Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

A Cure for Your Recession Depression – Improvisational Laughter

In a business climate dominated by looming layoffs and uncertain futures are you looking to lighten the mood and strengthen the power of your team’s innovative spirit?

There is a way to thrive, even in the current market, and that‘s by harnessing the power of IMPROVisation. Generating creative ideas is a sure fire way to jump ahead of your competitors in this increasingly competitive market.

I’ve been personally witnessing the power of Innovation thru IMPROV and wanted to share a few thoughts on how utilizing comedy as a tool in business can invigorate the mind, allow for new connections, and result in ideas that go beyond our usually confined thinking.

Try this:

1. Answer Questions with More Questions.

Get serious- go Socratic! Socrates once asked, “What’s the benefit of answering a question with more questions? Expanded perspective and greater insight for a start.” Instead of complaining that you need more sales, ask your sales team, “How do we define a great client relationship?” Then ask them to generate 11 more questions to help them answer the original question. Who’s a great client? What characteristics make for a great client? Do they pay on time?! Etc. Once they’ve generated 11 more questions, have them choose their 3 best questions and answer them. With those answers, return to the original question and develop a solution and strategy with tangible, measurable outcomes.

2. Affirm and Add.

A Golden Rule in IMPROV is that you never negate, you only affirm and add. The same is true when brainstorming and problem solving. On stage, if one actor says, “Look at the purple tiger!” and you respond with, “That’s not a purple tiger!” you’ve just killed the scene. However, when you affirm the statement and add to it, “Wow, and look- it’s carrying a briefcase!” the scene expands and grows. When brainstorming, it’s important to accept all ideas, no matter their absurdity, because the craziest ideas can spark the most innovative solutions – think watching movies on a cell phone.

3. Question Assumptions.

What we think to be true, is in fact, not a fact. The power of IMPROV is that it’s unexpected. It twists and turns faster than we can plan for – causing us to react in the moment. Suppose you are about to greet a fellow actor on stage with the thought that you will call him dad. Before you can speak, the actor says, “Now sis, I need you to steal the locket first.” Whoa! Your assumption about how the scene is to be played has just been thwarted and in order for you to respond, and well, you have to let go of your preconceived ideas. The same is true for innovation. True genius – new ideas – get created when people step outside their assumptions and break through the barriers that confine their thinking.

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AmyK Hutchens, Founder and Intelligence Activist, AmyK Inc., is a world renowned speaker, consultant and executive coach. She is best known for helping business leaders capitalize on how the brain and human perception filters work to help them be more effective in business and their personal lives. Follow AmyK on Twitter @AmyKinc or visit at www.amyk.com

This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 1:05 pm and is filed under 30 Days of Amazing People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.