What would the likes of John Belushi have told an embattled corporate chief executive with investors up in arms?
Hey, just improvise.
The executive suite may not be taking its cues from the late standard-bearer of “Animal House” or any of the other comedic veterans of Chicago’s Second City troupe. But the ability to think on one’s feet in a group setting plays roles in corporate leadership and improvisational craft.
And Second City’s current residents are as likely to labor for corporate boards as for stage directors. They cut up for the cause of teaching employee teamwork, creativity and productivity.
Second City has been producing industrial films for 40 years, but a decade ago the storied Wells Street players took a page from the corporate playbook and launched a spinoff, Second City Communications, to do corporate training and industrial video.
This year SCC will conduct more than 100 creativity workshops and more than 300 meeting breaks, as well as customized shows for Fortune 500 clients. It projects $2.5 million to $3.5 million in revenue for 2000.
This is the company’s busiest time of year and executive producer Joe Keefe likens it to a movie studio in 1930s. “You may have three people walking past you in costumes, two people on the floor writing, four others rehearsing,” Keefe said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Keefe draws on a staff of 30 that includes five full-time producers and four full-time writers, as well as directors and performers. But Keefe, who founded the training division with Second City owner Andrew Alexander, also calls on Second City alumni as subcontractors when needed.
Keefe, listed as “monsignor of comedy” on SCC’s Web site at www.secondcity.com, said the techniques of improvisational comedy are great tools to teach people to think creatively. “Two basic concepts of improvisation are agreement and acceptance,” he said. “You must examine ideas through agreement, which means you must suspend your judgment process.
“Businesses often think of ideas as an assembly line: Either they have high quality or they are flawed,” Keefe said. “If you have people saying an idea won’t work or will cost too much, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We slaughter ideas on the altar of efficiency.”
Keefe puts improvisational techniques in the service of fostering ideas. “Creativity comes in two major ways–by nurturing or by disaster,” he said. “When everything’s melted down, you get some of your greatest ideas; we try to work on the other side. And by being open to new ideas, you become more productive.”
Technology companies in particular rely on innovation to remain competitive, and their employees need to think creatively, said Jonathan Darling, director of business development at Training Resources Group in Alexandria, Va. The training and organizational development firm, which works with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and various U.S. government agencies, hired SCC to conduct a creativity workshop.
“The workshop reaches people on an emotional level,” Darling said. “It stresses points that we know are important, like really listening, accepting ideas and building upon them. These are core concepts of improvisation. If you don’t listen carefully, there’s no way an idea can develop.”
Mark Beekman, director of creative services of Proxicom’s Chicago office, knew the value of improvisational training as a graduate of Second City classes. When it came time to find someone to hone his staff’s sales presentation skills, he eventually thought of SCC.
Proxicom develops Internet and wireless service applications, including Web design for large corporations. Beekman’s staff has to present ideas to potential customers and deal with customers during Web page development.
“We looked at Toastmasters and Dale Carnegie courses, but didn’t believe traditional courses would meet our needs,” Beekman said. “Having taken the classes at Second City, I knew the skills they taught.”
Another significant difference he found was that Second City was willing to customize the course. “Most of these programs will not customize. Also there was the fun and excitement factor.”
Second City Communications develops workshops in collaboration with company representatives. Keefe said it usually takes at least 30 days to come up with a program. Once developed, it is previewed with the client. While there are plenty of improvisational games and exercises, workshops often include more traditional theory, lecture and question-and-answer periods.
In Proxicom’s case, four two-hour sessions emerged. “There were some one-on-one sessions and some with one person in front of a group,” Beekman said.
One exercise required each person to argue the other side of a topic he or she believed in. “The idea is, you’ll be very uncomfortable arguing something you don’t believe in,” Beekman said. “This way you’ll feel self-conscious and all those nervous tics you have will come out.”
Using humor in training is nothing new, said Haidee Allerton, editor of Training & Development magazine, a publication of the American Society of Training & Development. “There are plenty of people who specialize in humorous training. Humor is a useful tool to put a group at ease.
“It makes the participants feel they’re in a safe environment. Often people going to a training class are anxious. They don’t know what it’ll be like, or they think it will be a boring lecture. Humor relaxes people, and they are more receptive to learning.”
Training Resources Group is considering more Second City collaborations based on past successes. One joint session was produced for a worldwide energy company that was changing its structure from central to regional management. All the senior level managers met for the first time at the workshop.
“The CEO saw the contribution the workshops made to the firm,” Darling said. “The company relies on innovation and he saw clear messages in giving ideas a chance to be heard and accepted. But the clearest benefit was the workshop set a tone for more serious business that needed to be discussed later. He saw the benefit of working with each other in a playful sense and how important it was to carry through that tone to the rest of the meeting. Also, people who didn’t know each other were able to connect and establish a rapport.”
That kind of team building is important today when everyone is asked to make more decisions and take more responsibility. “Leadership is cascading down,” said Allerton. “Everyone is expected to lead in some way. Not to have teams is not productive, not competitive. It’s not just the leader with a bunch of worker bees anymore.”
Another improvisational exercise practices the four qualities of teamwork, said Keefe. A group of four or five people have to create a story by adding one word at a time. “Four things come out of this exercise. You have to listen for many reasons, you have to add to the process, you have to accept the group process and nobody can stand outside,” he said.
The rapport employees establish at seminars is essential in today’s business world, Allerton said. “You need to have happy people at work in order to retain your highly skilled people,” she said. “Salary is not in the top three reasons people work for a company anymore. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are reassessing the workplace. They want jobs that make them develop and feel personal enjoyment. It’s not just waiting for the bonus at the end of the year or the promotion anymore.”
Second City, in keeping with its comedy bits, is not afraid to tackle the tough stuff. The concern has developed sexual harassment and diversity training videos and workshops.
“People think that there are certain things you can’t make fun of,” Keefe said. “But by engaging people on an emotional basis, you make the message much more memorable. We once did a sexual harassment video. The company couldn’t compel employees to watch the tape. But because it was humorous, people were much more engaged.”
