Author: gothamCulture

“You don’t learn to walk by following the rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” – Richard Branson

As an entrepreneur, business owner, or a leader in your organization, you may already know how important it is to be adaptable, build trust, and align your team around a common purpose that drives your bottom line performance goals.

But, how do you, as a leader, weave these qualities into the fabric of your team? How can you proactively create an organizational culture that allows for mistakes, encourages perseverance, and engages all of your stakeholders around a common goal?

In today’s rapidly changing and ever evolving business marketplace, there are few qualities that drive a team’s success like resilience. And in my experience, the best way you can help your team build resilience in the workplace is to explore the skills and experiences related to improv comedy.

Why Improv?

Years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a major service/product organization on training for a point-of-sale system.

As part of the supporting effort for the training, we developed a series of improv exercises to engage the participants, raise their level of commitment, and actually help some of the key points in the training be more “sticky”.  This initial training became a core component of a multi-year engagement, and I saw first hand that these core improv skills became key building blocks for the system trainers and users.

Why? There were three core components of improv that helped this organization’s training program succeed:

1. Focus: In improvisational comedy, participants must come together as a unified team to make an improv scene work, no matter their skill level or seniority.  When even the most tangential (wacky) ideas, distractions or curveballs are introduced, it is up to the team to collectively bring focus to the scene through adapting to the change in stride.
2. Commitment: Commitment on stage is no different than commitment in the workplace. Those participants who are committed (not just “doing” but COMMITTED) to a scene are as successful and contributory as those who are committed in the workplace.
3. Energy: The longest engagements, solutions, services, or efforts will most certainly languish if your workforce doesn’t bring energy to the process.  So, too, will an improv exercise languish if the participants don’t bring over-the-top levels of energy to their words and actions. Energy becomes the engine for an organization to be resilient and sustain their efforts.

“Yes, And…”

There is a key concept in improv called the “yes, and…” rule. Instead of thinking about problems as obstacles, and stifling team members with a “yes, but…” response, the “yes, and…” rule allows your team to brainstorm as a collective, build off of each other’s ideas in a positive way, and foster an environment of creativity and innovation.

So, how does it work? In another article I wrote for the BossaBlog, I gave the following example; an exercise called “Animal Ad Agency.” It works like this:

Break into small groups.  Five to seven is ideal.  Each small group forms a circle. Ask each group to name two things:

• An animal. (Take the quickest or best answer.)
• A common household product.  (Take the quickest or best answer.)

Then explain that your organization has been hired to be the advertising firm to sell the common household product to a group of those animals.

Describe the process to the group.

Someone starts by identifying a feature of the product that would be compelling for the animal; the next person says “yes, and…” then gives their feature; and so on around the circle. It might sound like this for selling Eyeglasses to Elephants:

• Person 1: The glasses would be enormous, to fit their large head.
• Person 2: Yes, and…they would have a special nose-saddle to adapt to the movement of their trunks.
• Person 3: Yes, and…they would have a heads-up display that pinpoints distance to their next meal.
• Person 4: Yes, and…they would have special bifocals strictly for seeing their tiny mouse friends.
• And so on…

When you debrief, discuss the importance of “yes, and…” in terms of the creative process.  As a team of professionals, what types of new possibilities are created by thinking in terms of “yes, and…” instead of the more often heard “no, because…” or even “Yes, but…”

The benefits of an exercise of this type will remain evident into the future as well.  Meetings and discussions will include more “yes, and” thinking—and the results will be immediate and valuable.

Building Resilience Through Improv

We as leaders inspire trust as we let everyone know that ALL voices are heard and are important, that the best ideas come from building together as a team, and by letting our personnel know that we trust and empower them to come up with the solutions.

These three core concepts—adaptability, trust, and a common purpose—are the building blocks needed for successful, sustainable teams. Show them that it’s ok to trust their gut, try new things, and learn from their mistakes. They will learn to be resilient, they’ll be more prepared when problems arise, and they’ll be better aligned to collectively handle anything that may come their way.

While cultural fit is often lauded as the most important part of hiring for both recruiters and candidates, it’s not always done in a way that truly puts the company’s cultural values before personal opinions. A recent New York Times article about hiring for cultural fit explores this idea further.

