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The Secret to Getting Ahead, via the NY Times

31 Mar

It would be easy to read yesterday’s NY Times profile of Professor Adam Grant and his book “Give and Take” and conclude the secret to success is to give more and take less.

We could come to similar, easily digestible conclusions with other, recent management development offerings. We could “lean in” more, “be more mindful”, or say yes or say no more often. But would this stick, or just make us more resentful, anxious, paranoid, or busy?

One thing is certain, I completely agree and appreciate Grant’s work and his message:

“The greatest untapped source of motivation, he argues, is a sense of service to others; focusing on the contribution of our work to other peoples’ lives has the potential to make us more productive than thinking about helping ourselves.”

As I see it, the key to encouraging more giving is by focusing on the feeling it brings.  In essence, we follow the feeling. Sometimes it is indescribable, but it sticks with us. 

If giving more, leaning in, taking more time for yourself, or saying no more often makes you feel better, more whole, more on purpose, then that is reason enough to do more of it. Perhaps it will allow you to give with more gusto, to listen in a way that offers the support your friend or co-worker needs.

We can save the quantity vs. quality of giving debate for another time. I feel better when I give help, advice, support, encouragement, and that is a powerful, potent, push to do more of it.

Mixing motivation and giving isn’t easy. If we view giving as a means to an end, (“matchers”, as Grant calls them in his research) than we’re missing the point.

Improvisers give in the form of making their partner look good. We give because it is the Improvisers credo. It builds trust. And it fuels creativity by opening us up to more possibilities and points of view.

But we are also good at saying no when we need to, when it feels instinctively wrong.  We are skilled at the polite, “NOPE!”. Guilt or pushing doesn’t motivate giving, that is certain.

“The most successful givers, Grant explains, are those who rate high in concern for others but also in self-interest. And they are strategic in their giving — they give to other givers and matchers, so that their work has the maximum desired effect; they are cautious about giving to takers; they give in ways that reinforce their social ties; and they consolidate their giving into chunks, so that the impact is intense enough to be gratifying.”

The impact of this work is profound if we give it and share it with others. It is the foundation of a learning organization, of a company of shared social capital and support. And it is sustained not because your boss told you to give more, or because you read about it in an article in the NY Times, but because you know how it feels when someone gave selflessly to you, and you want to pay it forward.

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The year of Daniel Pink

31 Dec

Little did he know it, but in January of 2012 famed author Daniel Pink was already applying some of the tools he talks about in his latest book (out today!), “To Sell is Human“.

I’ll explain. It was December of 2011 when I finished reading his earlier work, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” . I was enamored with the material, and overjoyed that his words seemed to validate my career path, and passion.

On a whim I sent Mr. Pink an email. I complimented him, pointed out our mutual connection (Go ‘Cats!), and…well, asked if he had some time to talk. I may have even quoted Oprah?! Silly me, I thought. But, I had nothing to lose.

I was sitting in a quiet cafe on Polk Street in San Francisco when I received his prompt response:

“hi, lindsey. thanks for the note.

i’m happy to talk, but only on the condition you share with me one or two tips for getting better at improvisation. (as it happens, i’m doing some research that’s kinda, sorta on that topic right now.)”

I screamed. There were some odd looks. I didn’t care – to me, Daniel Pink is a rock star and this was the equivalent of a backstage pass.

Almost a year later Daniel Pink finished the project he alluded to and released “To Sell is Human”. It is a fascinating, thought-provoking read that I highly recommend.

Pink devotes an entire chapter to Improvisation and the tools we use as Improvisers to improve communication, presentation and even, authenticity. Just like in “A Whole New Mind”, Pink has validated, supported, and encouraged the use and application of these tools to a broader base and signals the growth of this field for years to come.

Our conversation in January was one of the highlights of my year. Daniel Pink said “Yes, and” to my request to talk and it is something I will never forget.

In December of 2012 I was chosen to be a part of a small group that would serve as a launch team for “To Sell is Human”.

Small actions (to say “Yes, And”, to help make someone else look good, to practice generosity and taking risks) help to create memories and connections that we don’t soon forget.

Here’s to a new year of saying “Yes, And”,  and to being uncertain but taking a risk anyway. You never know where it will lead.

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One link between emotion and creativity

2 Oct

Say you want to help a group be more creative. 

What emotion would best help the group achieve this goal?

This question was recently posed to students in a weekend workshop I attended on Emotional Intelligence at Columbia University.

