IMPROVISATIONAL LEADERSHIP UC Berkeley Haas School of Business UGBA 191I-1 / 3-Credits / Fall 2016 Wednesdays 2pm-5pm / Haas I-Lab
Instructors: Cort Worthington Ori Brafman web: www.cortworthington.com web: www.oribrafman.com email: [email protected] email: [email protected] cell: (415) 902-4444 cell: (415) 608-5322
Teaching Assistant: Andrew Berry, MBA email: [email protected] cell: (404) 263-7180
Course Materials: Required: People Skills, Robert Bolton Improv Wisdom, Patricia Ryan The Starfish and the Spider, Ori Brafman Primal Leadership, Goleman, McKee, Boyatzis Selected articles and cases from HBR, etc. (purchased on Study.net)
Course Overview IMPROVISATIONAL LEADERSHIP is an immersive course in the theory and application of improvisational techniques to business leadership challenges. This class explores the broad principles of improvisation, a performing art form that has developed pedagogical methods to enhance individual spontaneity, listening and awareness, expressive skills, risk-taking, and a leader’s ability to make authentic social and emotional connections. The ultimate aim of the course is to help students develop an innovative and improvisational leadership mindset, sharpening in-the-moment decision making and the ability to quickly recognize and act upon opportunities when presented. In practical terms, this course strives to enhance students’ leadership communication skills and increase both interpersonal intuition and confidence.
Specific course sections include (1) introduction to improvisational theory, (2) listening and awareness, (3) speaking and spontaneity, (4) status and influence, and (5) emotional intelligence. Throughout the semester, classes are devoted to each of these topics in turn. In all five topic areas, the emphasis is on applied business situations and communications.
Lectures and in-class discussions form the more traditional classroom activities, and comprise approximately one-third of each session. The balance of our time is spent on in-class interactive exercises. Outside assignments challenge students to experiment with and apply material from the class to real-world decision making and communication situations.
Learning Objectives Our rather ambitious intent is for all students to make observable progress in their behavior as improvisational leaders. First and foremost this means learning the language, theory, and practice of improvisation. It also means becoming skilled, committed lifelong listeners, and gaining confidence in the art of spontaneous speech. It means achieving an appreciation of the essential role emotional intelligence plays in leadership relationships. And it means gaining a facility with utilizing status behaviors in wielding interpersonal influence while maintaining full integrity. Finally, we intend for students to leave with a clearer understanding of the links between each of these topics and effective leadership.
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 1 of 13
IMPROVISATIONAL LEADERSHIP UC Berkeley Haas School of Business UGBA 191I-1 / 3-Credits / Fall 2016 Wednesdays 2pm-5pm / Haas I-Lab
Guidelines Lectures and Readings: Class lectures serve to give an overview of the relevant class subject, setting the stage for each sessions’ interactive exercises. The textbook readings cover important background material, and give a more detailed perspective than the in-class lectures. It will be required for these readings to be completed before each class. The readings will also make it easier for you to fully participate in, contextualize, and learn from the interactive activities.
Participation in Lectures and Discussions: Facilitated class discussions are also part of the course. These often unfold during lecture, and time will be devoted in each section to solicit questions and observations from the readings, assignments, and lectures. Additionally, there are critical debrief sessions following most exercises.
Participation in Exercises: As mentioned, interactive exercises are a core element of the course. Improvisation can be one of the most enjoyable activities on earth—we know of few practices that provide such deep learning and consistent engagement in a single package. And one of improv’s core principles is that of full body-and-mind participation, full commitment. The energy with which you participate will serve not only a significant portion of your grade and increase the depth of your learning; it will serve your classmates as well. Your own high level of commitment is a bonus for everyone in class, contributing to creating a collaborative learning environment.
Attendance: As the learning relies heavily on active participation, attendance will be taken each week. The first absence counts 2% off your final grade. A second absence lowers your final grade by 3%, with the same for any further sessions missed. The only exceptions we will consider to this are family emergencies and personal illness. If you must miss a class for any reason you are to notify the instructors and the GSI via email before class begins or the absence will be unexcused.