Here at gothamCulture, we’re not quite ready to give up on the importance of cultural fit, however. While many companies may struggle to set aside personal bias, cultural fit is a critical part of our hiring decisions.

Whether you realize it or not, every new employee has an impact across any organization, and we want to ensure that the changes we put in place align well with our overall culture and values.

In addition to more traditional ways of vetting job applicants, we ensure every candidate is part of a team interview as an opportunity to get to know his or her potential coworkers. This ensures that both the team and the interviewee are comfortable with their potential relationships and roles in the company going forward.

But, we understand that not every organization functions this way. So, we asked our team to share their answers to the following question:

How can organizations ensure that they are hiring for cultural fit?

Mark Emerson, General Manager

I don’t think an HR manager who gets a requirement from a department head about a new hire can possibly be able to assess cultural fit, but that is usually not the role of HR.  Their job is to assess work history, credentials and technical skills to actually perform the work. It’s then generally the role of the manager to assess the cultural fit.

And this is where I think the process can break down.

I hired someone a long time ago who was fully qualified for the role, but I didn’t read the culture of my team properly and it ended up being somewhat of a disaster. I vowed not to make that mistake again and instituted team interviews. The team was taken aback at first but over time, began to really appreciate the fact that I valued their judgment and wasn’t simply throwing someone new into their established culture without their input. They quickly took to the process and we ended up with some outstanding teammates.

It’s cumbersome and logistically more difficult to do team interviews, but I can’t see not doing them. The team has valuable input, insight into their daily work, and might see things that the manager doesn’t.

Simultaneously giving the team a chance to vet applicants and giving the applicant the chance to vet the team is a win-win. It allows everyone to ‘see the field’ and it prevents the hierarchical nature of a manager solely deciding on the fit of a candidate.

Arthur Kim, Engagement Manager

Most companies don’t spend enough time or effort on their hiring practices. Unfortunately, many don’t even hire until they are barely able to keep their heads above water with all the business activity they have coming in.

When it comes time to interview candidates, they either have a random manager speak with the candidate or the hiring manager is so busy that they haven’t had time to properly prepare. As a result, the interviewer has little or no knowledge of the job that the interviewee is applying for.

It’s important that every interviewer knows the position being applied for, but more importantly, they need to fully understand the culture and values of the company so they can convey that message and see if the candidate fits into those characteristics.

It’s also important for upper management to prep interviewers with what needs to be asked, what to look for in a candidate, topics of conversation and what questions they’re allowed to ask.

If cultural fit is a priority, they should design the interview to vet those characteristics, rather than generic problem-solving or skills-assessment questions.

Pamela Farago, OD Intern

A company becomes who it hires, so the future culture of an organization is strongly tied to the kinds of people it selects to represent it today. However, a potential employee’s “cultural fit” in the organization should not be determined by their certain talkative type of personality or their specific love of baseball.

The values and goals that a company holds are what should be assessed when determining a potential employee’s cultural fit, not their hobbies and hometowns.  If employers merely hired new workers who they wanted to hang out with and who shared all their same thought processes, an organization would become an army of clones, both incapable of innovating and prone to making poor decisions due to limited information.

To ensure that company values and goals are the criteria used to make hiring decisions, a business should consider several steps.

First, the organization should sit down and document what their values and goals actually are.  Then, the organization’s determined culture should be communicated not only to its current employees, but also to its potential employees. This allows potential employees to make a preliminary judgment of whether they should even apply for a job with this company.

Finally, the business should assess the fit of potential employees’ values and goals to the values and goals that it holds using an objective assessment, such as a structured interview or checklist. This would decrease the potential for interviewers to make subjective decisions about candidates based on either their own definitions of “cultural fit” or their favorite sports team.

Chelsea Weber, OD Intern

Working for an organization where I feel like I “fit in” has deepened my ability to lean into the work, take risks, and perform.  There are deep benefits on both sides of the equation—when employees and their employers are on the same page as far as “the way we do things around here,” everyone gets to spend time on deeper conversations.

