August 28, 2010

M*A*S*H* Up with Improv, Scientists & Alan Alda

On the eve of a month long trip away, Belina Raffy sent Andy Middleton and I this YouTube video featuring Alan Alda, some scientists and the Centre for Communicating Science – Stony Brook State University (USA).

For anyone who has been involved in workshops where I use Improv games, here’s a video to watch. For those who practice the art of Applied Improv with me, you know who you are … I think you’ll like this video. For me, this inspires me to do more and bring the gift of Improv to lives of more people and groups. Enjoy.

According to the Centre …

“Alda, the longtime host of PBS’ “Scientific American Frontiers” and a passionate advocate for solid popular science, has been leading an innovative effort to help scientists connect better with the public. Through the Center for Communicating Science, Mr. Alda has been teaching science graduate students to play improvisational theater games. The goal is not to turn them into actors, but to free them to talk about their work more spontaneously and directly, and to connect personally with their audience. Early reports from students say the workshops helped them in teaching, defending a thesis, and simply explaining their research to people outside their fields.”

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May 26, 2010

My 201st post!

Just realised I have passed my double century of blog posts! Here’s my 201st post featuring 3 cartoons that happen to be sitting side by side on my desktop. These cartoons are also very linked by the people around them and concepts they explore.

The first features “The Slips” (and that’s me in 3rd slip). The Slips is an international consortium of blogger and facilitators. Many of my 200 posts have featured links back to the blogs of Anne Patillio (wicket keeper), Viv McWaters (1st slip), Johnnie Moore (2nd slip) and Chris Corrigan (4th slip). Thanks to Simon Kneebone for the artwork!

The next 2 are linked around the theme of status and power. This second cartoon is from the stables of Hugh McLeod over at Gaping Void. I just love Hugh’s ability to cut through and be totally honest and blunt! As part of the The Slips, I am constantly working with the Improv principle of Yes!And – which also inspired the name and theme of my blog. When new ideas and new ways of doing things are proposed in workshops, Yes!But … can often be heard as the automatic response. And if you don’t hear it, watch and you’ll see it in the body langauge!

The last one again comes from Simon Kneebone and was drawn at the recent Show Me The Change conference. The design team for this gig happened to be The Slips (told you these pictures were linked!) and we embraced the principles of self organisation and emergence in it’s design. The other concept we brought was the notion of Keynote Listeners and Participants rather than Keynote (Expert) Speakers.

Cheers, Geoff

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May 16, 2010

The Slips

Over the past couple of weeks I have had the pleasure of playing (and working) with an “International Consortium” … of sorts. We call ourselves The Slips and we are (from 1st to 4th slip) … Johnnie Moore (UK), Viv McWaters (Australia), me (Australia) and Chris Corrigan (Canada). Without a wicket keeper we’d be useless and Anne Pattillo (NZ) takes up this position.

Together in May we worked with Swinburne Uni and Sustainability Victoria to host the Show Me The Change conference. Johnnie and Viv ran a workshop called Crumbs in Sydney and we all took part in the fringe OSonOS (Open Space on Open Space) in Melbourne.

We have been working together for some time now, however, our methods (and deliveries) have been somewhat ‘unorthodox’.

Until this May, The Slips had never been together in the 1 place at the same time. That had only ever happened on Skype. 4 of us managed to get to the 2009 Applied Improvisational Network conference in Portland, Oregan – with our 1st slip missing in action! Apart from all being facilitators, we all share a passion for applying Improv to our craft.

It now looks like The Slips will be together again in Amsterdam this September at the 2010 Applied Improv gathering. Who knows what we collaborate on together afterwards in the UK? We don’t know yet either, but, whilst we continue to learn from each other and have fun … something is bound to happen!

We came together as a results of many small offers. We build on each other’s learning through our blogs and in conversation. We inspire and support each other. On some levels we are the same – and very different. We love what we do.

To sum up, I’ll draw a great post written by Viv here.

From Viv …

We come from Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada. We share a love of improv, are skilled facilitators, blog, use open space, are curious, adventurous and love to travel. We like to do risky, edgy work. We each have our own businesses and work, naturally, in different parts of the world. We’re generous, with what we know and what we share. We each bring different, and complementary, perspectives. We play together. We work together. We’re individuals. We’re different. We agree, we argue, we struggle, we care.

Are you seeing a theme here?

Before we worked together we were friends. Separated by oceans. Connected by ideas. Inspired by an audacious plan. We’re still friends. Maybe even better friends. Family. Love. This is what binds us. This is what makes working together a joy. This is why we’ll do it again.

Geoff

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May 1, 2010

Using Improv to ‘Save The World’

If you want to hear 3 people talking about how Applied Improv can ‘save the world’ … then head over here to my podcasting blog Winkipod!

The names, the voices, stories and laughter from these 2 wonderful people will be revealed at Winkipod …

Winkipod-cast link – Using Improv to Save The World

Cheers, Geoff

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March 30, 2010

‘Messing Around’ with Adam Hills

Saturday, March 27th was a huge day in Victoria. The F1 Grand Prix was on, the Melbourne Comedy Festival kicked off, Apollo Bay Music Festival and the global movement Earth Hour coincided.

It was also my 39th birthday which means I have one more thing in common with comedian, improviser and Spicks & Specks host Adam Hills … our age. Thanks to Adam Hills (and the audience at his Mess Around gig), my 39th birthday has been my most memorable so far.

Apart from our age, Adam Hills and I share something else in common … a belief.

