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Improv can help your business skills
Trainers use improvisation for business -- or bizprov -- to teach skills
for the workplace.
The Miami Herald
BY MONICA HATCHER
Six courageous souls, including this Miami Herald reporter, faced the
unknown last week in an Improv for Business -- or Bizprov -- workshop by
start-up Interactive Training Solutions.
Interactive Training Solutions is the brainchild of improv actor David
Suarez, an FIU graduate with a master's in business administration and
director of Just the Funny Improv Theater Co. The 35-year-old spun the
company out of a grad school business plan assignment, joining a cast of
entrepreneurs who have parlayed their creative careers into the field of
executive coaching and professional development.
A similar outfit in South Florida is Influens, headed by theater
director and acting coach Achim Nowak. Influens, launched in 2004,
offers daylong workshops that introduce professionals to acting
techniques that help engage and communicate their authentic selves.
Another group, Improv Yourself, founded by Carey Kane, is geared for
those simply interested in acting; but professionals who have
participated in the Miami classes have said it has helped them better
their presentation skills at work.
NATIONAL TREND
Around the country, other companies have incorporated improv techniques
in designing training specifically for corporate types. Suarez says his
program takes the idea a step further. ''A lot of [it] is based on
getting people into doing the improv skits, it's usually about the fun
and games part, but it doesn't go as diagnostic or applied as we do,''
Suarez said.
Improv is not just willy-nilly make-believe, I learned -- though,
naturally that's a big part of it. For one, you have to be able to think
on your toes -- a talent prized in most workplaces.
Creating an impromptu story line takes other important skills. You have
to establish relationships. You must listen closely.
Suarez said bringing the improv principles to bear on challenges at work
can help one become more aware of certain group dynamics and, in a way,
exert greater control over them.
''The idea behind it is to be able to break down everything that is
going on around you -- the location, the relationships, the focus and
the context,'' Suarez said. ``It's sort of a mental check list -- it's
the way we prepare as improvisers to perform in a scene, but it just
happens to be life.''
So how did all this play out at the workshop? At 9 a.m., I was strutting
around a conference room in the Conrad Hotel like a zebra, trying to
intone those strange cooing-like sounds it makes. My peers, who included
a human resource manager and an intern from Burger Kingwere similarly
meowing, scratching under their arms and picking imaginary bugs off each
other. All this before any of us were formally introduced.
Since the day-long workshop would later involve delicate personal
disclosures of our own perceived weaknesses and problems at work, Suarez
insisted we act like asses, zebras or whatever to break the ice, shed
our inhibitions and gain others' trust.
MAKING AN IMPRESSION
We next introduced ourselves to the group. Suarez, acting as
facilitator, offered tips and gentle corrections. I needed to make
better eye contact with my audience and smile more. I, and others, also
needed to work on our ''elevator pitch'' -- a snappy summary to get
people interested in knowing more about us.
My favorite came from Veronica Malazzo, who said she worked as a life
strategist. She faced a turning point when she hit 30. Over a weekend,
she decided to quit her job and travel around the world.
''I went on a honeymoon with myself and it was
woonnderful,''
Malazzo said.
I was intrigued, and asked her about it over lunch. That's exactly the
idea, according to Suarez: To get ahead in the business world, you have
to be memorable.
After that, we quickly moved into the fun part -- the improv. Suarez
paired us up with a partner. He allowed the audience to decide the
relationship between the actors and set the scene. There were a lot of
laughs, and it was fun.
After lunch, we got down to the real work of role playing scenes in
which we had to resolve a major challenge faced at work.
The skits went something like this: One participant, Herman Tomeu,
president of DigiFirst, a Miami information technology company, said he
was having problems managing his work day. Often, unexpected and
unfruitful service calls derailed his schedule.
''Sometimes these people want rock bottom prices, they want things
cheap, and I have to interact with this person who is being
challenging,'' Tomeu said.
Tomeu's partner played the part of the difficult customer and they went
back and forth. The group and Suarez offered tips.
At the end of the day, he said it was enormously helpful. ''It's helped
me to handle certain kinds of customers -- sorting out the good
customers from the bad customers -- and deciding who is worthy of my
time,'' Tomeu said.
Suarez said he wants participants to leave with greater self-awareness,
appreciation of their strengths and understanding of their weaknesses.
''If you have challenges, we can work on them, get some strategies out .
. . and arm you with an applied strategy to better solve those
challenges currently facing you,'' Suarez said. |
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