“You need to prepare for the unprepared”
Lisa Pertoso talks about her love for improv and how it feeds back into her role as facilitator and director of educational programs at Hyper Island.
Hi Lisa! So great to meet you again. Could you briefly tell us a bit about your background?
I studied political science and sociology at a very small school and after graduation I studied and taught English in China. That experience really changed the way I looked at the world, and taught me how important human rights are. I’ve worked in DC and for a traditional education company. But both of those job were not very challenging and I wasn’t really using my brain creatively at all. So after a lot of thinking I knew that what I was looking for something within education but more on the digital side.
And now you’re at Hyper Island?
Yes, and I love it. It’s a place where you can grow and try out new roles. You can pitch your ideas and run with them. Officially I’m the director of the educational programs here in New York, but we’re such a small office so everyone does a bit of everything and we collaborate a lot. I work a lot with executives on courses and events, but also on tailor-made solutions which is something that companies are asking about more and more.
So, the reason I reached out to you is because your love for improv. What made you get into that scene?
I was going through a hard time personally and I needed to rediscover myself. I tried different things that scared me and one of them was improv. I loved it because improv didn’t allow me to overthink or analyze everything. Also interacting with a group of people I didn’t know was fun. It was all about laughing and being kind of silly, which I don’t think people get to do that often as an adult. And when you get into the improv community you end up grouping with other people and creating your own teams. Then you try to get stage time and perform and just rehearse wherever you can. It’s been amazing and so much fun.
What drives you to continue doing improv?
I love it. It’s so much fun and it helps me grow as well. I also feel like I need to be doing what I’m teaching and learning new techniques. So by putting myself out there through improv and trying new things I can be a better facilitator and teacher. But it’s also the matter of playing with people from all different background, ages and industries. It’s also such a supportive environment and so different from a lot of things in life as an adult where you’re being judged and have to compete.
How has the improv been reflected in your working life?
A couple of years ago I began to see a lot of similarities between the skills I was building in the improv world and what I was doing in my professional life. Like listening, communicating, and being more creative and open-minded. I saw that improv was another tool to develop those skills. You don’t have to get on a stage to do that, you can still play the exercises and games and by doing that you learn through reflection and debriefing.
So when I do improv I test and hone some things personally and then deliver those processes or techniques to clients, and vice versa. It’s really cool to see exercises I’ve done in improv rehearsal applied in real life. Improvers all use the same principles but don’t really think about how they play out outside of the stage so it’s really interesting to see both sides of it.
What value do you see improv having in the workplace?
I see it as a vehicle to bring you to a place, whether it’s if you want to be a better communicator or being more creative. So I start with playing with the basic improv principles, which are very similar to design thinking principles. For example the “Yes, and…”, no judgment, collaboration and play. A big part is also about knowing when to lead and when to follow, which is related to knowing when to speak up and add value or knowing when you don’t need to speak.
I know you do some courses, like helping people become better speakers and speaking more confidently. What does a course with you look like?
Usually I start by introducing the basic improv principles so people understand them. Then we’re done thinking and it’s time to play, which involves physical movement. I think that when people stand up and move their bodies they get out of their heads and become less analytical and less judgmental. So I have a lot of exercises, some verbal and some non-verbal, and a special order to them to build up to that open space. Then I always do a little mini debrief with the group after each exercise.
You always need to facilitate the group and ask the questions, like “What was that like for you?”. And a lot of people say that “Oh, it’s fun.”. Then you have to keep asking them and dig deeper “Okay, so it’s fun. But can you tell me more?”. After you’ve done that you ask them how it applies to them in their work life, when they’re leading a team, when they’re following etc.
It runs pretty quickly the whole process because I don’t want people to analyze in the middle of the experience. Then at the very end we do a reflection and ask people what insights they had and what they learned about themselves. It’s pretty powerful.
I can imagine it’s pretty uncomfortable as well, opening up and try new things. How do you support people to get over that initial uncomfortableness?
The first thing I usually do is ask people to write think about what assumptions they have and write them down. Then we share them and by saying them out loud you can discover if other people have similar assumptions or not. And then I ask people to throw them away, sometimes it’s just mentally but sometimes we physically throw the notes away, and be in the moment. That helps people to get in the right mindset.
I think it’s also important to be upfront and say that my role is to push you a little bit outside of your comfort zone because that’s where you can grow and be more free.
Is it always hard to get people to open up?
I’ve actually had people surprise me. I had one group with around 10 people and they were all total strangers to each other and they bonded so quickly and were so open that we ended up moving faster through things. It also led to us going deeper and having more powerful debriefs because everyone seemed to be on the same page straight away.
What’s one of your biggest problems during your workshops?
Sometimes people are very analytical and ask questions during the process. “What’s the purpose of this?”. I appreciate that they want to know but I always ask them to hold those questions until the very end and trust the process because improv and the workshop is an experience and it’s about being in the present moment. Usually at the end of two hours they get it and can see the why.
What makes a good facilitator?
I think you have to be a really good listener and empathic, but also have the strength to push the group to the learning outcome and create a safe space. Keeping the group small is also important along with being open-minded and listening to people’s questions, especially if someone gets highly emotional. Being a facilitator is a very complex role where you have to deal with things that come up in the moment, making decisions on the fly, but also having a plan.
You need to prepare for the unprepared.
How is it for you personally to be a facilitator?
I mean, sometimes you get evaluations where you read things like “I don’t like Lisa. I don’t like the way she did this.”. And I have to say okay and reflect on if there’s something I could’ve done differently and ask myself if this feedback is helpful to me. You have to take it or leave it and I think that if you want to be liked as a facilitator it’s not a good role for you because you’re never going to be liked by everybody. But is the group going to learn what they’re supposed to learn? Are most people engaged and having fun? If yes, then I consider myself having done a good job because those are my goals. So if you walk away not liking me but you learned what you needed to learn I’m super happy with that.
How do you start designing your workshops?
I start by asking three questions
- What are the goals for this group?
- What are they working on?
- What are their challenges?
I also want to define three main takeaways that they want from the workshop because I want everything to be focused and from that I work backwards. I have all these exercises in my back pocket that fall into different categories so I pick some and then it’s a matter of arranging them by considering how many people are in the room and how much time I have.
Thank you so much Lisa for meeting up! It’s been really interesting to listen your experience and perspectives. Where can people find out more about you?
Thank you! I’m on Twitter and here’s my website.
I’m researching culture building in startups for my MA in Digital Media Management at Hyper Island. For more info: http://bit.ly/building-startup-culture
