"How can I be curious about what someone else is doing?" Part 1

I chatted last week with someone in Canada I consider a peer, Tracy Shea-Porter . Because of her 30+ years in the corporate world as well as training in applied improvisation in Canada, was someone I knew who would address the tougher challenges of improving leadership and teamwork in more high-stakes situations. She is also the author of The "Yes, And" Business Evolution: Improv Skills for Leadership and Life , which I believe is one of the best business books for shifting your organisation towards a profitable and successful "yes, and" business model.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• ???? ?????? ??????'?? ???????? ??????????, ?????? ??????'?? ???????? ?? ?????????????????????? ????????.
• ???????????????? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????????? ???? ?????????????? ???? '?????????????? ?????? ??????????'.
• 91% of Learning and Development people agree that human skills are critical.
• ???????? ???? ?????????????????????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???????????????????????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????????????? ???? ???????? ?????????????????? ?????? ?????????????? ?????????????????? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????????????????????.
• ???????? '?????????? ???????????? ???? ????????' ?????????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ??????????, ???? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????????? ?????? ?????? ???????????? ???????????????? ???? ???????? ?????????????? ?? ???????? ????????????.

The importance of trust within organisations

How improving communication and trust among employees leads to better customer relations and increased profitability

Eric Vigo (EV): "???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????? ?????????????? ???? ?????? ?????????????????????????"

Tracy Shea-Porter (TSP): The organisation is going to run more smoothly, there's going to be less stoppages, there's going to be less less friction, everyone's going to have each other, everyone's going to have each other's backs.

They're communicating more efficiently for whatever product or service you're putting forward. You need people to feel engaged and a part of things and also your customers will have happier people to communicate with. And people who are happy make happy customers, as the saying goes. So if your people aren't happy, they aren't going to present your organization very well. So all of these things work together to serve your bottom line.

EV: "???????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????????? ??????????, ???????? ?????????????????????? ????????????, ???????? ???????????? ????????????, ?????? ????????'???? ??????????????. ???????? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ???????????????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ??????????????????, ???????????????????? ???? ?????????????????????? ???? ?????? ????????????????????????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ???? ???????? ?????????????????????"

TSP: Trust is everything. So once you've established trust and created a bond, now you can roll with things, you know - help each other, have each other's back, right? That's what it's all about here. You want a team to feel 'I'm getting up going to work with these people I really like every day.' You want it to feel easy. You want it to feel smooth. You want it to feel that's how creativity flows, and I am not afraid to say my idea and speak up. I know what people are going to listen to me, I'm going to be heard.

Use improvisational techniques, such as regular meetings and brainstorming sessions, to foster a more collaborative and inclusive work environment.

TSP: (Applied) Improv(isation) creates a foundation, let's call it a practice, a set of techniques, something that you can apply to your business. You can have regular meetings and brainstorming sessions, and bring it into your company in these different ways. So that people know we have a structure in place for having an improvisational way of being at work, we may get together for one session, and all the ideas are put on the table. You know, get a board and throw up all those yellow stickies, so everyone's going to be heard here. And then we'll take all those ideas, and the next time, we'll have convergent thinking, and we'll narrow it down to the two or three, of what we want to go forward

So instead of the leaders going away and deciding what they're going to do, and telling everyone, how about we bring everyone in and make everyone feel a part of it, listen to ideas. You'll be surprised at what comes forward. This is called 'walking the floor' in a way, walking around listening to people's experiences and who are doing the work. It's really important.

I saw a note recently where someone said instead of walking around, it's now 'reply all' as a form of leadership. I thought that was really good. Because you know, technology has created some barriers to where we're not in front of each other as much.

So you have to find ways to continue to be in front of each other and to walk around and hear each other.

Overcoming high-stakes situations

EV: "???? ???????? ???????????????????? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????, ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????????? ?????? ?????? ?????????????????????? ???? ???????????????????????????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ?????????????????????"

TSP: I believe that the best leaders are the ones who can continue this environment of trust when the going gets tough. I don't mind saying I have been through many organisations who have gone through downsizing. And I have to say my own experience when going through downsizing has been that the improv training really helped me get through.

Having that external training, gave me a place to listen to something more positive, something where there could be an outcome hopefully, where I could connect with people who are going through the same thing that I was kind of giving a voice to the experience. And sometimes it's really that empathy piece that's important.

So you can feel very isolated when you're going through an experience like that, and it's very tumultuous, it's an opportunity to continue building community, in the sense of we're all in it together. And it really does come back to having each other's backs and human connection.

It was reported by LinkedIn Workplace Learning that 91% of Learning and Development people agree that human skills are critical. These are the kinds of scenarios are where those skills are more and more important.

The importance of human connection and skills in high-stakes situations.

EV: ??????? ?????? ???????? ???????????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????? ???????????????? ???????????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????????????????

