often times we feel, or hear it’s more important to get something right than to experiment and take calculated risks. Instead, more value is placed on competence. Failure is feared, dreaded, and considered too expensive.

This focus on competence may be preventing you from taking the risks that can lead to that big innovative breakthrough. Simply put, focusing on competence alone can discourage new knowledge creation.

What positive psychology encourages is to adopt a new approach to the word “failure”.

To promote innovation and creativity, positive psychology challenges us to:

  • To be more willing to incur failure, to embrace it as you acquire knowledge and skills
  • Adopt a mindset of persistence, grit, resiliency and growth
  •  Seek a learning orientation instead of a competence orientation
  • Ask for help and encourage collaboration  – too much of a focus on independence may inhibit new knowledge creation

What is your organizational and personal response to failure?

It’s imperative to note that this approach does not encourage making careless mistakes and failing miserably.

Instead, it encourages you, your team, your organization to shift your mindset regarding “mistakes” and failure”.

When we are not punished for failing, we are opening ourselves up to try new things, taking risks, seeking new paths, new connections, all to increase our propensity for the kind of knowledge creation that leads to innovation.

After all, failure is only a true failure if you didn’t learn from the experience. 

 

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What’s the drill – April 18: Listening for potential

18 Apr

Here is one way to apply a positive psychology mindset to the every day conversations we have.

The next time someone ( friend, co-worker, or relative) comes to you with a problem – think about what you listen for.

Try to listen for potential.

Identify the basic problem they are describing and then, help your partner to decipher what action or mindset will make it better.

When we listen for potential, we are focusing on the solution instead of the problem.

This solution-based approach was spear-headed by my esteemed colleague Paul Z. Jackson and aligns nicely with positive psychology, growth mindsets and the tools of an Improviser.

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The joy of life-long learning

11 Apr

Growing up, my favorite word was “Why”.

Well, truthfully it was also, “baseball”, and probably words relating to boy bands, but I was always a curious person.

I wanted to know why things were the way they were, and this fascination and curiosity has always played a part in every job I’ve had. I was constantly observing, watching, reading and listening. I wanted to know everything – specifically about human behavior.

Especially intriguing was the opportunity to get at the root of an issue, a person, a process, and uncover the meaty reasons why things were the way they were.

There is a beauty to approaching each job, and each experience this way. It allows us all to view everything as a learning opportunity.   I find the same beauty in a growth mindset. If we view ourselves and others as having the ability to constantly change and grow and learn, then the challenges we face aren’t obstacles, they are opportunities. Part of it starts with an open mind.

One of the greatest things about being a Learning and Development professional is that I will never reach the end of my learning. There is always room to grow, and this growth and learning directly benefits others. That is the goal.

I’m off to a 5-day learning adventure in New York and can’t wait to see what I uncover there.

Where have you found your most profound learning experiences?

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Give & Take – Training the art of negotiation

10 Apr

A negotiation is rarely a winner-take-all event. Instead it is often a give-and-take. Therefore, our ability to perform and achieve negotiation prowess is determined by listening, trust, empathy and observation skills.

These teachable skills allow individuals to focus on the other person, and allow them to build rapport with their negotiation partner. It is a delicate process of finding and building connections instead of barriers.

Companies all over the world are employing training techniques (many derived from the Improvisation world) to teach the art of negotiation.

This article from Training Magazine  highlights many of these efforts, including the work being done at BATS Improv in San Francisco.

Improvisers learn how to:

  • Listen and react
  • watch for body language cues
  • pay attention to tone and inflection
  • use and be comfortable with silence
  • build trust by finding shared connections
  • become more aware of intent vs. interpretation
  • learn how “status” (dominance vs. submission) is a performance choice we are constantly making
  • create collaborative conversations
  • embrace failure
  • use role-plays and practice scenarios in a safe environment

Read the full article here: Give & Take | trainingmag.com.

 

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What’s the drill – April 9: What it means to be flexible

9 Apr

Improvisers know how to “go with the flow”. We are trained to be as flexible, malleable, adaptable, and as open-minded as we can.

Because we are making things up as we go along (and really, who isn’t!), we learn to follow guidelines that allow us to navigate the unknown. One of these guidelines is:

Accept whatever is given to you. 

On stage, this is our obligation. We must accept whatever our partner says, whatever reality is created, and wherever the scene goes. Accept whatever is given to you.

The opposite of acceptance is denial. If we deny on stage, we are choosing to block the ideas and contributions of our fellow players, stop the flow of the story and the action, and are in essence letting our partner know we don’t like that direction. Accept whatever is given to you.

As improvisers, we allow the information we are given to change us. When we accept whatever is given to us, we know our characters must often change in the process.

Applying these guidelines off of the improv stage can allow individuals to increase their capacity for acceptance, flexibility, open-mindedness, and collaboration.

When we know we must accept whatever is given to us, it releases some of the fear of where to go next. This doesn’t mean we have to like what we accept, it simply means we must adapt to it and honor the suggestion.