Throughout his Mess Around gig, Adam repeated his belief that ‘normal’ people (you and me) are way more interesting than the celebrities we adore in the media. So, his shows are more about ‘us’ than him. He used the time to have a conversation with ‘us’ (the audience) and unearthed our stories – which ended being rich, diverse and funny. He connected audience members together and created a space to work together on something. After 2 or 3 of these shows, a social movement has been created around 1 man’s effort to raise money for a charity … all this momentum and action created from nothing but a story and a belief that everyone has can contribute. Most would say that their contribution is ‘ordinary’, but combined the ordinary can lead to something special. More on that story later.

Image Source

In my work with groups, I facilitate conversations between people. Some with small groups and some with large groups over a number of days. My belief is that the conversations and relationships between participants who attend workshops (or between delegates at conferences) are way more interesting than individual ‘keynote speakers’ or ‘panel members’ that we so often see on the conference circuit. Traditional conferences who worship ‘experts’ seem to have forgotten that we are a social species – where conversation and relationships are the foundation for any form of action. Even many of us (the non-experts) have fooled ourselves into the same ‘celebrity’ or ‘expert’ worship.

Viv McWaters has written about the same here … Johnnie Moore here … Chris Corrigan here … and I wrote about it here when describing the Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival.

Back to Saturday night’s Mess Around …

If you want to follow the full story of the ‘movement’ that has emerged from Adam’s Mess Around in Melbourne, read his blog posts here. If you want a snapshot of the story in the form of a 1 minute sales pith to donate money, watch this video (and thanks to my wife Ingrid who put this together on her Mac) …

Adam Hills making Chris Hughes famous! from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

Adam Hills’ summary of the story so far …

But first, the story so far: I have decided that throughout this Festival I will do my best to make a mild-mannered IT Manager I found in my opening night’s audience as famous as possible. I want Chris Hughes to be more famous than Shiloh Jolie Pitt.

Chris only agreed to go through with it if we raised money for a charity that gives physical therapy to people with cystic fibrosis – The Simon Rhoden Foundation. At last count (bearing in mind it is only four days into the festival) we have raised over $2000. If we hit $20000 Chris will perform a strip in Federation Square on the final night of the Festival. Other audience members have offered lycra, a barbeque and to MC the strip.

There is now a viral video available at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmU-hqdJD7k

and for higher quality

http://www.vimeo.com/10497445

a facebook page here

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107878905899360&ref=ts

And you can join in the donations here http://www.simonrhodenfoundation.org/donate.asp

What we can learn from Adam Hills?

So how does one man generate so much commitment to action AND whilst everyone is having a riotously good time? Most clients I work with only dream of seeing so many ‘transactions’ emerge from a ‘workshop’ full of strangers. But would they employ a ‘mess around’ approach to run their workshops? Here’s Adam’s description of his Mess Around series …

“Adam loves ad-libbing with the crowd. So much so that this year he’s throwing the script out the window and devoting an hour-and-a-bit to simply messing around. No script, no plan, no idea. Literally anything could happen – and if you’ve been to a Hilsy show before, you know it probably will. NO TWO SHOWS THE SAME!” Melbourne Comedy Festival website

And reference statements include …

“His interaction witht he audience proved so fruitful that they were reluctant to release him back on to the stage. 5*” The Scotsman

“An Adam Hills show is always a festival highlight … with real weight, wit and purpose behind his contagious positivity.” Chortle (UK)

Would you employ this ‘Mess Around’ approach to an upcoming workshop where you want agreed and sustainable actions and outcomes?

Ok, so I hear you saying that the context of your workshop if totally different …  I understand that – people are doing ‘serious’ work and your workshop is not a performance. You are right, many things change when we shift from a Comedy Festival gig to a workshop where the stakes are high. However, many things also remain the same – people are people and relationships are still the glue that connect us into sustainable action. Here’s what I think we can learn from Adam’s Mess Around approach.

As I have already said, everyone has a story to tell. In a complex world, we need more connections between people, more spaces for more conversations and less listening to experts (we still need some of this like at TED). We need to harvest stories from our employees and conference delegates and learn from them.
We need less scripts and way less plans and time spent doing strategies. Instead, we need to get ourselves ‘prepared’ for dealing with the unexpected and uncertainty. (Viv gives a real example of being prepared here).

Weik and Sutcliffe in their book ‘Managing the Unexpected‘ also highlight some characteristics of High Reliability Organisations (organisations that have a track record of remaining resilient when the unexpected happens) For me, these characteristics share a remarkable resemblance to the principles of Improvisational Theatre and the approach Adam takes to ‘messing around’.

Wanna Save the World?

If you want to ‘save the world’, you can read about how Improv can be used to help at the Applied Improvisation Network site. Belina posted this very question and many responses have come through so far. Read about it here.

In Sum …

From where I sit, 1 thing is clear. Conversations and relationships between people and groups are the platform for collective action. Complex issues like ”adapting to climate change” are messy and complex. They are unpredictable and context specific. As a community/society we need news ways of working and being together. We need to ‘let go’ of control and learn to be more comfortable in the ‘mess’. I believe that applying Improv, and the ‘Adam Hills’ approach, is one way of getting more traction.

Geoff

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March 20, 2010

The Improvisation of Bodhichitta

I sit at home with the sound of my 3 boys breathing, deep in sleep. And 150km away at the her parent’s home in Melbourne, my wife is suffering the horrible pain that comes with an ear infection. Not just any ear infection, this one is hideous with intolerable pain despite a healthy mix of high end medications.

