Once ... long ... ago ... a ... small... giant ... ran ... a ... parking ...boutique. To ... park ... at ... the... oven ... you ... had ... to ...wear ... hot ... soup ... in ... your... underwear.You can use stories to begin atraining course or an article. As this article is aboutimprovisation, I improvised my‘story’ using the One Word Storytechnique. Though it is designedfor teams, I adapted it for solouse, creating the story quickly –focusing on the next word, notthe end goal – and using the firstword that came into my mind. Inshort, I improvised.

The public became aware ofimprovisational comedy (typicallycalled ‘impro’ in the UK) throughthe hit show Whose Line is itAnyway?. ‘Serious’ theatre usesimprovisation too, developingskills that organisations canadopt to:● deal better with new

situations

● enhance key skills, such ascommunication.

As a trainer, you will benefit ifyou understand the techniquespeople use to train improvisationskills, both in training others andin enhancing your own skills.

Why train people to improvise?After all, people improvise allthe time; they don’t use a scriptto run their lives.

To understand this, consider astrategic reason for people toimprovise.

Many organisations value theability to organise, and put agreat deal of effort and traininginto the following: ● Developing and using policies,

processes and procedures (the

organisational scripts) forconsistency of performance.

● Improving projectmanagement, to ensureoutcomes.

● Enhancing time management,to improve personal efficiency.

This indicates that individualsand organisations wish to gain control in order to makelife more predictable. However,reliance on these methodsassumes that the organisation’sinternal and externalenvironment will remainreasonably stable.

Harold Macmillan wassupposedly asked what worriedhim in his job as Prime Ministerof Great Britain. ‘Events, dearboy’, he replied.

For good or bad, unpredictableevents happen, and those organisational scripts, plans and to-do lists sometimes fail.Even when the event ispredictable, people can findthemselves in new situations – for example, through mergers and strategic partnerships – inwhich no script exists.

Cue improvisation – not at theexpense of planning andevaluation, but to complement it.

Delivery

TRAIN the TRAINER • Issue 34

● Train people to use theatricalimprovisation skills, and youcan complement the policies,processes and procedures inorganisations.

● Use improvisation techniquesto help you develop skills inothers which they can use inmany situations.

● These techniques can alsohelp you become a bettertrainer.

● You can use improvisationexercises to raise energy, butmake them relevant to yourtopic.

Key learning points

Author

John Brooker is managing director of Yes! And... A keen actor in his time, he uses improvisation techniques in

workshops and training to develop the skills mentioned in the article and also runs an improvisation workshop for

teams to build their performance.

Telephone: 020 8869 9990 • E-mail: hi@yesand.co.uk • Website: www.yesand.biz

TRAIN the TRAINER • ©Fenman Limited 2005

Usingimprovisation fortrainingJohn Brooker

Using techniques for icebreakers and energisersImpro exercises can change people’s state by havingthem move and think differently. They are ideal tobreak the ice and energise; however, this may inducecynicism (see my article Using energisers to enhanceyour workshops in Issue 19). It is better to use them asa metaphor for a skill. An example of this is Movies,(see below) which I adapted from an icebreakingexercise.

Movies can be a conventional icebreaker but, bychanging the usual speaking position, usingasynchronous speaking and insisting on ‘constantspeech’, we can highlight skills such as listening, focusand spontaneity. What other lessons can you identify?

Improvisation doesn’t always workStorylines break down because someone misunderstands or mishears a point. They might be thinking of their next word rather than listeningto the current word. See what some beginners dowhen One Word Story starts with ‘Once ... upon ... a... ‘ and you then continue with ‘rocket’ (or analternative) instead of ‘time’. When the story breaksdown, you can throw it away – which is valid – or you

can choose to bring out a learning point. A useful oneis that when people try to be creative at work, theymay not get it right first time, and this is acceptable.

Improvisation techniques can challenge anyoneYou can plunge people into the deep end, but youwill find it works better if you build up the level ofrisk gradually, growing confidence and trust with lesschallenging exercises, so that even the moreintroverted people find it comfortable to tackle lessconventional exercises. If people are reluctant to takepart, you might like to say something like, ‘Thisexercise is optional, but when you take part you willfind it very rewarding’.