Timeliness: We’ll start each class on time, usually with an interactive warm-up exercise. Therefore it is important for the sake of group cohesion that everyone is in the room and ready to participate by 2:10pm. Each official tardy lowers your final grade by 1%.
Laptops: No laptops are to be used during class. Do bring a notebook and pen/pencil.
Cell Phones & Eating: Off & None.
Written Assignments: There will be several short written assignments. See details below.
Mid-term & Final: A mid-term and final will be administered covering reading and lecture material.
Final Paper: An individual final paper is due approx. one week after our last scheduled class. See details below.
Grading: Haas grades on a curve. The class is a balance of participation and your ability to articulate in writing your various in-class experiences, key course concepts, and the application to real-world situations.
Class Attendance and Participation: 20% Written Assignments: 20% Mid-term: 15% Final Exam: 20% Peer and Self-Grading 15% Final Paper: 10%
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 2 of 13 Course Outline Note: required readings are listed for each section. All readings are to be completed during the week prior each session. Articles are available for purchase and download on Study.net.
AUG 24 SESSION 1: The Nature of Improvisation – Fundamentals I
Content o Introduction and Overview • Student introductions • Course background and context • Assignments, grading, and attendance policies • Course structure and content
o Concepts and Principles • What is Leadership? • What is Improvisation? • Failing Gloriously • Saying Yes
o Exercises (selected) • Maps • Categories • Emotional Introductions
AUG 31 SESSION 2: The Nature of Improvisation – Fundamentals II
Readings due prior to class: Improvisation in Action, Mary Crossan, Ivy School of Business, from the journal Organization Science, September – October, 1998. The Starfish and the Spider, Introduction through Chapter 3.
Content o Concepts and Principles • What are Leadership Soft-skills? • Links Between Soft-skills and Improvisation • Expressive Risks
o Exercises (selected) • Word at a Time Sequence • Paired Spontaneity • Solo Free Association
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 3 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
SEPT 7 SESSION 3: The Nature of Improvisation – Fundamentals III
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapters 1, 2 Improv Wisdom: Prologue and Chapter 1 The Starfish and the Spider, Chapters 4 – 6.
Content o Concepts and Principles • Individual Assessment: Soft-skill Strengths and Weaknesses • Spontaneity as Core Concept • Offers • Accepting • Blocking
o Exercises (selected) • Category Chairs • Offers 1 - 3 • Name the Action
SEPT 14 SESSION 4: Listening and Awareness I
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapters 3, 4, 5 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 2 The Starfish and the Spider, Chapters 7 – 9.
Content o Concepts and Principles • Listening as a Creative Act • Mastery vs. Propensity • Minimal Encourages • Non-verbal Messages and Body Language • Yes, and… • Endowing
o Exercises (selected) • Offer Thank You • It’s Tuesday • Chair Yes • Listening Pair Setup 1 - 2
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 4 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
SEPT 21 SESSION 5: Listening and Awareness II
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapters 6, 7, 8 Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?, Goffee and Jones, Harvard Business Review, October 2000
Content o Concepts and Principles • Reflective Meaning Statements • Reflective Feeling Statements • Paraphrasing and Summarizing • Open-ended / Closed-ended Questions • Vocal Empathy and Attentive Silence
o Exercises (selected) • You-Go Patterns • Category Patterns • Listening Pair Setup 3 - 4
Assignments PAPER #1 DUE 5PM SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25TH (SEE DETAILS BELOW)
SEPT 28 SESSION 6: Spontaneous Speech I
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapter 9 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 3, 4 How to Become an Authentic Speaker, Nick Morgan, Harvard Business Review, November 2008