I can’t sleep and so I write from the heart and try to notice this time and the events of the past 2 days. One things stands above all else … the love and kindness of people around us.

As I begin to read ‘The Places That Scare You’ by Pema Chodron, I am introduced to ‘bodhichitta’, a word that may be easier to understand than translate.

“Bodhichitta is also equated, in part, with compassion – our ability to feel that pain that we share with others.” P. Chodron

Photo Source – www.37days.com

The couple next door to us have 2 girls. Our boys have known them all their lives. They have become more than friends. Their girls are like our son’s sisters – their relationships and care for each other flows deep. What we share is an ability to sense the pain and struggle in each other. We provide support and care for each other in just the right measure.

And whilst the links between my story and ‘awakening bodhichitta’ are tenuous at best, what I feel right now is an innate love and care from those around me. An offer to be part of an emotional and unpredictable journey. In some ways, it’s an offer to improvise together – to be average, to say yes, to do something and let-go of where things will end up.

Something has happened in our life that is big enough to disrupt the normal flow of things. I feel a deeper sense of connection to friends and family and a ‘letting-go’ of a whole heap of other stuff! Stuff that can simply wait … stuff that is noise and is my ego.

Now I am ready for sleep.

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March 17, 2010

The Fun & Improvisation of a Music Festival – the backstory

Over the weekend, myself and Marty Maher and a bunch of other volunteers stage the 3rd annual Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival. Apart from being an absolutely outrageous success, it was loads of fun and we designed and staged it all without a Steering Committee (yaaay) … or a detailed strategic plan for that matter!

Marty has grown and nurtured this event from a seed … an idea that Marty had (and he has lot’s of them). The core of that idea assumes that there are loads of musicians out there desperate to strut their stuff and play music on stage in front of a festive crowd. It’s not about big-noting … it’s about sharing their own material.

Music venues are hard to find these days. Music events with a great stage, great sound and an attentive audience are even rarer! So, this event fills that gap in the market. Most music festivals are predominately the realm of the ‘professional’, or at least the domain of the consummate ‘amateur’. This event is space where any ‘passionate amateur’ can register, show-up and play.

Source: www.petermarshallphotography.com

No Steering Committee!

Marty detests being on committees and working groups … so do I. This event came together because Marty, myself and few others were willing to take responsibility for getting things done. We are passionate about the idea and, through many conversations and catchups over coffee, we got things done (I cannot remember having any official meetings, no personality clashes, no grievances and not one written agenda). Critically, we trust each other and therefore we build on each other’s ideas. We say ‘yes’ and we rarely block each other. There were some things about this year’s festival (such as the huge stages at the Bark Hut and Skate Parks) that I was scared of – instead of blocking I trusted Marty’s vision. My new green-contribution was a ‘trial’ shuttle bus to run between venues and out to nearby townships. Marty could have blocked this idea … instead he said ‘yes’ and allowed me to take full responsibility for making it happen. Saying ‘yes’ to each other when designing an event like this leads to trust, creativity and adventure!

The Core Idea

From the beginning, Marty has repeated what this festival is about to everyone … “It’s simple! It’s all about the music!” he would say. This core idea is our filter for what we accept and block as the offers come in from each other and from outside.

“How about we have poetry readings and book reviews?” someone offered. Nope! That’s outside of the core idea.

“A shuttle bus to move the masses between stages?” Yep! That’s all about getting punters to the music!

Source: www.petermarshallphotography.com

Being prepared rather than having a plan

I’d being kidding myself if I said we had no plan for this event. Of course we did. But, the plan was designed to be changed at a moment’s notice. The other approach we took was to make the whole event as ‘lightweight’ as possible. We systematically stripped away the superfluous and the stuff that wasn’t needed. We were left with the core design elements needed to make it work.  Spaces that were safe, a stage, shelter, a sound systems and an engineer to run them. Local business were able to provide food and drink which took another logistical nightmare off our hands.

When we sketched the overall design of this year’s event, many steering committees would have insisted on a detailed analysis of risk and contingency plans in case things failed. Well, we did the former and ensured we put safety first and got all the right planning permits etc … (big thanks to Jim Lawson at the Surf Coast Shire for help here!). Once that was out of the way, our mindset and plan was simple – create the right spaces, buy in the people and skills required and create a compelling invitation.

The Shuttle Bus

Cars and people don’t mix. Cars make noise and pollute. Cars and music don’t mix either. This year I trialled a 12 seater Shuttle Bus. With a squadron of 6 volunteer bus drivers, we marked out a simple route between the venues and out to Fairhaven and Moggs Creek.

We spread the word to ‘get on the bus’ and created bus stop signs. We had no idea if people would use it?

Use it they did! In their droves, people boarded the bus and dispensed with their car. It also created another space in which people could mix and chat. Next year, the fleet of buses will expand (to 2) and I have plans to bring in a large fleet bicycles as well.

The unintended benefit in the bus was the feedback we we got from bus drivers. Because they were talking with people and observing what was going on around the whole town, we had the ability to respond to things quickly. The unexpected will always happen at an event of this scale … you need to find ways of ‘noticing’ what is going up and down!

The Invitation

Getting the musicians was simple. We will provide a great stage, the best sound and an audience … in other words, we’ll do everything we can to make you look good! Within weeks Marty had 120 registered acts. And by the way … 120 acts showed up and played!