The choices:

1. Happiness

2. Worry

3. Sadness

4. Anger

5. Other

What would you say? I listened as classmates, one after the other, suggested that negative emotions would fuel the creative fire.

Sure, we know that not everyone responds the same way, but could negativity really be the answer? It saddened me that this was the myth or common view floating around the University halls.

Results of a study published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, set us straight.

The emotion that best helps a group promote creativity is happiness.  Why? An upbeat mood makes people more receptive to information, helps widens our lens and allows us to see connections we normally would have been closed off to otherwise.

In addition, happiness and laughter release dopamine which contributes to stress reduction.

Stress reduction and an overall relaxed state triggers responses in our brain that coincide with inhibition – and the ability to have more creative insights.

This blog post is brought to you by the letters “H.A.P.P.I.N.E.S.S” and Positive Psychology. Now go out and make someone happy!

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Why Creative Ideas Get Rejected – via David Burkus

8 Aug

If you feel like getting your creative ideas approved and accepted is a battle, new research suggests it may not be your fault.

Creative work that’s novel and different often goes head-to-head with our desire for certainty and structure. When that certainty is well…uncertain, our natural, inherent creativity bias can rear its ugly head.

We want creativity without the risk. Can we have our cake and eat it too when it comes to creativity and innovation?

To help our brains accept new ideas, this research and wonderful writing from Management Professor David Burkus gets us thinking about how we sell our ideas:

“We now know that regardless of how open-minded people are, or claim to be, they experience a subtle bias against creative ideas when faced with uncertain situations. This isn’t merely a preference for the familiar or a desire to maintain the status quo. Most of us sincerely claim that we want the positive changes creativity provides. What the bias affects is our ability to recognize the creative ideas that we claim we desire. Thus, when you’re pitching your creative idea, it may not be the idea itself that is being rejected. The more likely culprit could be the uncertainty your audience is feeling, which in turn is overriding their ability to recognize the idea as truly novel and useful.”

Regardless of how open-minded people are, they experience a subtle bias against creative ideas when faced with uncertain situations.”

To me, this research shares similarities with the work of David Rock and his S.C.A.R.F model of rewards and threats. When our certainty, the “C” in scarf’” is threatened we close down.

To break through, Burkus and Rock remind us to speak the language of those we are trying to persuade, make them look good by using empathy, listening, and perhaps most of all, patience.

http://99u.com/articles/7207/Why-Great-Ideas-Get-Rejected

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What makes people more creative on some days and not others…

7 Aug

The million, okay, billion-dollar question: How do you create a culture of creativity, and make it last?

Harvard University Professor Teresa Amabile wanted to find out.

Discussing her research into the topic with Bloomberg Television, Amabile and her team compiled over 12,000 individual daily diaries over 5 months, from professionals who were working on creative projects within their company.

What she found, “People do their most creative work on days when they’re feeling most positive emotions, most pleasant thoughts about their organization and their co-workers and strongest intrinsic motivation in their work”.

To put it simply: inner-work life drives performance, and allows teams and individuals to come up with better, creative ideas.

Every area in business requires coming up with creative solutions – and to foster that kind of creative thinking takes more than waving a magic wand:

  1. create an atmosphere of trust and collaboration
  2. tap into those favorite intrinsic motivators of autonomy, purpose, and mastery
  3. Remember that “small wins”, making progress on meaningful work (Amabile’s Progress Principle) matters.

For more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/what-inspires-creativity-in-the-workplace-xLy2z9V~TGKtienzTsGryQ.html

 

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(Updated) Two words that kill innovation and creativity

21 May

This past week, I had the privilege of guest blogging for online leadership think tank, LeaderLab. A re-posting of my updated post is below and here. I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Every moment and in every interaction we are capable of choosing our “performances” and how we act, behave, and respond in a given situation.

Often our performances, and our reactions are habitual, instinctive, and we aren’t even aware of the mindset that’s ingrained in us or our companies.

But is this mindset decreasing your organizational capacity for innovation?

It’s possible these two little words are killing the innovation and creativity of your team:

“Yes, But”.

Reflect on how you and your company respond to new or untested ideas. Do you “but” ideas to death? And in doing so, do you cast a negative light on risk-taking, failure, and openness.

The unconscious performance might look like this:

“Yes, but it won’t work”

“Yes, but we don’t have the time”

“Yes, but we tried something similar before and it didn’t work”

Researcher Shawn Achor from Harvard tells us 75% of or job successes at work come from optimism, our ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat, and social support at work.

