I’m an unabashed fan of Seth Godin and I love a recent blogpost of his in which he outlines the difference in company culture between the contracted risk-averse, and those that commit to the possibility of  doing something different – embracing the unknown, change, possibility.  It’s understandable in the current climate that so many people, companies, governments, financial institutions are sitting on their hands and waiting for someone else to take a risk first.  Companies won’t hire until people start spending again, banks won’t lend until companies show growth again….it’s all a cycle of Fear that has thrown our economy into quicksand.  So nobody moves unless someone else moves first.

I’m sure you see the consequences of this in your workplace.  An atmosphere of mistrust and uncertainty takes hold and people can’t really say what they think, they can’t hold their ground, because that ground seems to be dissolving around them as they watch co-workers get pink slips and the cost of everything keeps climbing and forget about new ideas – what planet are you from that you can even conceive of innovation at a time like this?

And yet…..  Now is precisely the time to pop your head out of the foxhole and look towards the horizon.  And if you can be a First Adaptor even in small ways….. you may be positioned to lead once the climate begins to thaw.

Let’s start small…… bring your employees a new way to connect by sharing their true experiences and finding more productive ways to problem solve.  Take a look at any of the trainings outlined on this website.  SFI has a series of  upcoming interactive  trainings/coaching series for three companies: a big one – Pierce Atwood, a small one: Maine Meadworks, and a non-profit network: the Institute of Civic Leadership.  These enterprises are negotiating the same shaky ground you are – and they have decided to resist contraction and Embrace the New anyway by hiring Short Fuse Interactive, LLC.

And how’s this for something really out there?  Portland Playback Theatre Co. has recently joined the Maine Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and is actively promoting storytelling as an innovative tool for stronger employee engagement and productivity.  PPT creates a staff development event unlike any you have ever experienced – they get people to tell their true stories and then play them back using specific forms and techniques.  This experience becomes a catalyst for both honoring employee experience and facilitating first steps toward productive change.
I dare you.  Take one peek out of the hole and a baby step toward something New… Check out the link….

You won’t be sorry.

I recently started doing some work with my local YMCA. Yesterday we were doing a multi-branch meeting when Helen Brena Foley, the CEO,  challenged the group to a contest to see which branch was doing their best to incorporate the mission and values “Living the Cause”, as it were, of the organization. She started with questions like: “What is our purpose, what are we for?” Answer: Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility!  She went on in this vein for awhile and each correct answer got a prize: big cheers from the group and their choice of YMCA apparel. And then she threw in a ringer: “Who has read ‘The Switch’?” Surprised silence.  Mine was the only hand in the room to be raised. “What are the three main components in the book?” I felt like I was in high school again but I went with it. “The Elephant, the Rider and the Path”. “What’s the function of the Elephant?” At this point people were turning around to look at me….”The Elephant is the part of us that resists change, the Elephant doesn’t want to be healthy, the Elephant wants donuts.” A few snickers rippled around the room- lots of personal trainers present. “And the Rider?” she asked – not letting me off the hook just because I had a strong start. “The Rider has the Map – the Plan, and sees the need for change – but the Rider needs to motivate the Elephant”.  More heads are turning around now…there is some surprise here that we are spending this much time on something not on the agenda.  I’m feeling some wind in my sails now, so I continue unprompted…”And the Path is the context, the environment, what surrounds the change with various obstacles and supports”.  Helen smiles…. the people sitting at my table send up a cheer – and I win my choice of YMCA apparel. But the bigger win for me is that suddenly, people are interested in this book – they want to talk about “The Switch”, which as some of you know – is one of my favorite group facilitation reads. And I discover that the YMCA wants to begin actively and consciously incorporating these principals to promote healthy lifestyle change in their communities, so that next time she asks about who has read the book, many hands will be raised. In my experience, that makes the YMCA a big winner.

