The Improvisation Edge
Secrets to Building Trust and Radical Collaboration at Work
By: Karen Hough
Published: March 2011
Format: Paperback, 200 pages
ISBN: 9781605095851
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
"The key to creating trust and success in the workplace is probably the last thing you would ever imagine. It's improvisation", writes founder and CEO of ImprovEdge, Karen Hough, in her groundbreaking and practical book The Improvisation Edge: Secrets to Building Trust and Radical Collaboration at Work. The author introduces the principles and techniques of improvisational theater to the workplace to build trust, encourage collaboration, better manage risk, and transform potential disasters into positive outcomes.
Karen Hough recognizes that building and maintaining trust, developing collaboration, and creating flexibility in workplaces are some of the greatest challenges facing organizations. To establish these traits within the culture of the work environment, the author offers the unique and unorthodox techniques of improvisational theater. At first glance, the idea that the principles of improv would be transferable to a corporate culture would seem out of place. A deeper examination of the secrets of improvisation reveals a different picture. Karen Hough demonstrates that the biggest workplace problems are also the same challenges faced by the actors in performing on an improv stage.
Karen Hough (photo left) guides managers through the principles of improvisational theater and how to apply those methods to their workplace. With improv, the performers must learn to trust one another, and the same need arises in a work environment. Trust can be earned and learned, and the techniques utilized by improv actors are the same ones that prove effective in an office or shop floor. Just as an improv group will fail if they lack trust and collaboration, a business wastes resources and fails to achieve its fullest potential if employees are at odds with one another. Karen Hough teaches managers how to overcome the trust and lack of collaboration barriers with the same secrets used by effective improv troupes. To achieve the desirable workplace goals of trust and collaboration, Karen Hough shares four improvisational secrets:
* Yes! Space - positivity and acceptance to develop collaboration
* Building Blocks - why the word "and" is so important to understand
* Team Equity - teams need equity but not necessarily equality
* Oops to Eureka - that mistakes and the unexpected can lead to breakthroughs
Karen Hough adds a fifth secret as well. The author recommends the importance of practicing and celebrating successes as they happen, regardless of the size of the achievement.
For me, the power of the book is how Karen Hough makes the unexpected connection between the principles of successful improvisational theater, with the needs and goals of teams in the workplace. The author combines the theory of why improvisational techniques are so effective at achieving collaboration, trust, and flexibility, with practical hands on exercises to put the concepts into effect.The author bolsters her ideas with real world case studies, of the principles of improv theater being utilized effectively, in transforming company culture. Karen Hough guides managers through the process of developing and embracing the improv methodology, through a logical and step by step process, complete with hands on activities and review. The radical approach of utilizing improv techniques to build workplace trust, collaboration, and teams is a very worthwhile exercise for any organization to consider for its staff.
I highly recommend the revolutionary trust building book The Improvisation Edge: Secrets to Building Trust and Radical Collaboration at Work by Karen Hough, to anyone seeking a unique and very different approach to changing a company culture to one of trust and collaboration. The proven techniques of improvisational theater present a real opportunity for workplace transformation that is fun, engaging, and effective.
Read the very useful and transformational book The Improvisation Edge: Secrets to Building Trust and Radical Collaboration at Work by Karen Hough, and discover the value and benefits of creating an improvisational atmosphere within the workplace. The results will be stronger and more trusting teams who will create new ideas, and turn potential disasters into profitable innovations.
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