When we are met with a “yes, but” attitude to our ideas and innovations, it can be difficult maintain the motivation to do our best work and to feel support for our contributions.

I’m not advocating a company full of just “yes” men. Instead, we can choose a performance that involves less judgement, more open-mindedness, acceptance of others ideas, and a willingness to build on ideas instead of rejecting them.

Luckily, research from Achor (and others) tells us we can train our brain to become more positive. Through practice and habit building, we can learn to scan the world through a lens of positivity, instead of negativity and to create more conscious performances that involve the words “Yes, and”, instead of “Yes, but”.

Think about all of the performance choices you have every day. How can your performance increase and not block the flow of ideas, open communication and an open mind.

“But….” , just give it a try!

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Innovation is…putting the obscure to work for something useful

10 May

To see things in a new way is the hallmark of creativity and innovation.

We know some of our personal and organizational roadblocks already – sometimes we don’t believe we are creative, we censor ourselves, we favor stress and deadlines instead of the mental relaxation that can be necessary to create… and perhaps we also suffer from functional fixedness.

Functional fixedness, says researcher Karl Duncker – happens when we fixate on the common use of an object. Especially under stress or pressure, our brains have trouble seeing alternative uses, or connections (solutions, perhaps) from things right in front of us.

We tend to see just an object’s use, not the object itself.

“When we see a common object, the motor cortex of our brain activates in anticipation of using the object in the common way. Part of the meaning of an object is getting ready to use it. If a type of feature is not important for its common use, then we are not cognizant of it. The result: our brain’s incredible inertia to move toward the common. Efficient for everyday life, this automatic neural response is the enemy of innovation.”

Thinking outside the box means thinking about what else that box can represent.

Researcher Tony McCaffrey suggests the “generic parts technique”, breaking each object into its parts, no matter how obscure, so that alternative uses more easily emerge.

One of my favorite improv exercises, object montage, asks participants to come up with alternative uses to everyday objects, with rapid-fire quickness.

Of course, the next step after we have these new ideas is to “yes, and” them as much as possible.

For if we were to block them, we’d never know where these alternative uses would lead.

Read the full article here:  Why We Can’t See What’s Right in Front of Us – Tony McCaffrey – Harvard Business Review and also check out this recent post in Scientific American for some more great techniques!

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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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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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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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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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Why our brains focus on the negative – via the New York Times

26 Mar

Joe Joseph (let’s call him) walked out of an important meeting at the company he worked for, “Golden Handcuffs” (let’s call it), and immediately felt horrible. He had received a ton of criticism (not much of it constructive), and other assortments of negative information.

Over the course of the day, he had also been on the receiving end of some general compliments from his peers, an easy commute, and a thank-you note from a good friend.

But all he could focus on was the negative.

“This is a general tendency for everyone,” said Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University in a recent article in the NY Times…“Some people do have a more positive outlook, but almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail.”

Research tells us, bad feedback has much more of an impact than good feedback. In fact, “The brain handles positive and negative information in different hemispheres,” said Professor Nass… Negative emotions generally involve more thinking, and the information is processed more thoroughly than positive ones, he said. Thus, we tend to ruminate more about unpleasant events — and use stronger words to describe them — than happy ones.”

Joe Joseph is not alone. We as a culture and a society tend to focus on the negative for a variety of reasons, and now, some neurological research tell us this is normal.

But, normal does not mean healthy.

Can you soak up and stack up enough “positives” to out-weigh the negatives, and is it simply a matter of working hard (very hard) to modify your outlook enough to concentrate on the positives?

Evolutionary tales tell us those who were more attuned to negative events were better equipped for survival and threat deterrence. But, we want more than to just survive – we want to thrive.

Here are some practical tips to help focus on the positive:

  1. Spend your time around people who lift you up. View your brain as a bank – our goal is  increase positive deposits and decrease the number of  negative withdrawals.
  2. Don’t shun criticism but remember its place. Constructive criticism is important and un-avoidable – focus on action steps, and stick to facts instead of feelings.
  3. Take a cue from Professor Amabile, who writes of the power of small wins. Take note and strive for making progress on meaningful work and the steps forward you can take every day.
  4. The article gives the example of a “Kudos File”, or positive piggy bank. Work to remind yourself of the positives, steer your focus towards them, and in return, offer specific praise to friends and colleagues when you can.

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How to foster creativity in the workplace – it may be easier than you think

23 Mar

Companies all over the world are wondering where they can order an unlimited supply of creativity. What is the secret sauce and how much does it cost?