Getting the audience made us nervous. In years 1 and 2, our numbers and message built slowly. We attracted enough music lovers to make last year’s event successful and the vibe was great. How many would come in 2010 was purely guesswork.

Marty did a great job with the traditional media, Jason Coulton (Boojum) created our great website for free and I handled the Twitter and Facebook stuff. In the week leading up to the event, word-of-mouth was buzzing.

Once I get the official figures, I let you know.

The ‘Keynote’ Performer

Part of Marty’s plan was to advertise a ‘mystery special guest’. For weeks we kept the secret and then slowly we ‘leaked’ clues to the grapevine – like cabinet leaks budget information to the media! It’s amazing the buzz this little strategy created … but we had to deliver.

Enter Colin Hay! Lead singer and songwriter for Men at Work and one of Australia’s greatest ever bands from the 80′s.

Colin agreed to show up and play a 40 minute set. He liked the spirit of the festival and his performance with his band was everything and more. Colin was part of something pretty special and I reckon he and his band sensed it when they arrived. Thanks Colin!

Showcasing the spaces Aireys Inlet has to offer

Aireys Inlet is blessed with some of the most beautiful parks and vistas anywhere. Marty was keen to showcase the best spaces Aireys has to offer. So, this year we erected 2 large marquees at the Bark Hut park and the Skate Park. We added a stage and a kick-ass PA system run by a professional sound engineer. Here’s the view from the Skate Park Marquee …

The Gift Economy

The Open Mic doesn’t cost the ‘punters’ to attend and it doesn’t pay performers to play. Everyone participates under the banner of ‘The Gift Economy’!

We have copped criticism from some quarters on this. I spend hours every week reading and writing blog posts and this has become a key part of my business. Many of my clients (both past and potentials) read what I have to say. My blog is all part of who I am. The time and ideas that I give away, come back to me in spades.

Performers that ‘show up’ at festival like the Aireys Open Mic may not earn any money, but their brand shines as a result.

The ‘Stats’ worth mentioning – “Not everything than can be counted, counts” A. Einstein

Guesstimates …

6 to 7000 people attended – from all over the region and Melbourne

1200 people at the evening session Sat night

1000 people at the Sunday pm session

Over 150 bums on bus seats

Some Facts

The Aireys Hotel ran out of glasses by 10.30pm on Sat night … and later they ran out of beer!

120 acts registered … 120 solos/duo’s/bands showed up and played

The feedback from everyone has been overwhelmingly positive like this email …

“It was a truly community event. Because you committed to a high-quality sound/stage system, the open mic performers felt looked after – this is pretty rare in the open mic world I believe. The stages were brilliantly situated, and Geoff’s bus initiative was a great success.
I appreciate the many hours you must have put in behind the scenes to make this happen.
I’ll prize many moment from this festival – getting a harmonica lesson from one of the best players I’ve ever heard, seeing Tim and band make it up as they went along and *still* wow the crowd, being within spitting distance of Colin Hay and his stellar band, seeing astonishing talent like Dylan Hammond and the Giullano Project playing for free. And just hanging around the pub on Sunday afternoon with a bunch of great locals and visitors.
Good work.”

Sense of Community

Even though our catch-cry is “It’s all about the music” … this festival (like any event that brings people together) is all about people and relationships. Music brings diverse groups of people together like nothing else. When you bring people together around a social object (in this the social object is live music) … conversations happen and relationships get stronger. Events like the Open Mic bring community together and give it a lift. Apart from being exhausted on Monday morning, most people were still ‘buzzing’ and feeling proud about what happened last weekend.

Source: www.gapingvoid.com

Photography

Peter Marshall has gone out of his way to share images from this year’s Open Mic. Thanks Peter and here’s a link to the stream – http://www.petermarshallphotography.com/0-AireysInlet-OpenMic-Festival-20100313-14/index.html

We also set up a Posterous Blog so that anyone could email in photos. Here’s some more snaps – http://aireysopenmic.posterous.com/?page=1

2011

It will be happening again folks … stay tuned

Geoff

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June 9, 2009

Collaborating on Design

I work for myself and vowed last year to collaborate more with other people. It can get lonely and sometimes you fool yourself into thinking you can do it all!

Design and art is a growing passion of mine and, through my sister (Janette Derrick who’s Organic Fabric business website is very cool), I met Kieren Tobin and Melinda Chapman of 3D Model Studios.

Mel and Kieran are graphic artists with a long history in 3d art, computer games, architectural visualisations, illustration and 2D design.

I approached Mel and Kieren to help me turn my ideas into a design for my website. I had no idea where it would end up.

The process of collaboration …

We decided to meet over a coffee and using felt tip markers and a big piece of Butchers Paper, we started to talk … and draw our ideas (By the way, Mel makes a great brew of coffee!).

At the outset I said that I had no pre conceived ideas on what the design could/should look like. It was to a process of trust and we used “Yes!And” as a principle of accepting each other’s offers and building on them. In that 90 minutes I can’t remember a single “block”.

“Accepting an offer is usually accompanied by adding a new offer, often building on the earlier one; this is a process improvisers refer to as “Yes, And…” and is considered the cornerstone of improvisational technique.” from Wikipedia here

I offered my ideas to Mel and Kieren which included the values that drive my work as a facilitator. I wanted the design to visually display concepts like collaboration, network connection and a sense of playfulness and fun.

I also wanted something different and unexpected and a site that invited visitors to explore. I needed to connect my Tangent Consulting space with my other online spaces – the Yes!AndSpace blog, Winkipod and the Training I offer.