Content o Concepts and Principles • Speaking Basics Overview • Spontaneity and Leadership Communication • Improvising vs. Planning
o Exercises (selected) • Stage Fright • Character Walks • Gibberish-English Ball
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 5 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
OCT 5 SESSION 7: Spontaneous Speech II
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapters 10 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 5, 6
Content o Concepts and Principles • Improvising Innovation • First Thought, Best Thought • The Three E’s of Spontaneous Speech
o Exercises (selected) • Firing Line • Color / Advance • From...To
OCT 12 SESSION 8: Spontaneous Speech III
Readings due prior to class: The Kinesthetic Speaker: Putting Action into Words, Nick Morgan, Harvard Business Review, April 2001
Content o Concepts and Principles • Narrative Structure • Practicing Full Commitment
o Exercises (selected) • Morphing Object Circle • Story Spine • TMATTY
Assignments PAPER #2 DUE 5PM SUNDAY OCTOBER 16TH (SEE DETAILS BELOW)
OCT 19 SESSION 9: Mid-Term
Readings due prior to class: (new reading for today!): The Necessary Art of Persuasion, Jay Conger, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1998 (Review for Midterm): People Skills: Chapters 1-10 (Review for Midterm): The Starfish and the Spider: Introduction – Ch. 9 (Review for Midterm): Improv Wisdom: Prologue, and Ch. 1-6
— MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS OCTOBER 19TH —
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 6 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
OCT 26 SESSION 10: Status and Influence I
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapter 11 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 7 The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why, Deborah Tannen, Harvard Business Review Sept.-Oct. 1995 Listen Up! How to Be Appropriately Assertive, James G. Clawson, Darden Business Publishing
Content o Concepts and Principles • Status Overview • Positional vs. Personal Status • Status as Behavior, Status as Choice • High Status vs. Low Status • Status Consequences
o Exercises (selected) • Status Mingling / Evaluation • Three Person Sculpting Status • Big Cards • Status Eye Contact
NOV 2 SESSION 11: Status and Influence II
Readings due prior to class: People Skills: Chapter 12 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 8, 9 Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, Harvard Business Review, October 2001
Content o Concepts and Principles • Influence and Cialdini’s Factors • Hierarchical vs. Non-Hierarchical Systems • Peer Networks and Influence • Power vs. Influence • Types of Power
o Exercises (selected) • Eights • Three Person Blind Status • CEO / Intern
Assignments PAPER #3 DUE 5PM SUNDAY NOVEMBER 6TH (SEE DETAILS BELOW)
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 7 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
NOV 9 SESSION 12: Emotional Intelligence I
Readings due prior to class: Primal Leadership: Preface, Chapters 1, 2, and Appendix A Improv Wisdom: Chapter 10 The Focused Leader, Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business Review, December 2013
Content o Concepts and Principles • The Science of Emotion: IQ vs EQ • Resonant Leadership
o Exercises (selected) • Emotion Ball • Circle Mirror
NOV 16 SESSION 13: Emotional Intelligence II
Readings due prior to class: Improv Wisdom: Chapter 11, 12 Primal Leadership: Chapters 3, 4, and Appendix B
Content o Concepts and Principles • Self Awareness and Self Management • Social Awareness and Relationship Management • The Johari Window • The Cycle of EI Development
o Exercises (selected) • Please the President • Enemy-Defender
– NO CLASS MEETING ON NOVEMBER 23RD –
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 8 of 13 Course Outline, cont’d:
NOV 30 SESSION 14: Integration / Moving Forward (final content session)
Readings due prior to class: Primal Leadership: Chapters 5, 6 Improv Wisdom: Chapter 13
Content o Concepts and Principles • Moving Forward / What’s Next? • What is a Practice? • Types of Soft-skill Practices • Long-term Personal Development
Assignments PAPER #4 COMPLETED IN CLASS (NO PREP NECESSARY) (HONESTLY!)
