How to Listen Like an Improviser

Written by Tricia Barendregt.

What happens when you collide work and play? At Careers Over Coffee North on August 14, Shawn Utterback taught us what happens when we bring play back in to the workplace.

Did you know that 46 percent of new hires fail within the first 18 months because they don’t excel in soft skills? Shawn started The PlayStorming Group because he found that practicing improv can you help you learn those important soft skills that are often lacking, such as problem solving and communication.

Shawn taught our group improvisational exercises and how they relate to communication and listening. We started our experiential learning with a few collaborative exercises.

“Yes, And” In the first exercise we “made an offer” or gave a statement. Then the next person acknowledged the offer by saying yes then added “and” to build upon it. We began with the statement “Let’s have a party”. The next person said, “Yes, and let’s make it a costume party” and so on.

“Yes, But” Throughout the next exercise, we continued making statements about our party, except we responded with “Yes, but”. We went around the table with statements such as “Yes, but we would have to drive downtown”. We did not validate each other’s ideas and we did not get anywhere.

Build Together. Shawn pointed out that when we say yes, we validate the opinions of others and also acknowledge their offers. Validation or acknowledgement makes people feel safe and encourages the conversation to flow. We built a party when we said “Yes, And”. When we said “No”, it stopped the conversation and we stopped building together.

Listen to Understand. The next exercises demonstrated active listening. We partnered up and had a conversation. We each made statements in which the first word of the conversation started with the last letter that our partner said. It was challenging but fun! It allowed us to respond to what was happening in the moment – in an authentic way. We could not think about our response while the other person was talking. This exercise was definitely a good way to practice listening to understand – instead of listening just to respond.

What Happens When We Play. Shawn explained that when we play, we are present. We let go of our own agenda and collaborate with others. During play, we are agile and adapt to unscripted dialog. We also acknowledge and validate offers that others give us.

To conclude our session, Shawn reminded us that improv is about making others look good and encouraged us to think of this famous quote by Maya Angelou:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

For more information on The PlayStorming Group visit http://play-storming.com. If you would like more information on improv, Shawn recommends reading Everything’s An Offer: How to do more with less by Robert Poynton.

Thank you to everyone who came and participated in these intimidating yet rewarding exercises. Thank you to Shawn Utterback for sharing his time and knowledge so generously. It was a great time and we learned a lot!

Join us for our next CoC North on Friday, September 11 for a discussion with Emily Leach on the “Freelance Rollercoaster”. Careers Over Coffee North meets at Mimi’s Café, 10515 N. Mopac Expy NB #O) on the south end of The Shops at Arbor Walk).