To unleash the true creative power of your workforce, start by examining your work environment – says author Jonah Lehrer in his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. 

For one, “scientists have determined that people in a relaxed state and a good mood are far more likely to develop innovative or creative thoughts”.  Yes, this seems obvious to most, but it may cause us to stop and think about “office perks” that are actually creativity boosters, if used correctly.

The neurological implications of relaxation and happiness are what matters here.

We know two things:

Happiness and laughter release dopamine which contributes to stress reduction.

Stress reduction and an overall relaxed state triggers responses in our brain that coincide with inhibition – and the ability to have more insights.

In thinking about training and wellness programs, Jonah Lehrer spent some time researching Improvisers at Second City in Chicago.

When we improvise, we turn off a part of our brain that deals with inhibitions, which as we know can contribute to a substantial increase in creative insights.

Lehrer spent time learning how Improvisers prepare for spontaneous creativity on stage. The key is to “create without worry” – to relax the brain enough to free up room for creativity.

Improvisers do this by participating in warm ups that help them to:

1. Let themselves go

2. Get rid of their censor

3. Fry their brain

4. Relax

5. Get  ”out of their heads”

Consider if there are constraints in your company that keep creativity at bay. What can you do build a culture where people can “create without worry”?

 

 

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The Hard Science of Teamwork – Harvard Business Review

20 Mar

The Hard Science of Teamwork  - Harvard Business Review.

Fascinating research from Alex Pentland at MIT provides data on how to predict the productivity, performance and perhaps creativity of a team.

Luckily, if you find your team lacking in any of the below attributes, the “how” of communication can be highly trainable:

His data shows great teams:

 

  • Communicate frequently. In a typical project team a dozen or so communication exchanges per working hour may turn out to be optimum; but more or less than that and team performance can decline.
  • Talk and listen in equal measure, equally among members. Lower performing teams have dominant members, teams within teams, and members who talk or listen but don’t do both.
  • Engage in frequent informal communication. The best teams spend about half their time communicating outside of formal meetings or as “asides” during team meetings, and increasing opportunities for informal communication tends to increase team performance.
  • Explore for ideas and information outside the group. The best teams periodically connect with many different outside sources and bring what they learn back to the team.

Often teams fast forward to focus on what is communicated rather than how we communicate. This data (and others) suggest we need to spend more time and energy focusing on how we communicate (and learn to adjust our non-verbal communication skills) to develop the connection, collaboration and trust necessary to produce the “what” (product) that helps your business succeed.

Understanding the science behind buzz-worthy teams is the first step.

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How to foster a culture of courage and creativity

19 Mar

“Innovation requires courage and creativity, which can be difficult to foster and maintain in a culture“, says Ask.com’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Lisa Kavanaugh.

Ask.com’s innovation strategy is one many companies are adopting:  to teach Improv skills to every member of their company.

These Improv skills are used as tools to build a safe work environment where ideas are encouraged, shared and built upon.

Hear from the ask.com team about the success of this important initiative here.

 

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The struggle to develop empathy and interpersonal communication skills in a digital world – Harvard Business Review

16 Mar

Digital Natives Are Slow to Pick Up Nonverbal Cues – John K. Mullen – Harvard Business Review.

“research suggests that excessive, long-term exposure to electronic environments is reconfiguring young people’s neural networks and possibly diminishing their ability to develop empathy, interpersonal relations, and nonverbal communication skills. One study indicates that because there’s only so much time in the day, face-to-face interaction time drops by nearly 30 minutes for every hour a person spends on a computer. With more time devoted to computers and less to in-person interactions, young people may be understimulating and underdeveloping the neural pathways necessary for honing social skills.”

 

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Ask.com endorses Improvisation as a tool to solve their biggest challenge

9 Mar

What does a company do when it feels fresh out of ideas? Lacking some spirit and encouragement for innovation?

In the case of popular internet company Ask.com, they bring Improvisation to their entire workforce, including software engineers.

Watch here to see Ask.com CEO Doug Leeds’ overwhelming endorsement of Improvisation as a tool that builds skills needed for innovation and creativity.

Congratulations to my Applied Improv Network colleague Sue Walden! Let’s keep it going!

http://pressheretv.com/?p=2488

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Your brain on training – what your initiatives need to consider

2 Mar

David Rock… well, he rocks. His neurological research reminds us to ask this important question – in designing organizational transformation initiatives, are we taking into account the way our brains work?