Viv McWaters is a facilitator I collaborate with regularly and I wanted to show my connection to Viv through the design.

I love Rob and Gary’s On Your Feet website and the clever use of movement, color and interaction they have achieved.

I also needed a design that could be added to over time … as new strings to the Tangent-Bow get added … I wanted to refelct this is the design.

And so the design evolved like this …

and ended up here …

with a series of banners for the consulting, training and blog spaces …

Once we had the design sorted, it was all sent to Ron Rogers at Weby who did all the Flash animation and got the whole thing to go-live last week. Thanks Ron!

All in all and really enjoyable process … it’s much more fun working with others on design and the end product is always better.

Cheers
Geoff

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May 24, 2009

Yes!And before Opening Space

In keeping with name of my blog, I used a quick Impro activity with a group before Opening Space on the weekend.

After re listening to this podcast at the 2008 OSonOS confernece, Chris Corrigan and Viv McWaters (and others) took my own understanding of the OS priniciple “Whatever Happens is the Only Thing that Could Have” to a new level.

I have always struggled to articulate the essence of this principle. In the podcast, Viv McWaters explains the importance of using Action Methods to help participants ‘experience’ the principles and not just ‘intellectualize’ them. Viv introduces us to the Impro gift of Yes!And and I decided to apply it on the weekend before Opening Space.

In practice, I simply asked people to form pairs, introduce themselves and then play a quick game. I call it ‘YesBut vs YesAnd’ (and learned it off Viv) …

I invited participants to imagine they were meeting up to quickly work out where they would stage their next work Christmas celebration. Once the first person makes a start on the conversation, I instructed that every subsequent idea had to begin with the words “YesBut” … after a minute or two I interjected and then instructed them to replace YesBut with the words “YesAnd”. A quick group discussion highlighted how much easier, effective and fun the YesAnd option is. In Impro, YesBut is a classic ‘block’ that we often see in our world. YesBut stops the flow of conversations, saps energy  and prevents new ideas from emerging.

I ‘forgot’ to re incorporate their experience of Yes!And when introducing the Open Space principle ‘Whatever happens in the only thing that could have happened’ … despite this omission, I think I managed to connect the group to this principle better than I have before. In the closing circle, a participant did it for me and said something like … “My experience of that YesAnd game helped me to understand the power of this space … and of today.”

Another participant approached me at lunch and said that my opening (of space) helped her to reframe many of the negative thoughts she had about events over the past 18 months.

Thanks to Chris for asking the question and recording the responses at OSonOS.

Geoff

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May 15, 2009

Doing More With Less

What’s Tiger Woods’ win at the 2008 US Open got to with high performance under stress? Allow me to share a quick story first …

Recently I facilitated a workshop when in the onset phase of ‘Gastro’. As participants arrived I suffered from weakness, nausea and waves of stomach cramps. If I was at home, I would have curled into bed, shut the door and placed a bucket by my side.

I disclosed my discomfort to my client and we decided to press on … 50 people had given up their evening to contribute critical thinking. The stakes were high.

Despite my own discomfort and pain, the workshop (by the account of the closing comments) was a big success. I was also surprised by my own performance and I learned (or re learned) something that I will try to hang onto to. Here it is …

My illness forced me, as an extrovert, to become introverted … quieter and less ‘notice-able’ than I usually am when playing the role of facilitator. In fact, I often slipped into the background and became almost invisible to the group and allowed the process to run it’s course. Chris Corrigan writes beautifully about The Art of Holding Space … in this case I was force to hold space in a different way to my default style. I was more effective than usual and by saying and doing less I ‘noticed’ more about what the group needed … I was then able to respond and support the group more effectively.

A Sporting Metaphor – Doing More With Less
I usually dislike sporting metaphors but this one has relevance.

Golfing fans will remember Tiger Woods stunning victory at the 2008 US Open, despite being hampered by an injured knee (which need a full reconstruction soon after). Tiger admitted later that his injury really helped him to focus more on ‘every shot’ he played. His swing has limited and this forced him to improvise and ‘do less’ … shortened his backswing which brought him more control and accuracy around a very tight layout.

My own golfing ‘turning point’ moment came when I had an injured shoulder when 16 years old. This shoulder injury forced me to shorten my swing which in turn force me to keep my head still. As a result my golf improved and the simpler, more compact swing became a permanent feature of my game.

In Sum …
Forced constraints (such as time, illness/injury) often lead to improvisation where we have ‘Do More with Less’ … look out for the big lessons that can be learned during these times.

Pain and suffering helps us to ‘let-go’ of outcomes and our own ‘expectations’ of high performance … and in my case this week … notice more about what is going on around me.

Geoff

Note: You should also read this book by Robert Poynton

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May 8, 2009

Improv when Parenting

Wow! Improv has become such a source of inspiration for me of late.

If you ask yourself “Improv … what is he on about?” … then read this great summary from Viv McWaters (who I must thank for all of her advise and wisdom over the past 8 years!).

Viv has designed these great Improv Gift cards and I was lucky enough to receive her very first set. Recently I spoke over Skype with Viv and Robert Poynton where we discussed our work and how Improv was a core part of what we do. Viv went a step further and said that Improv was like one of her key ‘Operating Systems’ … like a lens that everything else in life runs through. Viv describes Open Space as an Operating System here in this post.

