How the Levels of Service Serve You

Something I have taught for many years is the idea of “Levels of Service.” When we are performing, whether we are entertaining an audience, providing a service, or being a good friend, parent, or partner, it is important to have a guiding philosophy. In improv, due to its collaborative backbone, a reduction of ego is essential. No one person is in charge, and no idea is intrinsically superior to another. To evaluate and prioritize our choices, we can turn to these levels.?

Let’s have a look and see how the Levels of Service can help us:

Levels of Service

· ? ? ? ? Serve the Audience

· ? ? ? ? Serve the Show

· ? ? ? ? Serve the Scene

· ? ? ? ? Serve your Partners

· ? ? ? ? Serve Yourself

Serve the Audience

The audience is always the most important. In your business, these are your customers. In your relationships, those are the ones who give your life love, care, and meaning. In theatre, the audience is the essential component of a show. Theatre does not exist without an audience, and to not give them the most deference is foolish.?

Any and every provider benefits from taking care of their audience first. Decisions should be made from their point of view first. If you are a shopkeeper, you put yourself in the mindset of the customer walking in - what do they need? If you are a teacher, you put yourself in the mindset of your student sitting at the desk - what are they learning? If you are a manager, you put yourself in the mindset of the employee in the office - how will they feel motivated??

Too often, we provide based on what we wish to create, and then wonder why others aren’t responding to our brilliant contributions. We must put ourselves in the shoes of our audience - the consumer - and create for them.?

Serve the Show

What is the current moment we’re inhabiting? What is right, right now? If you believe in your plan to serve your audience, don’t panic and give it up at the first sign of trouble.

In a performance, you are creating an ethos. You have a distinct experience you’re developing for the audience. It may not be eliciting the desired response right away, and perhaps you’ll feel more comfortable slipping into some old, tired routine. Resist. Don’t sell your ideas out for a cheap, one-time laugh. The same goes for any customers, in business or otherwise. If you are cultivating a brand, an experience, or a look, it’s not worth it to abandon that effort for a quick win. It can be scary trying something new, but if you are sure that you are giving your audience what they truly need, stick to your guns and see it through. Give them their plate of vegetables, or their times tables, or their clean, intelligent comedy.

Serve the Scene

Similar to serving the show, the scene is the individual interaction. If you are confident in your choice that you are servicing your primary stakeholders and creating the right environment to carry your message, focus on the current interaction, and don’t get distracted.?

Serve your Partners

In between taking care of your audience and taking care of yourself comes service to your partners. Show them support and create a culture of support. If you’re all aligned on the same goals of the product you are creating together, the best boost is mutual support. In an environment of mutual support, you can strive more and be confident that you will be uplifted and reinforced by your partners. This guarantee can only happen when you are always looking out for your teammates before yourself.?

Remember, if everyone is looking out for themselves only, they each have one supporter. If everyone is raising up their colleagues first, they have many more advocates behind them. It heightens the quality of everyone’s work.

Serve Yourself

Finally, you serve yourself and your own needs. Of course you want to be protective of yourself. You cannot sacrifice yourself completely in service of all those around you, but you can never be selfish. Doing things your own way without regard for your consumers and collaborators will leave you frustrated and alone. Putting your energy towards customer-serving, team-building actions will buttress you with more positive feedback and effortless collaboration, making you more effective with less effort.??

As we turn outwards, reduce our ego, and promote the value of service, we can actually be more effective, deliver higher quality material, and preserve our mental and emotional wellbeing.

******

Hi, I’m Noah. I teach applied improvisation helping organizations enhance #communication, boost #cooperation, and build #trust. Follow me for more insights about how connecting to #thepresentmoment makes us better people.