Bill Hobler, Jr <bhobler@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>One task for leaders is to create the conditions in which his or her
>people can feel that they can dare, they can risk.
I 've witnessed many examples of this, but two really impressed me. Both
had to do with stand up comedy training. Both taught me something about
safety and risk in learning. Both have worked for certain people, but the
second caused major transformation while the first has caused many people
disappointment. Here they are:
1. Ten years ago, a good friend of mine who is a natural comedian
decided to go for it. She went to the largest comedy club in town to take
a class on stand up comedy. Her first day, they got her up on stage and
said "Say something funny!" She hadn't prepared anything and was standing
in front of 20 comedians. When she told the instructor, she was told that
she would never make it if she couldn't say anything funny on the spot.
It was horrifying for her. She never went back and to this day has never
tried comedy again.
2. Four months ago, a stand up comedy coach in town made a
presentation to the members of our office. His name is Sam Cox and he
talked about how comedy could improve our communication skills, confidence
level, and willingness to deal with tough audiences. Seven members agreed
to take his six week course. On the first evening of the program, he
announced that we could do a comedy routine on stage in front of 250
people when we graduate . . . if we want. No one volunteered.
The most shy lady in our company is Mindy. She is a video editor
who works with computers all day. No one ever thought she would even
consider going on stage. As the evenings of the program went on, each of
us were allowed to stand up and tell one or two jokes. We gained more
understanding about writing comedy each evening and then got to see if we
could cause the rest to laugh. Sam kept the class on a very positive note
and maintained a very safe environment.
By the 4th evening of the program, people were doing five minute
comedy routines with 10 punchlines. Each person was encouraged and they
kept building their routine as they built their confidence. Finally, we
graduated in front of an audience of 20 comedians who really enjoyed our
humor.
On that evening, the request was made again and five out of the
seven decided to do their routine in front of the 250 member audience at a
live comedy club. Mindy was one of them. All of us did very well and Sam
was right, it did change our lives in many ways.
In these two events, I learned a lot about taking risk and learning. Both
had a performance in front of 20 comedians, but one was devastating and
the other was empowering. Both were about the same skill, but one shut
down learning and the other caused more learning. Both had trained
instructors, but one ended a career and the other created more
possibility.
I believe the second example gives a structure for risk taking and safety.
Safety doesn't mean that someone is standing there protecting a person.
It means that the level of risk doesn't dramatically exceed a person's
level of competence and resources. Those resources can be external or
internal. When we sponsor safety, we don't hover over a person, we simply
provide an environment where they can increase the risk they are willing
to take. Once they take the risk, succeed, increase the risk, succeed
again, etc. they won't need us anymore and they will become part of
creating the environment of sponsored safety.
If you need proof, ask Mindy why she did a stand up comedy performance
that just about brought the house down. I think it is because of Sam
Cox's way of safe training.
(Just for fun, here's some of Mindy's comedy: "My parakeet committed
suicide. I guess she was mad because I didn't feed her! Then I got a
family of finches and food was no problem, they just ate each other! I
decided to let my last bird free in the apartment to find her own food.
Unfortunately, the cat had the same privilege! I think birds are too much
trouble!")
Hal Croasmun
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