A neat way of raising the profile of Applied Improvisation is to notice examples in the world around us, then name them and claim them.  So if you see an individual or an organisation succeeding by tackling something improvisationally, you can point it out.  Likewise, if they seem stuck in a script that no longer serves them well, you might comment on how improvisation might be a more useful response.

In our network, Mike Bonifer, for example, has suggested that Tiger Woods and his team were slow to react to his post-crash circumstances because they were so fixed on the story they had previously created.  Similarly, Dr Steve Leybourne analyses how improvised work 'evolves' - often surreptitiously - to meet failing or unachievable deadlines in organisations.  He has found that getting organizations to accept the benefits of this apparently 'uncontrolled' way of working takes some effort.

It seems to me that the practices of improvisation constantly mirror those of everyday life and social rituals.  Might we consider our New Year celebrations as a large-scale equivalent of theatrical improvisers calling out ‘Again’ to erase a mistake or start a new scene?  My resolution, then, is to draw out more parallels, to observe how life is more improvisational than we may have noticed.

So, happy new year.  Again!

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