And yet, a word of caution when using “cultural fit” as a singular benchmark for hiring: If an organization is not explicitly aware of the culture it seeks to fit, hiring managers and supervisors risk letting implicit biases seep into their hiring practices. Be wary of the words “cultural fit” becoming a veil for discrimination.

Companies should ask themselves: Are we aware of what we’re looking for when we hire for “cultural fit?” Are the things we look for measurable? Truly based on what will drive performance in our organization?

Consider doing exercises to uncover those implicit biases—there are online tests and conversations you can have to be honest with yourself and your team about what might get in the way.  Finally, remember that cultural fit is a conversation. Uncover what the person you’re hiring is looking for, and ask candidly if that matches what your company offers.

Have you ever wondered how your work environment impacts your well being and prosperity? Is your office environment meeting your core human needs? How do the mysteries of work and life connect to how and where we work?

Every once in a while I meet someone really interesting in my travels.  Someone who is dong fantastic work that makes me stop and rethink the way I look at the world.

Herman Miller’s Director of Human Dynamics and Work, Tracy Brower is one of those people.  Tracy is the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work. In addition, Tracy’s role within her organization is to create Herman Miller’s point of view about the impact of work on life, and of life on work; to link what we know about people to Herman Miller’s product design, solutions, and customers.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Herman Miller story, they’ve been around for over a century, taking an innovative approach to business and work environments.  They’ve been recognized year after year as a leader in corporate sustainability and workplace solutions.  Herman Miller is known for human-centered, problem-solving design and Tracy was kind enough to spend some time with me describing the work that she and her team have been doing to really understand the human condition.

The Science of Human Dynamics and Work

“Our efforts really started with a deep desire to understand people and to develop a clear sense of why and how people work,” Brower shared. “We are interested in the sociology of work- how we impact our work environments and how our work environments, in turn, impact us.”

With these fundamental questions at the core of their work, Herman Miller launched The Living Office, which is based on what is fundamental to all humans and evolves continuously in response to change. This Living Office is aimed at creating connection, creativity, productivity, and ultimately, greater prosperity for all.

In order to inform their thinking of human dynamics and work, the team looked at the last 80 years of research in the fields of psychology, sociology and anthropology as they set out on their mission.

The Human Dynamics + Work team has not stopped with the scientific research.  They have cast a wide net by developing relationships with various thought leaders around the globe to help them ask (and hopefully answer!) the tough questions that will deepen their understanding of how to create a total experience of work that expresses and enables shared purpose and character.

And what did they come up with through their exhaustive search? The team boiled down the greatest thinking of the twentieth century into six core needs that all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc. have.  These include:

• Security – We desire health, safety, familiarity, and competence.
• Status – We seek recognition of our contributions.
• Achievement – We strive for excellence and take pride in our accomplishments.
• Autonomy – We seek freedom in our actions and decisions.
• Purpose – We want to make a meaningful difference.
• Belonging – We want a meaningful connection to others.

 The Living Office In the Modern Workplace

Understanding these needs begs the question: What are the connectors that link the six fundamental human needs to the workplace? Herman Miller’s research finds there are three: They all have massive implications on the way we lead and manage, on the technology and tools that we provide our people, and on the places that support work. Herman Miller is using this knowledge to customize insights and solutions for customers.

What’s Next?

So what’s next for Brower and team and they endeavor to unwrap the mysteries of work and life?

For now, they have an aggressive plan that includes continuing to conduct a wide variety of empirical research of their own to better understand human needs and the implications for the workplace and the work experience.  They are also continuing to develop a network of key relationships with diverse talent and thought leaders to collaborate in these efforts.

The team is also focusing on longitudinal studies, attempting to understand human needs from the perspective of people ranging from middle school through retirees in order to help them develop a firm understanding that will inform the way in which the company does business for years to come.

By leveraging the thinking of those external to Herman Miller, Brower is hopeful that they will be, “… both broad and holistic in [their] thinking” and that through diversity of thought and a common interest in understanding the mysteries of the human condition in an effort to drive better design, Herman Miller will continue to lead the way in creating work/life experiences that drive success for everyone involved.

Perhaps that is not so mysterious after all.

This article originally appeared on Forbes