Improvise!
Use the Secrets of Improv to Achieve Extraordinary Results at Work
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
A Financial Times Top Business Book 2020
Improv performers look like creative geniuses, coming up with brilliant comedy on the spur of the moment. But they rely on some simple rules and techniques - ones which anyone can learn, and which can help us offstage to think creatively, collaborate with others and communicate with impact.
Improvise! will show you how to handle whatever comes your way at work - from giving confident presentations and handling difficult conversations to coming up with great ideas and persuading others to make them happen.
Comedian and improvisation for business coach Max Dickins combines examples from the world of work with exercises from the stage to teach you how to achieve extraordinary results with what you've already got.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this useful guide, Dickins (My Groupon Adventure), director of London improv school Hoopla, applies classic improv techniques to the white-collar workplace. Dickins believes improv skills employed in theater work just as well at the office because they help people think on their feet, build confidence, and master communication skills. Applying his techniques to job interviews, group meetings, and small talk, Dickins suggests improv systems meant to create spontaneous, innovative solutions. "Improvisation helps you get better results with the same ingredients. All by using small shifts of mindset and behaviour." For instance, Dickins suggests team managers trying to facilitate problem solving try activities such as "turbocharged brainstorming," listing 50 ideas in five minutes; posing "identity theft" hypotheticals, in which one imagines how a famous person (such as Steve Jobs or David Bowie) would approach a problem; and role-playing "living in a customer's reality." He writes that listening closely forms the core of successful improvision, and suggests tips for keeping conversations going (such as asking open questions, paraphrasing, and "mirroring" another's conversation style). However, the advice can become redundant, as Dickins circles back again and again to his point that creativity and quick thinking can help in any business setting. Dickins's many prompts and exercises will provide professionals with handy ways of thinking outside the box.