We accept, accept, and accept some more, deny a lot less, and see the path take shape one step at a time.

 

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Teach yourself to be more creative

6 Apr

We know our brains are flexible – and with practice, we can train ourselves to be more mindful, more positive, and … more creative?

If that seems too intimidating, or that it might take too much work, read on.

New research (brilliantly described and summarized by Jonah Lehrer in his new book, Imagine – How Creativity Works), provides practical insights into creativity and how anyone can train themselves and their organizations to become more creative – and in this competitive day and age, it’s imperative we pay attention.

In his book, Lehrer supports many of the trainable aspects of creativity that Applied Improvisers already know. To be creative, we must learn to relax the brain, release our inhibitions, and focus on creating new associations and new perspectives.

In a basic sense, improvisers train themselves on these 3 facets by:

  • increasing observation skills to be more open to the ideas and contributions of others, the associations that may arise from what we observe, and training ourselves to view everything as an “offer”.
  • Relaxing our brain by practicing mindfulness, listening skills, using humor to release stress, and adopting an “embrace failure” mindset
  • Releasing inhibitions by practicing “creating without worry”, and getting rid of our censor.

Practicing these skills and behaviors allow teams of people to increase their creative potential. Take a cue from this neurological research and consider what techniques you can adopt to increase creativity where you work.

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What’s the drill – April 3: Is your organization battle-ready?

3 Apr

Did you know there is a “war” going on? And, according to some blogs and books, a crisis as well?

Sure, I may kid. But the headlines around organizational development write of the war to retain and attain top talent, and the current crisis of leadership and constant push for innovation? Seems scary out there.

Here are some questions for you and your organization to ask to help assess how you are doing in the “battle”:

  1. Do you have processes in place that support people in experimenting more and taking risks?
  2. Does your organizational culture value and promote openness, trustworthiness and transparency?
  3. How collaborative is your organization?
  4. Are processes in place to allow for continual growth, learning, and development?

I believe, part of winning the “war” includes a tangible shift towards creating a more human organization. What shifts can you make today?

 

 

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How to foster a culture of courage and creativity – the results

3 Apr

The improv-based learning initiatives at Ask.com have received wonderful praise and publicity, and most recently this write-up in Fast Company.

Management wanted innovation and big ideas. The question was, how to jump-start it?

CEO Doug Leeds took a cue from Tina Fey’s Bossypants, which points out how improvisation can lead to more creative thinking and innovation. “[Leeds had} seen it sprinkled in other management books, but that was the tipping point to really investigate.”

He admits, there was some initial concern and fear – but quickly learned Improvisation was not about teaching people to be funny, or jump on stage a la “Whose Line is It Anyway”. Instead, Improvisation lays a foundation for a trusting, supportive, engaged and creative work environment by teaching the basic Improv principles and applying them to their specific work environment.

The result:  “Folks said it was the most impactful training session in their entire career…The bonds of trust and common skill set and language of improv allow us to come together … There’s a sense of trust and when you feel safe all kinds of amazing things emerge.”

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“Yes” is the new normal – via Seth Godin

2 Apr

Seth’s Blog: The coalition of No.

The coalition of No

“It’s easy to join.

There are a million reasons to say no, but few reasons to stand up and say yes.

No requires just one objection, one defensible reason to avoid change. No has many allies–anyone who fears the future or stands to benefit from the status quo. And no is easy to say, because you actually don’t even need a reason.

No is an easy way to grab power, because with yes comes responsibility, but no is the easy way to block action, to exert the privilege of your position to slow things down.

No comes from fear and greed and, most of all, a shortage of openness and attention. You don’t have to pay attention or do the math or role play the outcomes in order to join the coalition that would rather things stay as they are (because they’ve chosen not to do the hard work of imagining how they might be).

And yet the coalition of No keeps losing. We live in a world of yes, where possibility and innovation and the willingness to care often triumph over the masses that would rather it all just quieted down and went back to normal.

Yes is the new normal. And just in time.”

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What’s the drill – April 1: Why Improvisation is no laughing matter

1 Apr

Warning warning, no pranks here. April Fools Day may call for laughs and gags, but it’s often a surprise for people to hear that laughs are not the focus of Improvisation classes.

Many people shy away from taking an Improv class because they don’t think they are funny enough. They fear an Improv stage is only for those who have jokes coming out of their ears.

Not so, I tell them. Why? First, as Improvisers our number one goal on stage is to support our partner.

We must accept and build (“yes, and”) whatever they say or do. Sure, laughs are often the result, but if we are busy thinking of the next “funny” thing or joke to say, or what will get the biggest laugh, we as improvisers are often not listening and therefore not supporting our fellow players.

We acquire tools in our toolbox that allow us to embrace the unknown, build an ensemble, and construct a narrative.

Start with the basic tools, and the laughs do come. Focus only on the laughs, and you’ll never build anything solid.

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