(From UNC Kenan-Flagler) -- Look around you; everything is changing. The global economy, medicine, technology, the environment, geo-politics…you name it and chances are, it is undergoing dramatic change. Of course, this has always been the case—but the rate of change is increasing. These changes can have dramatic and unexpected consequences for your organization. Just keeping up with the rate of change can be a significant challenge, much less anticipating and staying ahead of the curve. Companies that want to thrive in this constantly evolving business environment need the ability to change quickly – and they need agile business leaders who can learn, develop and adapt quickly.
How can you develop agile business leaders in your organization? While knowledge and experience remain critical, it is becoming increasingly important to develop leaders with the ability to deal with ambiguity and change, to lead and foster innovation and creativity, and to make and implement decisions quickly. Organizations require leaders who can adapt, think on their feet and lead with confidence through the shifting business landscape—all skills and behaviors that can be a challenge for talent managers to develop. Developing these unique capabilities requires a different approach, encouraging some talent management professionals to embrace unconventional methods. In the following pages, we will explore one of these non-traditional methods—using improv to develop more agile business leaders.
This white paper:
- Defines what improv is (and isn’t)
- Outlines the rules of improv and discusses how these rules apply to your organization
- Examines how improv can be used to develop specific skills and behaviors and build agile business leaders
- Offers examples of how organizations are using improv to effectively develop talent
- Provides practical ways you can introduce improv in your organization