Gifts from Improv – here are some insights about how I use Improv in my daily life … these example are about Parenting, but, these gifts are applicable to everything from running a business to staging a workshop! And by the way … I am far from the perfect parent and I really struggle to ‘practice what I preach’ below, but that’s ok.

The Gifts

Be Present: Show up. Be attentive, alert, listening, feeling…

… when our kids ‘lose the plot’ and ‘all hell breaks loose’, sometimes, I have the presence to ask myself the (Ben Zander) question “Who am I being, that my children are behaving this way”. Nearly always it’s because we (the parents) have become disconnected from the kids. The solution, which always works, is to get down to their level … physically and emotionally. Listen to them and let them know they have been heard. The tricky part is being ‘present’ enough to remember this strategy when emotions can be running high!

Let Go: Let go of judging, yourself and others, and allow ideas to grow and evolve. Be surprised by where they end up …

… let’s face it, ‘control’ is an illusion for parents. We can’t manage and control our kids like we think we can. So, embrace your inner control freak, let-it-go and use what you have around you to influence them. 2 things spring to mind:

1. Use the SPACE (and everything in it) – When paying attention to the space (eg. living room) it’s easy to conjure up something inviting that draws the kids in and allows them to use their imagination.

2. Be the MIRROR – Our own behaviour is mimicked/copied/duplicated by our kids so ‘Be the Change you want to see in them’. Our own behaviour is shaped by those around us and nowhere more than in the home. Have you noticed that the behaviour that most frustrates you about your child is the same behaviour that you demonstrate everyday! If you haven’t noticed this yet … try being more present and ask yourself ‘Who am I being?’ As a dad, I need to work on calming my reaction to unexpected/unwanted stuff that arises (particularly when I’m tired) … AND …

… as a parent, the practice of ‘letting go’ reminds me to shed the default ‘parent role’. You know what it’s like … you walk into a shop on auto pilot and you play the role of ‘customer’ and the check-out person plays the ‘serve-the-customer-role’. Well it’s the same at home … parents play the parent and children play the child. It takes presence to let go of that role from time to time. A game I play here is to become unpredictable and respond to their offers/requests in a way that catches them off-guard. Respond in a way that one of their friend might respond. It usually ends up with all of us falling about laughing and it can break that horrible ‘parent versus child’ cycle.

Be Average: Do the obvious. Say yes to yourself and your ideas and allow your natural brilliance to emerge …

… as a parent you improvise all the time! You have to because kids can be very unpredictable. In the moment, a parent has to respond decisively and promptly to situations everyday. This gift reminds us to trust our first idea and our instincts. If we make a mistake, as we learn in the last gift, celebrate it, learn from it and move on. This gift also reminds me of Ben Zander’s Rule #6 which says … “Don’t take yourself so seriously!”

Accept Offers: Say ‘Yes, and…’. Let others know that they have been heard. ‘Yes, and…’ is about acknowledging and building on the offer …

… practicing the first gift of ‘presence’ is critical here! So often, even with my attempts to practice this stuff, I find myself blocking my children’s offers and become the guy who always says ‘No!’. In other words, I’m playing that darn ‘parent role’ again! My kids get sick of hearing ‘No!’ and I’m sure it does their confidence and our relationship no good at all. So, for me ‘Accept Offers’ is a reminder to say ‘Yes!’ more often. Saying yes ends up satisfying everyone and brings me closer to my boys.

Do Something: Solutions lie in actions – move your body! Try something. Anything. Follow your instincts …

… in parenting I link this one closely to ‘Be Average’. ‘Do Something’ reminds me to do something physical. The power of body language is way more effective than the dribble that flows from parent’s mouths! Invariably, what we say gets ignored or misinterpreted … our physical presence in doing something active is so much more effective. Quieten the mouth and move the body!

Make Mistakes: Mistakes are the flip side of creativity. Try something new. Acknowledge and celebrate your mistakes …

… this gift cuts both ways and comes in many different guises:

1. Parents make mistakes -The other day I misread a fight between my eldest 2 boys and sent one outside to “calm down and think about what you’ve done!” It turned out his younger brother deserved what he got and I realised that I had been quite unfair to the one outside (who was most upset by now). I went outside, sat down next to him and hugged him. I asked him “Did Daddy make you upset by yelling at you?” His reply was ‘yes’ and then admitted my mistake. When then spoke about ways he can cope better when his younger brother rips up his paper aeroplane!

2. Children make mistakes too! – Our response to their mistakes is critical. I have a tendency to ‘over react’ and guess what … they copy me! I can happily blame my dad for this because he modelled the same. At the moment a mistake (or failure) happens this is a golden opportunity for parents! It’s all about building their confidence and resilience. Confidence doesn’t come from being right and successful … instead it comes from NOT being fearful of getting it wrong. Counter-intuitive … maybe? Strategy = Celebrate mistakes with them! Help them to see the lighter side of failure and learn from it. Acknowledge when they turn previous failures into success and remind them that we have to fail over and over in order to succeed.

This video sums failure up nicely …

Cheers
Geoff

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April 27, 2009

Plan-less & Prepare-more

Last year I wrote this blog post about other people … who I observed to be ‘Too Busy to be Creative’ and I drew this little graphic …

Well, I’ve fallen victim to the same disease of late. Even though I haven’t been busy facilitating, my time for creative stuff feels like it has compressed … it’s a stretch to fire up the tablet and draw something and I’m giving no time to reading my favorite blogs and great books on my shelf?!