Story has been stitched throughout my day.  And how delicious is that?  We had a terrific morning session with David Lee of HumanNature@Work on “Unleashing the Power of Storytelling”….ask him sometime about the Australian Keynote – hysterically funny – I can’t do it justice in print!  And it got me thinking yet again about the huge potential of this tool to address so many behavior and cultural challenges.  In our work with the doctors, as soon as we created space both in the agenda and In Ourselves – to deeply listen to their stories of work experience – they could enter  deeply into the work we wanted them to do.   And we are looking into several exciting opportunities to work in education on ways to augment Civil Rights teams in middle and high schools to address a variety of issues (like Bullying) using the powerful storytelling methods in Playback Theatre. Storytelling is a dance  between teller and listener that can open hearts and minds so much quicker than facts and figures, incentives and punishments – and can lead to significant culture change.  Do yourself a favor, cough up five bucks (it’s on sale right now!) and listen in to this amazing segment I heard on NPR.  Human Kind produced this half hour segment titled Bullying Solutions, and Marlene Sandstrom and Susan Engle have ideas about how to combat this – storytelling among them.  Also today – I made time to meet with my new friend Liz (isn’t it great to make a new friend as a grown-up? Nice to know we still can!) and she is thinking about hosting retreats for women off-season at the Celebration Barn Theatre, and using story and improv work as a way for women to develop trust quickly and share experiences. Which brings me to the work Janice Cohen and I are developing on Building Trust in the Workplace – of which storytelling is the primary tool.   And finally, I’m off to see the latest production at Portland Stage Co., The 39 Steps! There are days when I feel like my life has splintered into 15 parts – but today there is a “storyline” woven through the experiences!   Chime in with your stories!

Thanks for your question on role play Jean, a few people have asked – what is the future of this tool – especially in an age increasingly dominated by technology?  Is is possible to re-create via computer the face time experience between two people?   There are many software programs that come close….but is it close enough?   We are now working with real-time, intervention experiences, especially focused on increasing communication skills, as a launching pad for deeper engagement via technology – that is to say – so problems raised in a real-time day-long interactive role play experience can be further addressed via advice given in phone consults (Skype!) and tele-conferencing.   In my opinion, this is a “best practice” use of technology for a variety of human resources red flags like hostile workplace, sexual harassment and anger management.  It’s tech as a tool for deeper human engagement – not a replacement for the human mind.  I’d love to hear about your experiences…..tell me more!

We were a little nervous.  But that just made us prep harder – and we couldn’t ignore the fact that most of the nerves were a result of our expectations of what our participants would be like.  Even with pages and pages of info – the reality of actually meeting someone tilts the gameplan on its ear.  Well, as improvisors – we are nothing if not flexible, adaptable and in the moment.  No one can accuse us of being wedded to the agenda for the day….even if I did spend way to much time putting that thing together.  It was a beautiful day – and what a joy to walk away feeling honored to be a part of this work.   Where we expected resistence – they gave us hunger for more.  Where we had to gently push – one or two pushed back – but we found middle ground.  I watched our team engage with all engines in their uniquely gifted ways and felt extremely proud to have created an opportunity for gifted people to do what they do best in an arena of live minds and charged emotions.  We were in our element.  All of us.  And as long a seven hour stretch as the day demanded – it felt like flying.

Here’s some resources we drew from for this piece of leadership and communication work:

You’ve encountered Switch before on this site, as well as Multipliers, and here’s two more for you: Art of the Possible and that old classic – Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline.  I’d love to hear about your experiential training….experiences!  As well as what informs them – Happy flying!

Some of you already know that we have been asked to work with a trio of doctors flown in from a variety of places for an training session next week.  This is going to take Activated Scenes to a whole new planet.  Imagine being a highly skilled medical professional – marinated in numbers, facts and figures, extremely able in high stress – literal life and death situations, the saver of many lives – every day a star turn – elevated and emulated and…..told by your CEO that you have to fly out and spend a precious Saturday in a hotel with a bunch of actor/facilitators so that you can learn to essentially “play better with others”. …   How would you feel?  A little cranky, a lot incredulous, and….Who Are THESE PEOPLE anyway?   Well.  That’s what we have facing us Saturday and we had better be ready hadn’t we?  We are collecting some strategies here in places like:  Michael Rohd’s Activated Scenes and Hannah Fox with Playback Theatre.   A very thin text was given us as a sort of roadmap into the minds we will be encountering, the aptly named Inside the Physician Mindby Joseph S. Bujak, MD, FACP.  We are delving into the books Multipliers and Switch and formulating the Ultimate Warm-up Exercise that will get everyone quickly on the same page – Suggestions?

I was talking to a friend and colleague about a possible training, and he got me thinking about our best experience of role play in a particular training we did for conflict mediators.  I remember thinking at the time that this particular training brought out the best of what SFI has to offer.

We were to depict a series of real-life disputes for a group of 200 or so dispute resolution professionals, and a number of them would then try to resolve the dispute using some specific resolution methodologies.  At any juncture, the action could be stopped by participants, and either the mediator, or the role players would be questioned as to what was going on for them.  Our job was to both be within the emotional reality of the dispute, as well as being cognizant of how the mediation was playing on us.  It was a fish-bowl situation for everyone.

