Use a Playbill?, not a Playbook

By Kim Chin and Dan Kowalski

Get your business through COVID-19 using a better metaphor

Introduction

Many people have appropriately referred to the current COVID funk as being like the movie Groundhog Day. The movie has even become a Broadway musical. You get a Playbill? when you attend a Broadway play. This mini magazine describes the cast, director, playwright, producer, and scenes. It may also credit other contributors depending on the size of the play. With COVID-19, you do not want the play to be a tragedy. You need to put on a drama that ends in triumph.

Of course, lots of work occurs before a play reaches the stage and needs a Playbill?. Things like a script for the play (or idea for a play), funding, cast and crew. In this article we will cover how using the play metaphor will help you understand your job and the tasks in getting your company through COVID-19. It’s also a lighter-hearted (and gosh, we need that!) way to motivate, cooperate and captivate your team to pull in the same general direction.

Why a play?

A play is live. No chance for a do-over or cleaning up in post-production. Also, no green-screen special effects to save the day. When (not if) an actor flubs a line or gets sick or a prop falls, as the expression urges, “the show must go on.” A play mirrors real life. It is not always perfect. Therefore, it provides many lessons that we can bring to the business Groundhog Day of COVID-19.

Basic Theater Jobs

If business wants to learn from the stage, then it must have the right people on the job. The table below provides the basic job description and business equivalent.

How a play goes from idea to Broadway

Before a play makes it to Broadway, the cast and crew rehearse (a lot). They make mistakes. The director cajoles and coaches. In many cases, they collaborate to rewrite scenes and dialogue. They iterate. The understudies practice their ‘starring’ roles. Some plays start off-Broadway and even off-off-Broad way. The smaller venues provide more chances for feedback based on audience reaction. They iterate again. The show gets better and better. General Dwight Eisenhower once exhorted, “Plans are useless, but planning js indispensable”.

That sounds great, but COVID-19 has not reached intermission; how does this apply to business?

Good catch. Someday we may see a COVID musical, but for now it is drama. And, an unfolding one at that. It is an improvisation in the manner of a Second City production or an episode of the Whose line is it anyway? TV show. The analogy still applies. The producers start with an idea, the director and producer select a cast, and the actors practice (a lot). Just like pretending to be a bad ice skater, improvisation takes a lot practice. Instead of lines to memorize, the actors learn to work together and learn to stay “in character” to play their roles well. Improvisation in business means using “Yes, and…” and not saying Yes, but…” All of this sounds much more like business, COVID-19 or not.

A checklist for your “We survived during and thrived after COVID-19” Playbill?

□  Have we practiced enough for opening night?

□  Can the cast improvise when something goes wrong?

□  Have the understudies gotten enough practice?

□  Do the crew have everything they need?

□  Do we need any external help?

If you have "Yes" answers, then “break a leg!