What to do? What to do?! Here’s where I’m going to start today …

1. Plan-less … in other words spend less time thinking about and trying to come up with plans for facilitating workshops AND replace these planning activities with …
2. more – Preparation … in other words spend more time doing stuff that get’s me prepared so I can ‘show up’ and ‘do more with less’

Some examples of activities that, for me, are less about planning and more about getting prepared (or getting in the right position) include:

1. Reading my favorite blogs for about 30 minutes each day
2. Watching 2 new TED talks each week
3. Walking the dogs daily – often helps me to ‘unblock’ and consider my work from a new angle
4. Draw at least 1 picture and write a blog post about it each week
5. Do at least 2 blog posts of my own per week – based on things I have seen, heard or learnt
6. Collaborate with other people at least weekly – if I’m not sharing/collaborating with others on Skype/email/F2F then I’m getting lazy and withdrawing
7. Tweet more – that’s posting and reading other’s Tweets
8. At the end of the day REFLECT a little on what happened and NOTICE what’s going on

I am feeling better already … now time to get those invoices done and finish of 2 workshop plans!

Geoff

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March 19, 2009

Building Blocks and Creativity

I’m on a roll! My last few posts have been inspired by my reading and reflections on Impro. Like any parent, I want my kids to thrive, be passionate and happy. I’d also like my kids to learn to improvise … or maybe slow down the un-learning process that happens as kids start to fear failure, judgement and criticism.

I was playing with my eldest son last weekend … we were building structures with shapes. I noticed that Griff wasn’t happy with the end result. We were building structures slowly and we were ‘judging’ the building process with each move. The game felt stilted and lacked flow … it wasn’t much fun.

So, I threw in a ‘constraint’ of time. I said … “No stalling … no going back … build as quick as possible … don’t think about it … if it falls over we start again!”

Wow! What a shift. We started to flow and we started to build quickly on each other’s offers. There was laughter and fun and we spent a whole hour building and re building … then Griff ran and grabbed the camera and started photographing our little masterpieces.

So What? When I observe group making decisions and working as a team, they often become stuck. Part of my role as facilitator is to help groups do their best thinking. In the past 12 months, I have been introducing the concept of ‘creative limits’. Limitations enhance creativity and flow for groups. Time limits help them to get on with it and reduce judgments of themselves and others. Limiting the number of words they can use to describe something can help them to find the ‘essence’ or ‘core’ of their idea and communicate more effectively. People who work in design understand how to use ‘creative limits’ to improve their work.

Here’s me and Griff in action … the music is by Andrew Pendlebury and Doug deVries of their Karati CD.

Building Blocks from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

cheers
Geoff

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March 19, 2009

“There’s free stuff everywhere”

As I continue to read Everything’s An Offer by Rob Poynton, light bulbs keep going off for me. I’m quite new to Improvisation – although, like all of us we improvise all of the time without knowing it.

In the 90′s I used to watch a street act known as The 3 Canadians and I would marvel at their genius. These 3 guys could work a crowd of a dozen and incite a movement of hundreds who felt like they were participating in the performance. I always wondered how these 3 comedians created ‘so much’ from ‘so little’. Few props, no set, just boundless energy and an ability to celebrate when things went wrong. Thanks to mentors like Viv McWaters and authors like Rob Poynton … I am beginning to understand.

An ‘Offer’ is anything and everything you can take and use to further the story. “Seeing a world full of offers feels very different from seeing a world full of problems.” (Rob Poynton. EaO page 56.)

In world where we constantly hear our business leaders, educators and politicians say the words ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’, do we (or they) really understand what these things looks like? After years of helping clients to do strategic and business plans and look at teamwork and leadership, I can clearly see that the art of ‘improvisation’ has been missing in all of this. The understanding that no matter how well we plan, engineer and try to control, stuff happens that we cannot see ahead of time … in other words, the ones who can improvise have a much better chance of succeeding.

Being aware of and using the limitless ‘offers’ around us is one way of improvising. There’s free stuff everywhere you look … so start using it and improvise!

A Story about Offers

One of my favourite movies is the Usual Suspects. Why? The final scene left me breathless … I’ll quote Rob in his book to explain the scene …

“… the protagonist (Roger “Verbal” Kint, a.k.a Keyser Soze), played by Kevin Spacey, is interrogated. He tells a story so extraordinary and complex that his interrogators are convinced he couldn’t possibly have made it us. They conclude he is innocent and let him go. As they are preparing to do so, a panned shot around the room shows us all of the offers he was using to make up this incredibly intricate story. Photographs, business cards, posters and all the little details in the room where he was being questioned were the offers he used to spin a yarn to get himself out of trouble.” Here’s the next scene when his interrogator realises where the Keyser’s story came from …

It’s brilliant, yet so simple. “This is what seeing everything as an offer can do for you” Rob (again!).

So next time you get stuck for ideas, whatever you are doing or wherever you are, tune into the many offers around you and use them. Let go. notice more, use everything.

Cheers

Geoff

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March 17, 2009

Accepting Offers in Action: Playful analysis of myself on video

I am reading Robert Poynton‘s book Everything’s An Offer (How to do more with less) and some things happened on the weekend that I have to write about.

By the way, even though this post refers to Improvisational Theatre … people working in the traditional domains of leadership, teamwork, strategy and business can learn a lot from Rob’s book (and this post).