One of the disputes involved  a divorce with child custody and quite a lot of money at stake.  Neither of the parties was giving an inch on their “entitlements”, and the mediator at one point pushed himself quite abruptly away from the table and, without speaking,  flung up his hands – which he kept in the air as if he were using every ounce of self-control he had to keep from strangling us.  There was something powerfully parental in the gesture, and I remember being suddenly  very aware of how childishly my “husband” and I were behaving.  The personal truth of that gesture changed the entire dynamic in the room, and provided much discussion afterward among the participants.

The feedback we got that day was off the charts positive, and many of the participants told us that that training day was one of the most valuable they had ever experienced.

I’m curious what other stories and contexts might be out there about times when role play really worked.  We’d love to hear your thoughts and responses!

Kym

I just finished Jonah Lehrer’s bestseller “How We Decide” and was delighted to discover this supporting instance of interactive training in the last chapter:  He cites the fact that since the mid 1980’s, plane crashes due to pilot error have been reduced by over 70%…the reason:  realistic flight simulators.  What used to be “chalk and talk” training has evolved into specifically created environments that give the pilot hours of practice with every possible emergency situation.  The result?  Much safer air travel for you and me.  How does this connect to interactive role play?  It’s not that big a leap to realize that a sales person has their own “mayday” situations with clients and customers, an ER doc needs to know how to handle the person who walks in with a mental crisis – just about everyone who deals with other people on a regular basis, in high-stakes situations, can benefit from a little practice.  And that’s what a Short Fuse training can do:  we create those problematic “bad apple” encounters that your sales force needs to handle in a safe supportive environment….before they have to actually land the deal….the client…the account….. or the plane!   We don’t often get to practice before most critical interactions – I know I could have used a run-through when negotiating with car salesmen, and after 10 years, I STILL think I paid too much!  What situations have you encountered where you or a colleague could have used a “real-life simulator”?

Just like your  very first skydive … or  root canal – your first role-play in a training was probably  an experience you will never forget.  ”I felt like I was drowning”, “Suddenly everything was in slow-motion, like a car-wreck”, or “Wow! This is great! Maybe I’ll quit my job and become an actor!” Even if that last response was yours – the question remains…what did you and the people watching really take away from this role-play in terms of LEARNING?  In my company, we have learned to never let go of the desired outcomes of a training.  Yes, role-play is effective as an attention grabber, and in trainings where behavior is the focus: sales, customer service, leadership, it has proven instrumental in telling the story, illustrating emotional ramifications, getting people engaged in the action.  But, like any methodology, it needs to be done right.  A couple of common mistakes to avoid:

Drafting your colleagues into a role-play: Even if they are up for some fun, brilliant actors and very enthusiastic, (where do YOU work?!) there will always be the first 5 – 7 minutes where the “audience” is critiqueing the performance, and NOT getting the material you so carefully crafted.  Hiring role-play pros from outside your company makes this much less of a distraction.

Unrealistic Expectations of what Role Play can provide: Just because people see behaviors they recognize in a training doesn’t guarantee behavior change.  The facilitation and debrief is at least as important, if not more.  How will the training get participants into the action – even if they are not onstage?  In my experience, there are LOTS of ways to get them involved.  Some of the best experiences we have had are the “bad apple” trainings (I got that term from a friend at the Muskie Institute, and it fits!)  We portray your worst nightmare customer, you remember that one don’t you?  Only this time, you are going to encounter that high maintenance patriarch/hysterical mom/egotistical jerk in an atmosphere of learning and support – mistakes are encouraged – we LEARN from them, and you get to stop the interaction at any time.  See reactions from our clients here

“Don’t we have an app for that?” Maybe - and if you don’t there are some great online learning programs out there.  Here’s a site I highly recommend as a place to find out more.  Keep in mind that e-learning for behaviors is not quite as impactful (yet) as it is for more left-brain skills, but there’s nothing like a new web-based training to get the HR techies excited!

What do YOU think?  We’d love to here from you – add a post!

It isn’t everyday you get to see those two words in the same sentence. Those of you who know me know that metaphor is my mantra – also the cream in my coffee and the alphabet in my soup! I could go on ad nauseum but I won’t because the following link is what you need to see and hear

James Geary puts math in the metaphors re: Nation building, the Housing Crisis – and Elvis! It’s about 9 minutes long and yes you have time because it’s worth it! Big Bucket of Thanks to Bill Maxwell for turning me on to this one! Let me know what you think and put it in a metaphor!