Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Become a Better Listener through Comedy Improv
Big Think: In Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration—Lessons from The Second City, Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton, executive vice president and CEO, respectively, of The Second City, address the importance of skillful listening in professional settings and demonstrate useful strategies drawn from improvisational theatre (improv).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
One of the core tenets of improv comedy is the art of listening, taking what your partner says, and building on it. The art of the "Yes, and...". However, people rarely mention listening to the totality of their partner. Every breath, intonation, twitch, all creating a world between you and your partner. However, people don't only utilize these minutia in improv, as improv is an imitation of real life. The article takes this thought and uses it as a gateway to discuss the idea that if we use improv comedy as a de-facto model for our lives, we can be better listeners and more attentive conversationalists. Communication is just about the biggest part of any job you can do, as put forward by the article, and I'm inclined to agree, since you never stop communicating. Every action you do puts forth something into the world, which can be interpreted a thousand different ways by a thousand different people. Reflective silences and reverence to the truth are the main ideas that the author recommends stealing from improv to utilize in real conversation, since they entitle each person to a degree of quiet understanding in a conversation they may not have otherwise obtained.
These are some really cool strategies for teaching effective listening. I often find myself in the position described, where you raise your hand halfway through the person's comment because you really want to go next, especially these past two days in class. Being surrounded by a lot of really smart people is intimidating, and with the ever present task of getting an A for participation, it almost feels like a race as to who can get their hands up first. A really cool experiment for a professor to do in class one day would maybe be extra vigilant during a heated discussion (ex. discussing a play) and only choose students who raise their hands AFTER they have waited a moment to process the previous students comment. The professor can take one long pause and then choose, allowing everyone to process the comment, and maybe the competitive spirit to get YOUR comment out may die down.
It would be really cool to implement some improv workshops for non-actors, and I like the way they're using it in a business setting to teach people outside of the arts valuable communication skills. Maybe we can do that at CMU, like when we took the movement class that one day in PTM. Listening skills are something a lot of people could improve on, myself especially included. I am going to try and keep these techniques outlined in the article in mind this week in class and see if it makes a difference.
My brother and I were just talking about how growing up in a bigger family has given us some strange and annoying quirks, one of which is how we're always shutting out background noise without realizing it. The downside to this is that whenever people would ask us questions out of the blue, we would just respond with a random answer without thinking about it-- usually the exact opposite of the real answer. Being a bad listener can be difficult to remedy if you don't realize that you're a bad listener in the first place; we only realized that we were shutting out all the noise around us when annoyed friends and coworkers complained. However, I never thought about the connection between improv comedy and becoming a better listener (and less likely to zone out) until reading this article. Being in improv means you have to be hyoer-aware of the people around you, and predict their reactions to certain situations by reading body language and facial expressions. By honing this skill, one can learn to automatically connect with the people around them-- whether it be for work, school, or family-- and not only become a better listener in the literal sense but also create deeper interpersonal connections.
Goodness. I am such a fan of good communication and it always makes me a bit excited to see articles like this on News From The Real World. Good communication is so key to getting along in a professional setting; it's still staggering how many people lack this skill. Using improv as the jump off point for optimal communication is amazing and brilliant because you *must* say yes, and. This is such a great set up because it creates a positive environment where you don't feel like you're being stifled. All ideas are just that-- ideas. I think that reading this article after having an intense "Cake Every Day" class was really interesting because it touched on a lot of points that could've been helped if this article was read before. However, reading this after the class makes for a more reflective experience. Listening to understand is so immensely important because it not only conveys necessary information to continue the conversation, but it also lets the person you're speaking to know that you are invested in them. I also feel that improv should be a School of Drama wide class, not just restricted to the actors/MTs. This is because I truly do believe in the power of improv to improve skills like listening, collaboration, and almost if not more important, having a good time while doing it. As designers and SMs, all of those same skills used in improv are vital to our job!
I cannot agree enough with the message of this article. When I was very young, my parents decided to put me into an improv class because we had just moved to a new place and they thought that the class would strengthen my social skills. To this day, I can still recall and apply those lessons in daily life. I think that the core "yes, and" rule of improv is a great skill that everyone can learn from. You really don't realize how often you aren't really paying attention to what someone is saying or even how often you put down an idea that you haven't fully considered until you have to agree with it and add a relevant idea that logically follows it. once this lesson is learned it is easy to apply it to your method of listening. Also, I think the fact that you can't say "no" have several benefits that make you a more appealing companion in conversation and an overall more positive person. This rule helps you to not just analyze your comments and ideas but truly listen to the other person. This can lead to solving problems more quickly and makes the possibility of everyone being happy with the outcome more likely.
It makes sense. Listening is one of the best ways to learn information. Weather it is listening to a friend or colleague; you might find yourself learning something completely new. Like Tom Yorton said in his video, listening to understand someone is a lot more affective than listening to respond. Not only will this make you a better listener but it will also help you to build a muscle that needs to be engaged. It is so important to not loose your focus and to remain engaged even when you have a response half way through the other person talking. Listening is not only something I myself need to work on but also it is something that every person could improve upon. Listening skills are pushed on kids starting at such an early age but why are we not pushed to become better listens our entire lives. I can think of plenty of working professionals and even some of my professors that could become a better listener.
Post a Comment