Issue #22 - HR and Improv: Creepin it Real at Work

What worked in the past doesn’t work now. First skill right out of the box: THE ABILITY TO THINK OF NEW SOLUTIONS.

The article goes on to highlight chaos, tech, soft as the new hard, and being able to work with people and technology at the same time.

You cannot grab it - you need to sense it? In a previous edition, I talked about being able to combine different disciplines and harvest new insight. Well, that is becoming more and more relevant. (In the old business speak, we talked about VUCA, now we are talking about intangibles.) At Stanford there is some great work being done leveraging improv and design: this article takes you through some of the thinking.

Jennifer Hunter, a faculty member of Lake Superior State University, lays out how improv guidelines like “yes, and…”, “be in the moment”, “stay flexible” can help change the world. A good demo of how the difference in approach changes outcomes.

In “Embracing Emergence: How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity,” published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, John Kania and Mark Kramer lay out an inherent challenge to working together across sectors:

This article showcases three improv techniques can be used to help people invent, co-create in a more playful manner. Whether you are working on social change or determining mobility plans for the future - the right mindset to start from.

Blizzard hosts a “Design Summit” every few years, where designers from around the company get together and share ideas. Ben Brode, a game designer, talks through key learnings he got from improv and applied them to his work. When listening in, ascribe his role as a leader or team member and it is all very relevant to how effective co-creation happens.

Different but similar? Improv and Design Thinking use people and stories, believe that trust is the foundation in a messy process, and understand that success is magical. Anh Han does a fun job of drawing the parallels.