THE FIVE RULES OF IMPROV
The rules are what makes improv successful.
Rules are meant to be broken, and need to in many cases, but they are also respected. They cannot break unless they are recognised for what they are.
These are the rules that we hold to with every session.
Thanks to Improv Encyclopedia
1) Don't Deny
Denial is the number one reason most scenes go bad. Any time you refuse an Offer made by your partner your scene will almost instantly come to a grinding halt. Example: Player A) “Hi, my name is Jim. Welcome to my store.” Player B) “This isn’t a store, it’s an airplane. And you’re not Jim, you’re an antelope.”
2) Don't ask open ended Questions
Open ended questions (like “Who are you?”) are scene killers because they force your partner to stop whatever they are doing and come up with an answer. When you ask your partner and open ended question, you put the burden of coming up with something “interesting” on your partner – so you are no longer doing a scene together but forcing one person has to do more work than you are willing to do.
3) You don't have to be funny.
The hidden riddle of improv is that the harder you try not to be funny the more funny your scene is going to be. Why? Because it’s the very best kind of improv scene you can do is an “interesting” scene, not necessarily a “funny” one. When you do an interesting scene, a very surprising thing happens… the funny comes out all by it’s self.
The best ways to go are to stick to your character, stick to the story that is being told, and to stay within the reality of the scene you are playing.
4) You can look good if you make your partner look good.
When you are in a scene, the better you make your partner look the better the scene is going to be and, as a direct result, the better you are going to look. All too often, I’ve seen players enter a scene and I can just tell they have some really great idea about the character they are going to play or an idea they want to do. This is wonderful, but guess what? Your partner probably has absolutely no idea what’s cooking in your evil little mind, and so has no idea how to react. And no matter how brilliant your idea might be, it’s practically worthless if the scene as a whole goes bad.
5) Tell a story
Storytelling is probably the easiest rule to remember but the hardest one to do. The real magic of improv is when we see the players take totally random suggestions (like a plumber and a cab driver selling shoes in a leper colony ) and somehow “make it work”. If all these unrelated elements are going to come together then it’s going to happen in the course of an interesting tale. So that’s just what the players are going to try and do, tell us all a story.
“Business schools such as Ashridge Executive Education and Cass Business School in the UK, and Duke University and Stanford University in the US, are including impro on their curriculum to help future leaders cope with a rapidly changing environment.” FM
HOW PROGRAMS HELP
You get filtered new HR knowledge activiated through improv and directed at staff
“we aim to have a really good effect on your peopole, so much that they will be waiting for the next week. It will hopefully be that much fun”
“control the controllable, but let go of what is left, and that is where improv comes in”
Leadership Development and Cultural Change – we arent prepared for this now. This is where improv comes in.
Improv can help in 3 steps to build a resilient connected workplace
1. Trust – embrace remplloyee recognition best practicies rooted in science
2. Resilience – adopt communiation strateies appropriate for the times
3. Enhance employee listening strategies, to identify key factors for enhancing performance
All go hand in hand
“We are all feeling the pressure of the isolation the Corona virus has caused. Many are feeling caged in so a workshop like this can help with the frayed emotions.”
Improv is about trust
Factor with the stronger and immediate impact on team trust was exchange on meaningful peer to peer public recognition and driving higher levels of employee engagement.
“all games are tight to reach their goal and premise that allows the team to be and feel great”
“part of your resilience training”
“no obligation”
“help you build a stronger organisation with less stressed people throughout Covid”
“we go through your values. How can the improv help link people to your values”
“ally in getting staff better”
communication be authentic and truthful
“this is a new way – we are there with you”
“its good feedback for your team’s productivity for why you cant see your team in person”
“continuous listening in tumultous times empowers frontline managers and leaders to be proactiev instead of reactive and enables HR with critical data to advise leaders”
Rebootr Improv data (as a form of monitoring) gives you that data outside of Annual Employee Survey”
Improv helps move a company away from a talent management mindset (as if it is a collective amorphus resource) to vibrant authentic unique individuals.
DATA
Data must keep up with our KPIs and not speaking its language as a leader
“in many organisations, managers dont have the tools, training or info they need to collect real-time frequent feedback” This is something we offer
WHY WE SET UP PROGRAMS
“One week is good, many weeks will have a greater impact. That is why we are offering three sessions to you