You’re On! Ready?

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Image by Clarita

A group of players start a scene, creating characters, creating a story by listening and building on each others’ suggestions… Another group of players stand at the sidelines, watching and listening. Suddenly the ‘director’ (really any person… even a volunteer audience member) calls ‘Freeze!’ and all the characters freeze in place.

The director then taps a player on the shoulder. That person steps out, and the director points to a player on the sidelines and they assume the exact position of the player tagged out. The scene resumes with the fresh player.

This game is a brilliant model for real teams in real life. Sometimes your team just gets something going and someone quits. They get sick, they get promoted, they quit… whatever. Then a new person steps in. At that moment two things get tested.

• The team gets tested for its resilience and its ability to retain its focus and general direction, while absorbing the new person with their ideas and perspectives.
• The new person gets tested for their ability to hit that perfect mix of advancing the team’s original vision while at the same time contributing their own unique ideas and perspectives.

How good is your team at doing this? How good are you at stepping in at a moment’s notice? We are in a world where ‘just in time’ teams are being formed and dissolved in shorter and shorter cycles, one project at a time. Our ability to form, reform, adapt, and dance is increasingly at a premium value.

Improv management workshops teach these skills by engaging mind, heart and body. This game (Blink Freeze) can teach 4 powerful lessons about what it means to really ‘step up’.

1. Planning doesn’t help, but paying attention does. If you are at a meeting and your mind is racing along scheming up what ‘they should do next’, you aren’t paying attention. While you are busy coming up with the ‘perfect plan’ the game is already going in different directions. While deep experience (and really knowing your teammates) can give us an intuitive sense of where things are going, there is no substitute for being present. It is my belief that failure to listen has resulted in more business failures than failure to plan, old saws about ‘planning to fail’ notwithstanding. Great actions require great information. Pay attention.
2. You don’t always get to make the call. In this game a director gets to decide who to tag out and who to put in the game. In life and in business we never know when the call will come. And when it comes, you had better have been paying attention (see #1)! If we could always pick our moments of entry, when that perfect client walks through the door, or when the market zigs or zags, life might be easier. But we can’t. So a state of readiness that includes a ‘yes, and…’ mentality, and having really paid attention to things as they unfold, is critical.
3. Your team matters. When you step into the scene, it’s not just your experience, readiness, and openness that matter. Your team will also need to rapidly adjust to you, your style, and your suggestions. While it’s ideal to be with others that you have created with before, that isn’t always possible. The next best thing you can hope for is that your team-mates are as present and open-minded as you are. And remember, once in the game, you are now a team member too…
4. You set the tone. When you first step in, your team mates will have seconds, in the game and in the real world, to form their first impression of you. If you want that first impression to be one that contributes to your team’s confidence then you quickly need to establish that you are a team player. In those first few seconds, that means striking that difficult balance between accepting and respecting the direction and environment already created by the team, and showing up ready to contribute and take creative risks. That balance is difficult to achieve and it is games like this that teach it best.

There is another version of this game where the team members on the sidelines tag out a player in the scene and take their place. This is also fun, but I don’t find it challenges us as much in that ‘real life way’ that the ‘directed’ version does. In real life we can’t choose when we are tagged to lead that project, or head that department, or assume that new position. We just need to be ready to play.

To learn more about how an improv workshop can make real the elements required for a great team, contact Clemens at clemens@clemensrettich.com

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