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Improve your Communication Skills through Theatre Improvisation
Improvisation Theatre is a relatively new form of theatre performance where actors step onto the stage with no prior preparations and script, and is thrown a scenario where they have to "improvise" on the spot. The thought of this creates a lot of anxiety to many people. They often think:
But I am not funny!
Improv is hard!
But I don't have the personality for that!
The above are all myths. First of all, Improvisation is very much part of our lives. Since we were toddlers, we find out about our surroundings and develop a way to survive in the world through improvisation. Have you ever seen a baby play with and manipulate a toy in many different ways? That’s improvisation. As we grow up and find our own ways in our lives, for example, our first days of school, job interviews, first dates, first trip abroad, we also have to rely on improvisation skills. Moreover, we do not need to be funny to be improvisers. This reputation of improv is probably as a result of our usual introductions to improv being in comedy clubs. The bottom-line is that regardless of skill levels, personalities or cultural background, we are natural improvisers.
Communication is, in many ways, just like Improv. Unless we are giving a prepared speech, we do not have a script for communications. We may walk into a meeting with an agenda, or an ideas of what to say, but we will have to respond to questions and comments made by others, and that cannot be scripted. That, in essence, is improvisation. Your ability to communicate with composure, confidence and clarity in high stakes, uncertain situations can diffuse tension and even rally your employees, your bosses, your adversaries on your side. The failure to do so, however, can have dire consequences for your company, and more importantly your career.
In this workshop, Coen Tan will call upon his experiences in Improv Theatre to bring you through common communication situations, help you understand your communication styles and how you can adjust your communications to become more impactful every time you speak. The Training is designed to be experiential. Participants engage in a series of individual, paired and group exercises that encourage them to interact and learn from the experience. After each exercise, facilitators take time to discuss what happened and note discoveries, challenges and real-world applications that participants map to specific situations and behaviours. The tone is conversational, playful and light.
But I am not funny!
Improv is hard!
But I don't have the personality for that!
The above are all myths. First of all, Improvisation is very much part of our lives. Since we were toddlers, we find out about our surroundings and develop a way to survive in the world through improvisation. Have you ever seen a baby play with and manipulate a toy in many different ways? That’s improvisation. As we grow up and find our own ways in our lives, for example, our first days of school, job interviews, first dates, first trip abroad, we also have to rely on improvisation skills. Moreover, we do not need to be funny to be improvisers. This reputation of improv is probably as a result of our usual introductions to improv being in comedy clubs. The bottom-line is that regardless of skill levels, personalities or cultural background, we are natural improvisers.
Communication is, in many ways, just like Improv. Unless we are giving a prepared speech, we do not have a script for communications. We may walk into a meeting with an agenda, or an ideas of what to say, but we will have to respond to questions and comments made by others, and that cannot be scripted. That, in essence, is improvisation. Your ability to communicate with composure, confidence and clarity in high stakes, uncertain situations can diffuse tension and even rally your employees, your bosses, your adversaries on your side. The failure to do so, however, can have dire consequences for your company, and more importantly your career.
In this workshop, Coen Tan will call upon his experiences in Improv Theatre to bring you through common communication situations, help you understand your communication styles and how you can adjust your communications to become more impactful every time you speak. The Training is designed to be experiential. Participants engage in a series of individual, paired and group exercises that encourage them to interact and learn from the experience. After each exercise, facilitators take time to discuss what happened and note discoveries, challenges and real-world applications that participants map to specific situations and behaviours. The tone is conversational, playful and light.