TSP: I'm actually working with companies right now who are working with high stakes situations. And in answer to your question about what I love about the training of improv is, first of all in the training, we talk about how improv is not going to make you an actor. We're here to help you communicate better and open to creativity. And one thing I almost always say is that improv is a low-stakes way to get ready for high-stakes things. And how applied improvisation supports high stakes challenges is that by practicing, you could do role playing in part of different scenarios.

Sometimes we use fictional scenarios, sometimes it's appropriate to use real world scenarios that organisations are experiencing to help them try things out. Try out what how a scenario could unfold. Try out different ways, watch each other, try out different ways, learn from each other, trying different ways. And out of these situations, you've now got some great tools, and you've all been in it together witnessing each other and experiencing it together. You're gonna be talking about it later.

Oh, when you did that, it really helped me think about "Oh, yeah, wow, that situation. I'm going to think about it that way". This is great stuff, right for helping you get ready for high stakes situations.

Sectors most adaptive to listening and trust

EV: "???? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?????????????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????????????????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???? ???????? ?????? ?????"

I actually like to deconstruct what I think an organisation is. So I don't think, 'Oh, it's a law firm, they're going to be like this', or 'Oh, it's a bank, they're going to be like this'. I actually believe it comes down to the human factor. And I want to give you a concrete example. We've worked with several law firms, by the way, and they love applied improvisation. And last year, we went into one and had such an incredible experience, we had one man come up and say, "I've been here 50 years, this is a law firm and this is the best training I've ever had". So he's a human, he's responding, he's experiencing. And these roles, these labels, these jobs, these companies, they are I'm looking at the human factor here.

I have found that I've worked with education, I've worked with finance, I've worked with manufacturing, lots of tech. Because the mere I've run the whole gamut, I actually find that it comes down to that …

every single person on a team brings a certain energy. And everyone together creates this team energy. And if you can come in and boost that team energy with training, that team is going to soar and actually look at it more like that.

And the other thing I want to mention, which I talk about in my book quite a bit, is I'm also looking quite a bit at personal and individual growth, because we're all dealing with our individual ego. And our set of conditioning. And conditioning comes from where you were born, how you were raised. The box of stories that you've accumulated over time, this is more interesting to me, is how we are deconstructing the ego and starting to gain awareness and observe ourselves so that we get out of as individuals, we get out of the right way and start to get into a 'isn't that interesting'? or I've had these experiences, however, no matter what, they're limited and biased.

There's so much more out there.

How can I be curious about what someone else is doing? To me, this is what improv really invites curiosity. It invites openness, it invites what can I learn beyond because in the moment, when you're improvising, you're going to co-create something completely new on the spot. So this is what's exciting to me, I actually look at it more like human evolution and that's why I call it business evolution. We're looking at evolving here with getting out of the polarisation and into curiosity.

Great Places to Work

EV: "??????'???? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ????????? ???? ???????? ???? ??????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????? ???? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????????????? ???? ?????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????? ??????????."

Because trust is critical. And here's what I say as well about trust. And because Great Places To Work Canada is a valued partner of mine, this organisation, which is in about 150 countries around the world, certifies companies to be great places to work. They think applied improvisation is table stakes. An entry level absolute necessity.

The word 'trust' is just about the number one desired outcome that Great Places To Work has learned through. By the way, what they do is they survey employees of companies confidentially to find out what employees are saying about that company. And they only get certified if they meet the standards of the employees through the service. And then the results give them actionable items.

And through all the surveys they conduct around the world, they found that trust is the number one needed area of development on a team.. And the other point I'd like to make that they've decided through all their surveys, that the number one skill a leader needs is listening.

So I don't just go in and say 'I think this or I think that'. I go in and say 'Great Places to Work' learned throughout the world that trust and listening are the skills required. And then we can connect what applied improvisation is great for, number one is listening. So I want to connect the value of applied improvisation to what leaders and teams need through these resources. That's what you want to do.

Because Great Places to Work is a valued partner of mine, they wrote the quote on the cover of my book, they call applied improvisation table stakes. And let me tell you why I think that's an important comment.

???? ???????? ??, ????'???? ??????????, ?????????? ?????????? ????????????, ????????????????????, ???????????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? "??????, ??????" ???? ???????? ?????????????? ???????????????? ?????? ???????? ??????????????????.

?????????????????? ???? "????????'?? ????????????????????" ?????? ?????????? ???????????????? ?????????????? ??:???????? ?????? ????:???????? ????????, ???? ???????? ???????????????????? ?????? ???????????????? ?????? ?????????????? ??????'?? ???????? ???? ????????. ?????? ?????????? ???????????????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ???????????? ??????/???? ?????????????? ???????? ????????????????????. ?????? ???????????? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????????????????? ?????????? ?????????? ???? ??????????.

#trust #activelistening #LearningAndDevelopment #WorkplaceCulture Great Place To Work? Australia New Zealand Pty L