Interactive Theatre
Culture is tricky to define and even trickier to change. Culture permeates what people say – and what they don’t say - how they feel, and what they do. If your culture is a positive one, people are generally happy. If it’s not – well, enough said.
To bring about a change in culture you have to involve people
Interactive Theatre cuts straight to heart of what’s really going on between people. It lays bare what they think, say and do in a way that’s recognisable without being remotely judgemental. In fact, it’s often quite funny. What’s more, it creates an open space into which new concepts, ideas and attitudes can flow. Most importantly, it leads to practical actions which drive culture change.
InterAct creates momentum and helps achieve the critical mass needed for organisational change
For a culture to really change, a critical mass of people must take a fundamental step towards new ways of thinking. Once this happens, change is unstoppable – there is a seismic shift in organisational behaviour. How do we create this momentum? By reaching large numbers in a short space of time. In an Interactive Theatre session, we can work effectively with up to 100 people. Multiply that by five sessions and in a single week you’ve reached 500 individuals, or 2,000 in a month. Classroom-based corporate training simply cannot influence people this profoundly, and this quickly.
Interact is very cost-effective
Working with up to 80 people people per session and nearly 500 a week means that per head costs are far lower than classroom-based learning and development, and the results are better.
Supporting media help make large-scale organisational change sustainable
The lively, dramatic nature of Interactive Theatre lends itself perfectly to being captured on film. This means we can create videos, DVDs and downloadable clips to help spread the experience throughout the organisation. These tools provide excellent support for in-house trainers, and bring new members of staff up to speed.
How does InterAct work?
Through InterAct (Interactive Theatre) programme, we delivers a unique opportunity to ‘rehearse for reality’ involving the whole organization and enabling a critical mass shift in attitudes and behaviors that will then act as a catalyst for change in a time and cost effective way.
Based on the stories discovered through our research, we create a highly targeted, dynamic piece of theatre around the real issues participants face as they try to execute their plans for culture change.
The play is both entertaining and incisive and typically ends in disaster for the lead character. Inevitably this triggers a lively discussion around the key question: ‘What could have been done differently?’
We then have a highly focused conversation with the audience handled sensitively by a skilled facilitator so no-one is made to feel exposed or put on the spot and run the plays through again this time inviting the audience to stop the action at any point to suggest ways that things could work out better.
Initial shyness is soon overcome and the session is filled with laughter and insight as real-time solutions are found by the participants themselves to the issues they face day to day at work.
People walk away with new ways of solving old issues…and having tested their ideas won’t argue with them as they know they work.
Rehearsals for reality empower people, trigger key changes in attitudes and organisational behaviour and send a clear message that the organization recognizes that change will only work by involving and enrolling all the staff in the new possibility.
No other learning and development tool works with so many people to create such significant effects.