Part 2 of Rob’s book is titled ‘Let go, Notice More, Use Everything’ – which is also the heart of Improvisational Practice. I have some video of myself and 2 other musicians literally ‘improvising’ at the Aireys Inlet Open Mic Festival which happened 2 days ago … let’s apply some of Rob’s ideas to some real-time action … a performance where the pressure was on and the musicians were willing to just ‘show-up’ without a plan!

What follows is a series of super-quick video clips … quotes from Rob … then a paragraph of reflection about what ‘I notice’ is happening here. I’d be interested to hear about what you notice too. By the way … I went into this 30 minute set and the MC role I had for the entire day with Rob’s advice to ‘Accept everything as an Offer”

Story 1: Recovering from a Shaky and Unpredictable Start

Impro Take #1 from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

“To an improviser an offer is anything and everything you can take and use to further the story” Rob Poynton. EaO. page56.

“When something awkward occurs you can productively reframe it as an offer” Rob Poynton. EaO. page 60.

“When panic sets in this thought (of using what you have) can keep you centred. It gives your mind somewhere to go other than into a spin. All you have to do is ask ‘What can I do with this?’ and immediately you have something constructive to do.” Rob Poynton. EaO. page 63.

When Dazza started playing harmonica, we produced a surge of dreaded feedback through the front speaker. The crowd winced in pain, I stopped playing and thought to myself ‘Holy Shit! I have to manage this’ … BUT … Clayton (on drums) was nearest the mixer and quickly sorted it out.

A few years ago, I probably wouldn’t have recovered from an event like this on stage. Having the mantra ‘accept everything as an offer’ really did help me to reframe and feel comfortable, despite the discomfort of the situation. Letting-go of a disruption like this when ‘on stage’ is really hard … and I struggled for more than a few moments.

Story 2: Having a Plan … Throwing it Out and …

Impro Take #2 from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

… Trusting Thyself!

Impro Take #3 from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

“A well known military maxim says that ‘no plan survives the first contact with the enemy’. Generals (like business leaders or MC’s at music festivals) and their strategic planners know that no commander, however powerful, can see everything coming.” Rob Poynton. EaO.

I had a ‘back-up’ plan in place which was … ‘if I forget the lyrics, I’ll have them written in front of me on a music stand’ … and … ‘if it’s windy I’ll have a peg to hold the page in place’. Well, like most plans they fail in the heat of battle. The wind gusts blew the pegs off anyway and I was left to remember the words.

“Playfulness is at the heart of this work and if you take what I say too seriously, you are less likely to play around with it and arrive at something new”. Rob Poynton. EaO. page 48.

You probably also noticed how the lyrics consumed much of my attention and by fumbling around the flow of the performance was affected. At least I could laugh at myself along the way … being playful as you stumble and fumble at least keeps the audience from ‘feeling your pain’. (In organisations where mistakes are not celebrated, the fear failure becomes a cultural norm and innovation, new ideas and creativity are stifled.)

When I realised I was on my own and I accepted the futility of the lyric sheets, something happened. I became much more aware of the beat of the music … I began to notice what the others were playing and notice and respond to the crowd. By letting-go and trusting my own instincts, I started to play with more feel and timing. I have always played by ear and the effort to read lyrics, sing and play guitar at the same time was unnatural for me anyway.

Story 3: Letting Go … Noticing More … Using Everything

Immro Take #4 from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

I made a few observations in this clip …

1. I had no plan about how to introduce each song. In this case I just worked with what I had … the name of the the cover song, the artists and our names and scrambled them together. I think it worked out ok.

2. The fact the we had done very little rehearsal meant that we had to really sharpen our awareness of what each other was doing and playing … so a potential negative worked in our favour. (By simply noticing and paying more attention to what others in your workplace are doing/saying is one of the best ways to improve teamwork and collaboration.)

“You (the improviser) listens to your colleagues, to the audience, to any sounds in the theatre. From moment to moment, from one show to the next, an improviser has to practice listening constantly”. Rob Poynton. EaO.

3. 1 person offered us a clap in beat with the song … I accepted that and invited more to join in. By midway through the song all 50+ people were participating and clapping along! Imagine if I’d blocked the offer and instructed “No clapping please!”. Worse still, I might NOT have noticed 1 person in the crowd clapping in the first place! (So often, organizations block offers like this with out dated protocols and in an attempt to control behaviour and employees)

Story 4: Accepting & Blocking Offers

Impro Take #6 from Geoff Brown on Vimeo.

More observations & quotes to learn from …

“They (improvisers) are quite accustomed to working at the very limit – in real time (and with their customer watching).” Rob Poynton. EaO.

1. Despite wearing his “L Plates”, our drummer (a great guitarist and singer) is learning his craft in front of the crowd. By keeping it simple and doing ‘one less thing’, he brings a whole new dimension to the performance.

“On stage it is vital that improvisers accept offers … It is by accepting offers that they join one idea to another and create flow in their story. If they block offers, the cut flow (or prevent it from occuring) and disconnect ideas and people.” Rob Poynton. EaO.

2. The birthday announcement was known in advance and the obligatory rendition of Happy Birthday was always going to happen. BUT … I put myself on-the-spot and invited the crowd to improvise with a 12-bar-blues version of Happy Birthday … then … I blocked my own offer!!!! I remember my thoughts … “How are you going to pull this off? What if this doesn’t work?” I asked myself. A classic case of ‘fearing failure’ and ‘playing it safe’ at the end of an otherwise really fun and improvised gig.

I have probably done way too much thinking here, however, the process of self analysis by video has helped me to better understand Improv principles and how they play out in the real world.

Geoff

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