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Improv ise Your Customer’s & Staff Experience. Presented by Gina Trimarco Cligrow President, Carolina Improv Company. SC-CAI 2013 Workshop Objectives:. Discuss what improvisation is and the benefits of using improv in the workplace
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ImproviseYour Customer’s & StaffExperience Presented by Gina Trimarco Cligrow President, Carolina Improv Company
SC-CAI 2013Workshop Objectives: • Discuss what improvisation is and the benefits of using improv in the workplace • Identify various teambuilding and customer service training opportunities where improv can be used • Learn new improv activities that you can use and apply after the conference
Creating An Experience “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job to make the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
Improvisation What Is It?
Improvisation “Improv teaches you how to think on your feet and how to react and adapt very quickly to unexpected events and things you may not have planned for.” Lakshmi Balachandra Improvisational Leadership at MIT Sloan School of Management
ImprovDefinition A device for expanding people’s comfort zones, learning new competencies and actively looking for and creating opportunities. An intuitive , coordinated, and spontaneous response to a dynamic environment.
Rules for Improv • Support and celebrate others (rock stars) • Suspend judgment • Take risks and participate energetically • Say “Yes, and…” • Lighten up and have fun
Icebreaker Diamond Dance
Improv Benefits • Being More Spontaneous • Thinking on Your Feet • Improving Personal Growth • Unleashing Your Creativity • Stop Fearing Judgment • Change Your Perspective • Improving Team Synergy • Accepting Others & Ideas • Adapting to Change • Being Playful (and playing well with others) • Listening Actively • Improving Self Confidence
“Yes, and…” There was really one rule I was taught about Improv. That was “yes-and.” In this case, “Yes-and” is a verb. To “yes-and.” I “yes-and, you yes-and he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding” means that when you go in stage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone you’ve never met before… Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report
“Yes, and …” in Business • “Yes, And” Re-trains The Brain to … • Actively Listen To & Accept Ideas/Offers • (Requiring us to be 100% attentive) • Clarify & Repeat Those Offers From Others • Add On & Contribute Our Own Ideas & Offers
Improv Exercise “Yes, and…”
How To … “Yes, and …” Literal “Yes, AND” Example: Person A: I like chocolate. Person B: YES, YOU “like chocolate” AND I can’t wait to go to the reception. Person A: YES, “YOU can’t wait to go to reception” AND I’m tired. Person B: YES, YOU’RE “tired” AND and Gina is so cool.
Let’s Improvise Make A New Friend
Yes, And Debrief How Did THAT Feel?
Using Improv for Teambuilding and Customer Service Training Opportunities
Improv helps us M.E.L.T. M = E = L = T =
Improv and Teambuilding “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato (428 BC)
Using Improvwith Teambuilding • Staff and Management Training Programs Collaboration, Tearing Down Silos • Brainstorming Sessions • Employee Orientation • Retreats (Entertainment and Teambuilding purposes)
Using Improv with Customer Service Training • Orientations • Seasonal Staff (Diamond Dance Exercise) • Mentor/Mentee Programs (Rock, Paper, Scissors Exercise) • Customer Service & Sales Training • CIC Spontaneous Series (MELT) - Conflict Resolution and Dealing with Angry Customers (Mirroring) • Communication Skill Development Training • Zip Zap Zop Exercise • Yes And • Story Wrench
Improv Exercise Sound Ball, Zip Zap Zop or Story Wrench
SC-CAI Workshop Evaluations Completed - Questions?- Takeaways “”When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”- Lao Tzo, philosopher of ancient China and author of Tao Te Ching, sixth century BC
Thank YOU for attending this SC-CAI session! Gina Trimarco Cligrow Gina@carolinaimprov.com (843) 597-6393 www.CarolinaImprov.com