Your reward will come when one of the quieterpeople in the group displays a flash of brilliance witha subtle use of expression, or links the storyline backto a previous point, creating a great deal of laughter.

True, there is risk in using improvisation techniques,but I am sure you will find the rewards outweighthem. Enjoy playing!

References

1 M. Basadur, The Power of Innovation, Pitman Publishing, 1995.

2 K. Koppett, Training to Imagine, Stylus Publishing, 2001.

3 J. Heron, The Complete Facilitator’s Handbook, Kogan Page, 2000.

Further reading

For more improvisation exercises, see the following:

I. Gesell, Playing Along, Whole Person Associates, 1997.

P. Z. Jackson, 5812 Ways To Improvise In Training, Crownhouse Publishing,

2003.

Improvisation: a beginning

About improvisation

Some challenges

Some practical points

Using improvisation in work

Reacting to unpredictableevents

MoviesHave people pair up and position themselves so they can hear clearly but cannot see each other’sfaces (side by side, facing in opposite directions,works well).

Ask one person to describe their favourite film tothe other; what it is and why it is. They must speakfor one minute, non-stop, and the other personmust not interrupt. Swap speakers and repeat.

Justifying improvisationSomeone has just asked you why they should investin training to develop improvisation skill. Threereasons you would give are ... ?

Answers to the exercise on page 2

Three skills you might develop in call centres, using One

Word Story are:

● listening

● staying in the moment – not thinking of your next word

● flexible thinking.

Now, where might you use these skills in your training?

Ideally, when the unexpectedhappens, everyone improvisesbrilliantly and problems disappear.However, there are issues: ● If the culture places more value on

organisational skills, people willfocus on that at the expense ofimprovisation skills.

● If people spend a great deal oftime using their organisationalskills, their ability to improvisemay wither.

● Many people prefer evaluationand planning when problemsolving,1 and so may be less likelyto improvise through choice.

If this reminds you of yourorganisation or your clients’organisations, be aware that you canhelp to enhance improvisation skills.

The skills and qualities a personrequires to improvise on stage mayalso enhance the operational aspectsof organisational life. See below forfurther explanation of this.

Imagine yourself on stage with ateam of others. Out front is anexpectant audience, waiting for your improvised production. Youhave no script, just a couple of rules that provide a basic structure to progress. The stage lights rise.Ready? What abilities, skills andqualities do you think you and your team will require to provide agood performance? Figure 1 willhelp you to answer that.

In Figure 1, my intention is to showthat you can use improvisationaltheatre techniques in training as a metaphor for aspects of organisational life. In doing so, youcan help people to develop thequalities, behaviours and skills (right-hand side of diagram) they need totackle a variety of organisationalchallenges (left-hand side ofdiagram). An additional benefit isthat they have the confidence ofknowing that they have tackledthese challenges outside the workenvironment. Let’s explore thediagram further.

Members of a team must trust eachother if they are to act effectivelyand consistently on stage or in anorganisation. Kat Koppett2 suggestsa formula for trust, which you mightfind useful:

(Credibility x Empathy)

perceived level of risk

That is, the higher the risk, the morecredibility and empathy you requireto gain trust.

This formula was the catalyst for my diagram. To build the qualities of credibility and empathy, peoplerequire the behaviours and skillsshown.

Being credible in front of your peersinvolves the following.

Making offersThis requires the initiation of actionsand dialogue in order to be able towork from a blank sheet, althoughsuggestions from the audience mayset the context and the basiccharacters.

Using presenceA participant enhances credibility byhaving presence. John Heron3

describes presence as ‘havingsomething about the posture anddemeanour that draws the attentionof those around’. Improvisationdevelops presence by teaching howto hold the body correctly.

Building storiesMoving from first words or actions,improvising the development ofbelievable characters, and creatingplots are all facets that improvisationdraws out.