Here are two must-have tips:

1. It’s all about insights

Knowledge is gained through insight, not necessarily transmission and passive knowledge transfer.  Our training initiatives need to encourage more time for self-reflection, de-briefing, and the ability to make connections.

We tend to form new connections when we are happier, which can be encouraged by helping people focus on solutions instead of problems.

The more we want people to change, the more we need to recognize, encourage and deepen their insights. These insights should be generated from within.

We are capable of forming more insights if interactions and initiatives at work trigger our reward stimuli as opposed to threat stimuli in the brain.

2. Social Triggers – S.C.A.R.F.

The brain predisposes us to resist some forms of leadership, training, and interactions, and to accept others based upon whether our brain views them as a threat or a reward.  In fact, much of the motivation regarding our behavior is driven by this system of rewards and threats.

When we feel threatened we tend to adopt an avoid response. When we notice a reward, we tend to have an approach response.

Threats can reduce cognitive performance and decrease our effectiveness. However, the approach response generated by rewards is synonymous with engagement and positive emotions. A growing body of research shows this state increases dopamine which activates the learning centers in the brain, allowing us to perceive more options when trying to solve problems.

David Rock states, there are FIVE important social triggers at play in our brains during every interaction:

Status

Certainty

Autonomy

Relatedness

Fairness

What are some practical and trainable tools companies and managers can use to minimize threat, and maximize reward through these social triggers? 

Status – Build self-awareness of status  (behavioral shifts towards either dominance or submission). Use specific, genuine praise. Start Positive to minimize threat of status differential.

Certainty – Provide clear expectations, break down training or change initiatives into steps.

Autonomy – Provide clarity of purpose, increased control over events.

Relatedness -  Increase trust, connection and empathy at work.  After all, relatedness is imperative for collaboration.  Create and initiate safe social interactions.

Fairness –  increase transparency, honesty, and level of communication and involvement around business issues.

In designing training initiatives, we need to consider more than just the different ways adults learn. How can we adjust the way we approach, market, and deliver training programs with an eye  towards increasing insights and rewards,  and decreasing threats? It can be done, especially with Applied Improvisation and the self-awareness skill-building we take part in.  For me, realizing the neurological implications when our certainty is threatened provides an interesting framework for teaching others how to be comfortable in the unknown.


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What’s the drill – March 1st: Creating training that’s more than just fun and games

2 Mar

Over the last few days, I’ve had several conversations with friends and colleagues all centered around the same topic:

Why is Applied Improvisation a useful training tool? There has to be more to it than fun and games, they say.

I’m always happy to enter the discussion. Here is some of what I say:

  • Applied Improvisation is just one tool in the training toolbox. We teach and train skills to build more communicative/collaborative and engaged work environments.  Many of these skills are shared with those of an Improviser
  • It can push people out of their comfort zone, to increase their ability to navigate the unknown, adapt, and think on their feet in pressure-filled and difficult circumstances
  • It provides a new framework and principles to train hot-button issues like innovation/creativity/collaboration
  • It uses storytelling techniques, which is an important method for retaining, communicating and giving meaning to information
  • It aids adult learning by engaging the participants “whole brain”, and encouraging self-reflection through debrief
  • Applied Improv techniques allow participants the opportunity to role-play scenarios and behaviors and “practice their performance” with real-time feedback
  • It uses humor  to engage, and laughter to release dopamine in the brain, which activates learning centers.
  • It is fully customize-able – not a one-size-fits-all approach to training
Yes, Improv is fun – but it’s more than just fun and games. Any professional development training must do more than provide fun and games in order for learning to stick. The training must tie-back to agreed upon objectives and directly apply to the work participants are doing.

The U.S. Needs to Make More Jobs More Creative – Roger Martin – Harvard Business Review

27 Feb

The U.S. Needs to Make More Jobs More Creative – Roger Martin – Harvard Business Review.

Some gems:

we have to rethink how we utilize workers in our advanced economy. We fear that job structuring and classification becomes entirely self-sealing for many American workers. Once a job is defined as routine, it becomes routine and the individual in it doesn’t exercise judgment or decision-making. That employee then becomes by definition low-productivity and both can’t be paid much and is easier to think of as a candidate for off-shoring.

If instead, the employee was asked to exercise judgment and decision-making in order to innovate and enhance the productivity of the operation, then the possibility for higher productivity, higher firm performance and higher wages exists.

… But I believe that America can influence the slope of the line of increasing creativity-oriented jobs by leaning toward creativity; giving workers the encouragement and space to innovate; utilizing the most of their brain, not the least of it.

 

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