DEC 7 SESSION 15: Course Review (attendance encouraged but optional)
Assignments FINAL PAPER DUE 5PM SUNDAY DEC 11TH (SEE DETAILS BELOW)
DEC 15 FINAL EXAM: 3pm – 6pm, location TBD
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 9 of 13 Written Assignments:
Paper #1 (due 5pm Sunday September 25th, 2016) 1. Examine your habitual interpersonal listening behavior over the course of 2 days. To gather your data utilize self-observation and request additional feedback from a trusted classmate, friend, or family member to gain an outside perspective. a. Using both your own observations and the feedback you received, describe the quality of your interpersonal listening behavior, e.g.: ! Tendency to listen / not listen when engaging interpersonally ! What you notice internally (thoughts, emotions, strategies) that helps / hinders you in listening ! Outward behaviors you habitually utilize while listening b. Perform an intentional experiment, where you bring higher-than-normal quality listening behaviors to a specific interpersonal situation: ! Describe your internal experience with this experiment. What did you notice? ! Describe the external results of this experiment. What effects did this behavior have on the speaker? On the overall conversation?
2. Max length 3 pages, Times font, 12 pt. double spaced
3. Upload to bCourses by 5pm on Sunday September 25th, 2016
Paper #2 (due 5pm Sunday October 16th, 2016) 1. Throughout the course we’ve been working with several principles underlying the practice of improvisation. Three of them are:
- Choosing to act with 100% full commitment - Failing good-naturedly / Celebrating effort over result - Choosing opportunities in life to say “yes” when you might habitually say “no”
• It’s time to take these principles outside of our relatively safe classroom atmosphere. Pick one of the above that has meaning for you. Over the course of 2 days, find ways to intentionally practice this principle in your work and personal life. In your paper: ! Describe which principle you chose and why it holds particular meaning for you. ! Describe the results of your intentional practice. How did it cause you to think and feel differently, in either subtle or significant ways? What worked or didn’t work for you? What discoveries or insights about yourself did you take from the experience?
Please note: WITH ANY OF THESE ABOVE, BUT IN PARTICULAR THE 3RD PRINCIPLE, “SAYING YES” DOES NOT MEAN ILLEGAL OR UNSAFE ACTIVITIES. THIS BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENT IS DESIGNED TO GIVE YOU ADDED ELEMENTS OF UNPREDICTABILITY AND PERHAPS “ADVENTURE” OUTSIDE YOUR NORMAL ROUTINES, BUT DO UTILIZE COMMON SENSE WITH WHAT YOU SAY YES TO…
2. Max length 3 pages, Times font, 12 pt. double spaced
3. Upload to bCourses by 5pm on Sunday October 16th, 2016
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 10 of 13 Written Assignments, cont’d:
Paper #3 (due 5pm Sunday November 6th, 2016) 1. Examine your habitual physical status behavior over the course of 2 days. To gather your data utilize self-observation and request additional feedback from a trusted classmate, friend, or family member to gain an outside perspective. a. Describe your “default” status behaviors. While these will vary in different environments and contexts, identify your most common, habitual status choices b. Select one opportunity to experiment with shifting your status behaviors to higher or lower status with the intent of positively influencing your communication. ! Describe your internal experience with this experiment ! Describe the external results of this experiment
2. Max length 3 pages, Times font, 12 pt. double spaced
3. Upload to bCourses by 5pm on Sunday November 6th, 2016
Paper #4 (to be completed in class November 30th, 2016. No prep necessary)
Final Written Assignment (due 5pm Sunday December 11th, 2016)
1. Identify a specific leadership or leadership communication challenge you currently face. This can be internal (a personal quality you are focusing on developing) or external (a workplace or social challenge). Explore this issue, and draw from the class material to shed light on potential solutions. 2. All readings, lecture slides, and personal experiences from the class are fair game as reference material. 3. Grading will be based on both quality of analysis and integration / application of course material. References should be included and cited. Check further criteria below. 4. Max length 7 pages, Times font, 12 pt. double spaced. 5. Upload to bCourses by 5pm on Sunday December 11th, 2016
Grading Criteria for All Writing Assignments:
While the experience of performing the assignment and my written feedback are ideally the main value, the grading criteria are below.