There is a basic structure to improvisational theatre, formedprimarily by two rules (which, ofcourse, can be broken when allparticipants know they are beingbroken). In reviewing these rules wecan identify where the need forcertain behaviours arises.

To work effectively, improvisationrequires some structure. Two rules tofollow are these: 1 Agree with anything offered and

build on it. (‘Yes! And ... ‘)

2 Always make your partner lookgood.

Accepting and building on offersThe first rule is that you must acceptany ‘offer’ your partner makes toyou. This offer may be verbal: yourpartner says ‘Wow, look, a dinosaur!’and you say something to affirm thatyou accept the offer: ‘Yes’ or ‘Great’

Using improvisation for training

TRAIN the TRAINER

or ‘Brontosaurus, I think’. The offermay be physical: your partnermakes some kind of action or givesyou an ‘object’, and you eitherverbalise – ‘Wow, you’re bakingcakes’ – or complement the action.As well as agreeing to any offer,you also build on it: ‘Abrontosaurus? Let’s take it for aride!’. You act leaping on its backand riding it. We call thisacceptance and building of offers‘Yes! And ... ‘.

Making others look goodThe other rule is that you shouldmake your partner(s) look good.Examples may be simple, likeensuring your partner catches theball in a warm-up exercise or thatyou step into the spotlight to helpwhen someone is lost for words oran action. You never refuse anoffer and ignore one only if youhave a better offer.

How might you use these two rules to enhance your training orworkshops?

As you will see from Figure 1,there are a number of key skillsthat improvisers use to enable thebehaviours above. Some of theseskills will help develop differentbehaviours, but I have shown themonly once for clarity. An example ismaking and building on offers.

Whilst reading about the skills,consider what people might usethem for in organisations.

Thinking and actingspontaneouslyThe need to provide offerscontinuously requires you to thinkand act quickly, and not to censoryour ideas because of concernabout feeling foolish.

Finding links and connectionsWhen the team performs, muchpower comes from people findinglinks and connections withmaterial used earlier in the scene.Humour will derive from this,rather than from the telling ofjokes. Indeed, jokes are as likely tomake an audience groan as laugh.

FocusTo develop scenes, goodimprovisation requires you to focuscompletely on your colleagues,listening to, and observing them atall times and staying in thepresent. This means pushing otherthoughts out of your mind and notthinking of what you might saynext. It is very similar to the skillstaught in meditation.

Being assertiveImprovisation requires you tocommunicate clearly, using verbal

and non-verbal language, and torespect the needs of your fellowactors. It requires you toparticipate and allows you toexpress emotions appropriately.These are many of the skills youneed to be assertive.

Deferring judgementTo accept an offer inimprovisation, you have to defer judgement of it and takewhat is given. Failure to do so(‘Yes, but ... ‘) quickly destroys a scene.

Tolerating ambiguityAmbiguous means ‘open tomultiple interpretations, vagueand unclear’. If you participate inimprovisation, you have to take anoffer and make an interpretationthat the audience can understand.It is a challenge for those whorequire certainty, and practising itcan help build the skill.

Using physical movementIn improvisation, you areencouraged to act rather thanverbalise, to pour a cup of tearather than to suggest having one.This makes the scene more vividand real, much like the use ofdemonstrations in training.

Using appropriate bodylanguageBody language can say much in ascene. One example is the way inwhich you may change arelationship by changing yourbody language, implying adifferent status. Playing with bodylanguage in scenes can help youunderstand how you may influenceyour status. This ability toinfluence your status and thestatus of your fellow actors canhelp make others look good andso increase empathy.

How might you use these skills atwork? Look again at the left-handside of Figure 1.

TRAIN the TRAINER

Some obstacles to improvisation

Skills

Enhancing operational aspectsof organisational life

Building trust anddemonstrating qualities

Behaviours for buildingempathy

Behaviours for buildingcredibility

Developing qualities,behaviours and skills

Fig. 1: Abilities and skills

ExerciseJot down three skills you mightdevelop in a call centre, using theOne Word Story exercise. See theback page for suggestions.

Trust =