How to ‘Yes And’ Turbulence: Developing Resilience for Contemporary Leadership

Session Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Detailed Abstract

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Anyone curious about how improvisation and emotionally intelligent leadership prepare us to be engaged observers, respond honestly and intentionally in the moment, and proceed collectively without a script.

WHAT WILL ATTENDEES GAIN?
Attendees will:
 Gain an increased understanding of applied improvisation as a skill set for developing and practicing emotionally intelligent leadership.
 Learn and practice ways in which they can adapt to the unexpected, even bounce back from setbacks.
 Build their capacity to both cope and thrive in unknown circumstances—that is, how to proceed without a script

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Our guiding questions for this session are:
 What’s Emotionally Intelligent Leadership? How can it help us navigate turbulence?
 What is Applied Improvisation and how does it help develop emergent processes?
 How do improvisation and emotional intelligence come together to increase resiliency?
 How do interdependent individuals, teams, and larger collectives build resilience and thrive?
 How do we lead and adapt across boundaries we have never crossed and that are simultaneously shifting?

This full day session will be highly interactive with time designated for participants to engage experientially with the core concepts of improvisation and emotional intelligence. Activities will provide participants with a practice space to learn specific capacities of emotionally intelligent leadership that help individuals lead and adapt, including: authenticity, initiative, emotional self-perception, emotional self-control, flexibility, adaptability, managing conflict, and assessing the environment. Participants can expect to learn how to apply the lessons in this session in their own work, life, and practice.

The session consists of two primary segments: the morning segment will focus on introducing and learning key tenets of improvisation and correlated EIL competencies. The afternoon segment will provide participants an opportunity to apply and experience these skills in the city of Brussels. This participant-guided, walking journey is designed to employ resilient self-leadership skills and skills for spontaneous, experimental collaboration with others and/or the environment. A reflective debrief of this experience closes the session.

No experience in improvisational arts (theater, music, etc.) is necessary; in fact, the workshop is designed with a “beginner” mindset that allows anyone willing to play and experiment within an emergent community to participate. As in the world of improvisation, it is understood that when everyone is giving, everyone is also getting.

Schedule Summary
09:00-09:20 Introduction & Overview
09:20-09:40 Stepping into the Unknown
09:40-10:00 Responding to Mistakes & Failures
10:00-10:20 Empathy & Communication
10:20-10:45 Reflection
10:45-10:55 Break
10:55-11:25 Recognition & Willingness
11:25-11:45 Seeing the Familiar Differently
11:45-12:00 Review and Preview
12:00-13:00 Lunch (on your own)
13:00-13:15 Introduction to Field Experience
13:15-15:15 Live Action Field Experiment: Seeing Brussels Anew
15:15-16:00 Reflection, Stories, and Wrap-up

Sub Unit

• Leadership Education

Presenters

• Chris Esparza, University of Oregon

• Marcy Shankman, Cleveland Metropolitan School District

• Ralf Wetzel, Vlerick Business School