Improvising for Teamwork
Adrian, over at Slow Leadership talks about a book called Improv Wisdom. He highlights a section on paying attention. To me, engagement is all about paying attention.
Improv Wisdom is an interesting book that I have been checking out for a chapter in Focus Like a Laser Beam. I talk about the value of using Improv techniques to jack up teamwork to new heights.
I interviewed Johnnie Moore about his thoughts about using improv in business, too. That Johnnie is a quick witted fellow and fun to chat with. In the chapter, I also mentioned the essay Johnnie did for More Space, called Simple Ideas, Lightly Held. If you are at all interested in energizing your team, you should check out Johnnie's essay.
A lot of people have been talking about More Space this week and several have noted that the book's essays run the gamut from very practical to wonderfully expressive stories. I am somewhat proud and ashamed to say that my essay is more practical. Yep, I have nuts and bolts running through my veins. A part of me would love to be able to write like Jory and Evelyn (don't get me wrong, I am not putting myself down. I know I can write, but the expressive side is just getting developed - 22 years in business brainwashed me to speak in bullet points) .... Perhaps in time. Here are a few links:
Rob over at Business Pundit talked about Marc Orchant's essay called, Work is Broken.
Jory wrote about Rob May's essay called, Why Business Matters.
Johnnie Moore wrote about Jory's essay called, The Inevitability of Authenticity.
Keep your eye out for more...
Johnnie's essay is a bit of an enigma because it is both inspirational and practical. Here is a short snippet:
The Difference Between Complicated and Complex
This is what I mean when I use the word complicated.
The wiring on an aircraft is complicated. To figure out where everything goes would take a long time. But if you studied it for long enough, you could know with (near) certainty what each electrical circuit does and how to control it. The system is, ultimately knowable. If understanding it is important, the effort to study it and make a detailed diagram of it would be worthwhile.
So complicated = not simple, but ultimately knowable.
Now, put a crew and passengers in that aircraft and try to figure out what will happen on the flight. Suddenly we go from complicated to complex. You could study the lives of all these people for years, but you could never know all there is to know about how they will interact. You could make some guesses, but you can never know for sure. And the effort to study all the elements in more and more detail will never give you that certainty.
So complex = not simple, and never fully knowable. Just too many variables interact.
Managing humans will never be complicated. It will always be complex. So no book or diagram or expert is ever going to reveal the truth about managing people.
But don´t panic. We can manage people if we stop trying too hard to get it right. We just have to live with that uncertainty and come to enjoy it.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try spelling that after a couple of beers) puts it like this in Good Business: Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning: "One of the key tasks of management is to create an organization that stimulates the complexity of those who belong to it."
Great Theory; What Does It Mean in Practice?
You see what I mean? Johnnie's writing is practical, but stimulating as hell, and therefore also inspiring. I got something out of just that excerpt.
I wast looking through the book today and I came to the conclusion that More Space is a perfect holiday gift book. It is hip, each chapter offers a unique and interesting point of view, and the book is well designed and colorful. There are 10 full sized pictures inside. Many management books make poor gifts because the person receiving it will think you are trying to tell him or her she stinks at management and needs it. More Space won't do that - it speaks that, "hey, I think you are intelligent and with it, and you would like to hear what other intelligent and with it people think."
This is not a money thing at all, but I hope the book does really well. I feel honored to be in the company of such cool people and I think the book is different than the usual business dribble that we see. As just one example, Johnnie is a supremely cool guy with an interesting point of view on things. Each person has a unique story to tell.
