By Ronnie Feldman
rnf@learningsentertainments.com
To start today’s blog post, I’d like to get a suggestion from the audience. Just yell out the first thing that comes to mind.
“Risk Mitigation!” “Culture!” “Leadership!”
Okay, great! We will now talk about Improvisation and Risk Mitigation, Culture & Leadership.
Hi, I’m Ronnie Feldman, President of Learnings & Entertainments, a creative services and content provider that focuses on improving corporate communication through the use of improvisation and purposeful humor. I had pleasure of leading an improv workshop at this past years SCCE Compliance & Ethics Institute, where we had 350 GRC professionals participate in some improv exercises focusing on communication, collaboration and leadership. We had lots of laughs – because improv is fun – but we also started making connections between the wonderful world of theater and improvisation and the compliance community. There are actually quite a few skills and philosophies that professional improvisers use to be successful on stage that can help the GRC professional (and leaders in general) communicate more effectively to build a culture of collaboration, transparency and trust. The fine folks at SCCE asked if I would expound upon these concepts in blog form, which we will be doing here over the next several months. We hope you enjoy.
Improvisation – An Introduction
What is Improv? It is the art of making something out of nothing. It is thinking on your feet, creating on the spot, off the top of your head. It is not, however, the art of being funny. On stage, funny is often the byproduct of good improv, because of the unexpected connections and spontaneity. Funny people who are good improvisers often get famous – Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell to name a few. They tend to be great performers. They also tend to be great listeners, great supporters, great collaborators, great storytellers, and they are experts at being non-judgmental of themselves and others. They are fearless and creative and engaging. They are comfortable being uncomfortable so their natural personality and wit can come out. There are many exercises that improvisers practice (yes practice) that help them build these skills. These are muscles that can be developed…by anyone. Some lessons are philosophical and some are tactical. We’re going to introduce and unpack some of these and translate their applicability to the GRC professional.
Focus on Creating an Environment of Trust & Support
The first thing we do when introducing improvisation to a new group is focus on creating a safe environment. We need participants to feel free to try something new. Before we teach them anything, we try to create a space where they have freedom to fail so they are in a place where they can learn. Fear kills creativity and productivity. Finding ways to establish a culture of non-judgment and support is the critical first step.
We often start improv workshops by first rationally explaining who we are, what we are going to do and why we are going to do it. We’re prepping them for what is about to happen. Okay enough talk, we then immediately ask for a volunteer and you can see a large percentage of the room physically shrink into their seats. Fear of failure (i.e. embarrassment) is a powerful force and for many the rational thinking flies right out the door. We get someone up on his/her feet to participate in a simple exercise to immediately move from the theoretical to an action that demonstrate success. Involving your audience is key. In improv, there literally are no wrong answers and we have participants actively experience this to show that it’s safe. We then create a series of shared group experiences. It’s important for everyone to feel that they are part of the ensemble, going through this experience together. Many of these warm-up exercises are physical and silly and they are terrifying if done alone, and really fun when everyone is participating together. Therein lies the lesson. These initial bonding experiences are designed to help participants feel comfortable and safe and part of an ensemble so the real work can begin.
There are a lot of parallels in the GRC space. I think many would argue that culture is just as important as the rules themselves. Sociologically speaking, there are many reasons why people who understand the policies and have passed all the tests, still do wrong. Creating a positive culture of support is essential, so that the crowd will help self police. Let’s amend our statement above to say, “fear kills culture.” We need to create a safe environment where employees can ask questions, raise concerns, and speak-up without fear of retaliation. We all know this to be true. We also know that ethics and compliance professionals are not exactly playing to a “warm room.” There is often a reputation (earned or not) that starts employees off in a place of distrust, apathy or fear. Business leaders might avoid going to the “office of no.” Like with improv, for the GRC professional to be effective, they first must focus on the task of making themselves (and the polices and the office in general) approachable and a safe place to go for information and ideas.
Improv Parallel for GRC
- Say it. Say it again. Repeat. State not just what the rules are, but why they important from the employees’ perspective. Don’t push policies. Tell them what they need to know. Say it simply. Say it often. Say it in different (hopefully interesting) ways. And repeat it throughout the year. Posting a policy written in legalese won’t get the job done. Showing that you have 100% completion of your course is great for the feds but that doesn’t mean people are learning. Simplicity, variety and repetition are key.
- Show and Tell. Telling it is step one. But showcasing behaviors and teachable moments are even more effective. This can be done with right way/wrong way videos that show how the rules manifest themselves in reality. It can be done with articles and blogs and case studies that bring real situations to life to take things from the theoretical to the practical. Don’t just tell…show!
- Involve your Audience. People tend to learn when they do something. Quizzes, exercises, contests and games are great for this. There are also a host of social collaboration tools available now that make it easier to involve remote audiences to get them to socialize around some information or an idea. Post something interesting. Get them to comment or vote. Create a feedback loop to help audiences feel a part of a solution.
- Create ensemble. Finding ways to make learning fun helps with this. It’s also helpful to humanize the compliance office and leadership. Find ways to help employees get to know the team. Find ways to humanize the issues and make them real. Showcase people in the organization and share their successes. Share what’s happening in the organization, both good and bad, and use it to teach and bring people in to the conversation. Good ensembles = good culture.
The GRC professional has the benefit of touching the entire organization. Culture is a bit squishy but it can be affected by how you choose to communicate. You can’t just think about what you communicate. You also must think about the “how” and “how often.” We’ll tackle specific improv exercises and tactical communication choices in future blogs. Today is about embracing the role of change agent and taking an active role in affecting culture by focusing on creating and environment of trust and support. Then the learning can begin.
As they say in the biz….Annnnd…scene!
Related Posts:
An improvisers Toolkit for GRC – Lesson # 2: Attitude of Gratitude