• Following and fulfilling the detailed instructions for the assignment • Quality of writing (flow of ideas, use of details to support assumptions) • Direct references you cite linking your observations to course readings and / or lectures • Quality relative to other student's papers • Overall apparent effort and depth of self-analysis • I value an honest reporting of thoughts, observations, and feelings, and hence will not grade on how well your experiments went or how strongly you are or are not impacted by the material. I'd like to hear those details but such outcomes are incidental in terms of grading.
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 11 of 13 Additional Recommended Readings
Built to Last , J. Collins & J. Porras, 1997, HarperBusiness. This is my preference over Collins’ more famous follow-up Good to Great. Contains a half-dozen big ideas outlining why certain companies have been extraordinarily successful through multiple generations of leadership.
The Fifth Discipline, the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, P. Senge, 1990, Doubleday/Currency Press. Senge is the founder of the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Center for Organizational Learning, and his highly accessible primer introduces the reader to systems thinking, mental models, the concept of personal mastery, and several other factors that combine to create what he terms a “learning organization.”
Becoming a Resonant Leader, McKee, Boyatzis, Johnson, 2008 Harvard Business School Press. An excellent and practical companion to Primal Leadership filled with exercises, readings, and reflective questionnaires that serve as tools for actually developing and deepening the reader’s emotional intelligence.
Managing with Power, Jeffery Pfeffer, 1995, Harvard Business School Press. Emphasizing real-world applications, Pfeffer examines the use of power and influence within organizations. The book details how power is attained and maintained, closing with a practical emphasis on strategic engagement and active participation.
Impro (1979) and Impro for Storytellers, (1999), Keith Johnstone, both from Theatre Arts Books. Johnstone is one of the handful of influential people credited with developing modern theatrical improvisation, and rightly so. Johnstone writes like the mad genius many consider him to be: his prose is fresh, irreverent, at times disorganized but on the whole highly rewarding. Start with Impro if you haven’t read either.
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 12 of 13 Course Foundations
Drawing the links between leadership, soft-skills, and improvisation has been an evolving research project for me since approximately 1997. Improvisational Leadership draws inspiration and supportive data from a variety of disciplines including the arts and humanities, and particularly from research in the behavioral and social sciences.
The list below is by no means comprehensive, but does give students useful leads should your curiosity be piqued in any of our content areas. Google any of these names and an overview of their research will be readily accessible. For further depth on these or other sources feel free to query us.
In the course’s five content areas listed below, reference material includes the work of:
Principles of Improvisation Karl Weick, PhD American organizational theorist and Rensis Likert Distinguished Professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Mary Crossan, PhD Professor of Business Policy at the Ivey School of Business
Listening and Awareness Carl Rogers, PhD American psychologist and considered one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology Friedrich Perls, PhD German-born 20th century psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and founder of Gestalt Therapy Erich Fromm, PhD German-born social psychologist associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory David Bradford, PhD Stanford professor and founder of the Interpersonal Dynamics program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Ralph Nichols, PhD Former chair of the Dept. of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota and author of seminal HBR article on business listening “Listening to People.”
Spontaneity and Speech Adam Blatner, MD Psychiatrist and leading theoretician in the field of psychodrama Jacob Moreno, MD Romanian-born psychiatrist, pioneer in group psychotherapy, and founder of psychodrama Viola Spolin American drama teacher and influential developer of theatrical improvisation
Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, PhD Harvard lecturer and author of several books on the subject of emotional intelligence Dacher Keltner, PhD UC Berkeley professor of psychology and author of Born to Be Good, an examination of emotions and prosocial behavior
Status and Influence Drs. John French and Bertam Raven Social psychologists and authors of the 1959 classic study The Basis of Social Power Robert Cialdini, PhD Social psychologist and author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Keith Johnstone British-born drama instructor and influential developer of theatrical improvisation
Worthington and Brafman / Improvisational Leadership 13 of 13