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| Photo Courtesy: Perch |
Teams are not built.
Teams happen.
A theatre group is
a powerful example of how teams happen.
During the course of producing a play, a random group of people with
strong egos, divergent perspectives, different aspirations, varied backgrounds
in terms of age, experience, lifestyle, and qualification, transform into a
high performance team. In the process, they
experience and manifest the following behavioural dynamics, instinctively and
unconditionally:
·
Bonding: The ability to relate to
each other as ‘actors’ who can take on the intense functional hierarchy and
even conflict of the ‘characters’ that they need to play, without experiencing
human hierarchy or human conflict. This enables a high level of bonding
irrespective of whether they like each other or not.
·
Communication: Communicating beyond the
spoken words by becoming sensitive to each other’s body language and energy
patterns.
·
Collaboration: Collaborating across roles
and functions by investing in the other’s performance as much as in their own. This is done keeping self interest in mind,
as even if one actor does not perform well, the play as a whole suffers, and
everyone loses in some way or the other.
·
Trust
& Delegation: Delegating
with complete trust in the other person’s clarity and commitment to the play
and the audience experience.
·
Time-Management: Absolute and unconditional
commitment to the deadline.
·
Creativity
& Innovation: Finding
new competencies and innovating resources.
·
Dealing
with Risk and Failure: Celebrating
success and dealing with failure without ‘blamestorming’.
·
Celebrating
Star Performance: Identifying and celebrating star performers from
across interdependent roles and functions.
·
Handling
Pressure: Taking on
immense pressure without stress.
·
Situational
Leadership: Taking
collective responsibility for leadership and taking charge based on situational
clarity, creativity, and competence.
·
Alignment: Most importantly, aligning egos,
competencies, and energies, across roles and function towards a common goal, a
common customer (audience) experience, and a collective success.
·
Customer
Orientation: Not
just the actors who interface with the audience, but every single person who is
part of the group, be it the director, the sound and light team, the set
designer, the props in charge, the make-up person and costume designer,
everyone is clear about the play, and totally committed to the audience
experience. Unless the audience gets up
and applauds at the end of the show, there is a feeling of inadequacy all
around, and the willingness to explore together how to make the play
better.
The theatre ‘environment’ is such that this happens
every time without any attempt to change or transform people. If this environment does not happen, the play
cannot be a happy experience for the group.
And if it is not a happy experience for the group, it is unlikely to be
an enjoyable experience for the audience.
And in all likelihood, the group may not work together again.
The “CorporateTheatre” methodology enables
participants to experience and understand the environment that makes teams
happen. The workshop also explores the
fundamental pillars that enable and sustain the high-performance environment at
the workplace. This is possible even during the course of a 1-day workshop,
because there is no ‘training’ involved.
Instead it is about unlearning the baggage and discovering what is
already available with us as individuals and as teams – the instinct of the
human animal to hunt, survive, and WIN in packs.