Leadership Communication

September 10, 2015

Sometimes it’s the juxtapositions in life that get things moving, and this was the case when Playback Theatre Sydney (PTS) worked with a well-known global brand recently. HR had organised their Leadership Team Development Day, and wanted to shake things up a bit – so they invited Playback Theatre to run an interactive story session and chose an unusual venue – a colourful graffitt’d Artists Collective in inner-city Sydney. Out of their comfort zone, this put the group on their toes!

 

PTS’s performance was to assist in airing the results of 360 Degree Feedback, from the Team Effectiveness Design system. This confidential and anonymous feedback from colleagues – peers, managers and direct reports – needed to be discussed, so on that day the leaders assembled with PTS, to look at this feedback. And what emerged – which isn’t uncommon to high-achieving teams, but couldn’t have been entirely predicted, was conflict.

 

Engagement was high as the PTS Conductor (emcee) drew out participants’ responses to feedback, and their personal experiences were played back onstage. Viewing colleagues experiences through the language of theatre – after hearing them from the Teller (the person relating their story) – gave the audience time to reflect on the emotions and ramifications of each experience. The process of Playback Theatre injected new energy into proceedings and let perspectives broaden, as the playing back showed the depth and breadth of what people actually said. There was no ‘what if..’, ‘but if…’ – it was just the experiences as they sat with the group.

 

It was a truly exciting performance as what emerged was juicy, revealing and useful. Some ‘red hot’ issues were addressed which were incredibly important for the team to process. Playback Theatre is fearless in this way – what is aired, is aired – and once the elephant in the room is acknowledged, energy can be directed more positively to solving, rather than containing – and the theatrical aspect provides a safe framework in which the conversation can take place. The process isn’t dissimilar to the Native American talking stick which allows clear dialogue, and true listening, by permitting only one voice at a time, and many listeners. Plus, the performance aspect articulates and embeds each narrative thread in the audiences’ mind, with real drama and resultant empathy and connection.


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