Objective
In this program, you will learn how to:
- Overcome personal beliefs that might be holding you back from becoming a more influential and engaging communicator
- Communicate effectively and efficiently so that you get your point understood clearly each time
- Develop your quick-thinking skills so that you can speak on your feet confidently, fluently and knowledgeably
- Enhance your conflict management and communication skills so that you can clear these important road blocks to performance and success in the workplace
- Learn the art of assertive communications and to support your points of views with powerful supporting materials
- How to deconstruct hostile verbal statements and stay on point, and on purpose in difficult situations
- Develop conversational agility so that you can track others in conversations and be able to "react off-script" instead of canned speeches
Outline
Learn the Basics of Improvisation
Why People Don’t Communicate Clearly
Master the Art of Verbal Jiu-jitsu
Being a Compelling Communicator
Develop Assertive Communications Skills
- Bust the common myths of improvisation and overcome your fears and barriers to improvisation
- Be able to use improvisation techniques to craft your responses on the fly, and to have meaningful conversations
- Gives participants a tool for acknowledging and building on another’s point of view for true collaboration
Why People Don’t Communicate Clearly
- Challenges people face when having to communicate under pressure, stress, or when they are busy
- Personal fright-fight-flight patterns and natural defences that cause people to "clamp up" when communicating
- 4 sins communicators made because of "trying too hard"
Master the Art of Verbal Jiu-jitsu
- Learn how to decoding hostile communications
- Understanding pre-suppositions that are implied in conversations, so that you do not fall into the trap of addressing the "bait" rather than the issue at hand
- Being able to make clear distinctions between concepts and ideas, so that you can remain on track and on point with your communications
Being a Compelling Communicator
- Communication "follow through" - how to communicate so others listen
- Apply voice quality, enunciation, accents, pitch, vocal variety, body language, eye contact and energy in your communications
- Open-hearted listening - listening not just for understanding content, but also for underlying emotions and motivations
- Mirror, matching and leading in your communications so that you are able to empathize, match, and change the way you make people feel
- Learn how to be able to use the power of analogies and associations to create new ideas and land different perspectives
Develop Assertive Communications Skills
- Learn the art of assertive communications and to support your points of views with powerful supporting materials
- Learn the power of setting effective and healthy boundaries so that you can manage your own communications with multiple stakeholders and get them to know your stand
- Communicate difficult messages in a way that will encourage and motivate change
Particular of Coen Tan
Workshop Facilitator, Natural Empath, Improv Enthusiast
As a facilitator, Coen envisions a world in which people break out of their self-imposed limitations and express themselves courageously to serve others. He believes that every person deserves to be seen, be heard, and be appreciated.
This conviction comes from difficult personal experiences.
Personal Experiences
Growing up as an emotionally sensitive child, Coen often “felt” emotions that people were not aware of feeling themselves, so he was often labelled as “overly sensitive.” For a long time, he has accepted these labels and therefore learn to keep his emotions to himself. This led him to isolate himself, got bullied in school, and fell into depression.
After a long journey of personal healing, working through his experiences, Coen is now able to understand that his perceived weaknesses are actually his strengths when applied with empathy.
Today, he brings his gifts of compassion, curiosity and creativity to create safe places where individuals can challenge themselves and achieve personal and team transformations. Combining his understanding of human psychology with improvisation theatre techniques, Coen’s workshops are engaging, fun and deep learning experiences.
Work Experiences and Professional Training
Over the past 12 years, Coen has spoken to, and trained over 50,000 individuals. Before embarking on this journey, he worked for 5 years as a leadership training curriculum designer, which gave him an in-depth understanding of the psychology of learning.
Having been certified in multiple personality profiling instruments like the MBTI and Enneagram, he has an appreciation for the myriad of worldviews and motivation drivers of people he works with. Being a certified Cultural Transformation and Values Assessment Consultant, and Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner, Coen is inspired to work with people to tap into their values and innate gifts to flourish.
- holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Consulting,
- Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment
- a certified NLP Practitioner
- a certified Enneagram Practitioner
- an accredited MBTI Personality Profiling Practitioner
- a Certified Organization Culture Transformation Practitioner
- achieved the Gold-Distinction Award (Speaking in Public) by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA).
Coen’s wide range of clients include Citibank, AXA Insurance; Prudential, AIA, Zurich Insurance, PayPal, Twitter, Siemens Healthineers, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Roche, AstraZeneca, Allergan, Watsons, Wacker, Lubrizol, CGG, Fullerton Capital, Sime Darby, Cognizant, A*STAR, MINDEF, MHA, Nanyang Technological University and dozens of other reputable organizations.
