“It is a known fact that the human body and psychology influence each other and are in constant interplay.”
Michael Chekhov, To the Actor
“…the most important thing that the storyteller has to consider in non-verbal communication is that of ‘congruence’, that is making sure that what you say is being backed up by what you do or how you appear.”
- Margaret Parkin, Tales for Trainers
Improvisers take on three roles whenever they step on stage. Simultaneously, they function as actors, directors, and writers. The writer third of the improviser can easily fall into the trap of “telling not showing.” As playwrights know, behavior trumps words in impact. (You know what they say about the relative value of pictures and words.) Still, because we are so much more conscious of the words we use, it is easy to forget that communication depends on so many non-verbal cues. A number of the exercises that Spolin created are silent – no words allowed – for just this reason. In one exercise, improvisers pair up to do a scene with only one person able to speak. Observers and the players alike find that the mute improviser has just as much power to make offers and further the action of the scene as the verbal one. When improvisers are forced to relinquish their language skills, they see how much they can communicate with their bodies.
There are three aspects of the non-verbal work in improv that are useful outside of the theatrical world. They are: forging a strong and supple instrument, aligning the mind and the body, and status. Let’s take them one by one.
Honing the Instrument
Most artists use tools external to themselves. The painter has his brushes and canvases; the writer has her pen and paper; the musician has his keyboard, trumpet or violin. What the actor has is herself. A significant portion of acting training is spent in movement, voice, and speech classes. The concept is that no matter how much you feel or how brilliant the words you speak are, if you do not have a strong “instrument,” you will not be able to communicate the beauty of the music. Great musicians invest millions of dollars in Stradivarius violins. Actors are stuck with whatever body they are born with, and they must transform them into precious instruments.
Improvisers depend on their bodies and voices to be both strong and flexible. In the course of a two-hour show, they may play a dozen distinct characters. Each character, while looking, moving, and sounding different (all without costumes and props, mind you) must be comfortably seen and heard by the audience. That requires physical stamina and agility. The exercises designed to build those skills are straightforward. Developing a strong instrument involves ongoing conditioning and practice. Like athletes, the best improvisers workout regularly and warm-up before game time.
What is true on stage is just as true when running a workshop, giving a sales presentation, or motivating a team. Your body should be relaxed and open, your voice should be audible and pleasant, and both should convey the feelings and intent behind your words.
In addition to this general conditioning, there are specific techniques that performers learn to adapt their behaviors to stage or screen. Stage actors practice projecting their voices and extending their gestures to fill unnaturally large spaces, for example. Film and television actors learn to reduce extraneous movements, since the camera will exaggerate them.
Increasingly, professionals of all kinds find they must acquire these kinds of formal performance skills. Leaders speak at annual meetings for audiences of thousands. Salespeople give presentations to clients across the world via teleconferencing technology. The pressure to present well continues to increase. The public has become acutely conditioned by television, and judges as much on appearance as on substance.
Dennis Miller, the caustic comedian and HBO talk show host, has a famous rant about what fun most Americans made of Ross Perot’s running mate, Admiral James Stockdale, after his appearance in the 1992 vice-presidential debate. The Admiral was a kind and respected intellectual with a distinguished military record. He also happened to be uncomfortable on camera. As Miller says, Stockdale committed the only unpardonable sin of our culture. He looked bad on television. In 1992, it was still possible to express shock that looking good on camera should matter so much. These days, it is a reality that we take for granted, often without a second thought.
Aligning Mind and Body
Training the body in the ways discussed above is relatively common in presentation and media training courses. It fundamentally consists of physical training, like working out. Although it may not always feel comfortable or easy, it is pretty straightforward.
Another, slightly more complex area of non-verbal training addresses the connection between the body and the mind. Kirk Livingston, a former Artistic Director of BATS Improv, told me that the most important thing he has learned in his non-verbal training is that “the body is always in the present, whereas the mind floats around in the past and the future.” In other words, if we wish to be spontaneous and aware, our physical selves are the key to success. Our bodies have no choice. They must be in the moment. For the most part, they cannot whisk themselves out of the room if they feel threatened or shy. Our minds do that all the time. Our bodies cannot be in two places at once. Many of us are in three or four places at the same time mentally. What Livingston suggests, then, is that our bodies are more reliable than our minds. They are more in touch with the reality around them, and therefore a better guide to making real connections.
As babies, we are completely integrated. When we feel a physical sensation, we cry out with deep emotion until we are comfortable again. When we are angry or sad, we scrunch up our bodies and faces and turn beet red as we cry. We sleep when we are tired, without worrying about what will happen tomorrow.
As we get older, we separate our thoughts from our immediate physical sensations. One of the ways we do this is by tensing our muscles and holding our breath to cut off the connection. That is why babies make much clearer, louder crying sounds than adults, even though they are so much smaller. But as much as we may want to separate mind and body, the two affect each other. Some of the most progressive businesses have begun to invite masseurs into the offices for just this reason. They realize that if their employees are physically comfortable and healthy, they will also feel more content and work more productively. A colleague of mine, who specializes in creative problem solving, advocates going for a walk when the solution to a problem has eluded you for a length of time. “It is easier to change your body than to change your mind,” he says.
Individuals have comfort zones, and some people feel more in touch with their physicality, some with their feelings, some with their intellects. Athletes, for example, tend to have heightened sensitivity to and control over physical experience. Computer programmers tend to depend on their mental capabilities. I am reminded of my own tendency to depend on my cerebral capacities, when I interrupt my writing to perform. One night, I found myself focusing so much on my intellect - planning what I should say and analyzing the scenes I was in - that I felt sluggish and uninspired. I would have gone home completely discouraged if I had not been called upon to play a pig in one scene. As a pig, I could only communicate non-verbally. I had no words, just squeaks and eyes and little hooves. I was forced to be present and connected to my body. I am sure it was my most creative work of the night. Certainly the audience thought so.
Individuals in business settings tend to depend on their minds more than their bodies. Business professionals report that they spend much more time planning what they will say in presentations than they do practicing how they will say it. The world of business is extremely abstract. However, the Mehrabian study quoted in chapter one confirms, even in business settings, the fact that we trust vocal and visual cues much more than we do verbal cues. Again, his statistics say that when we decide whether or not to trust a message, we make our decision based on the following percentages: How the speaker looks: 55%, How she sounds: 38%, What she says: 7%. At first, workshop participants express shock at this statistic. However, it is not really that surprising. Words come from our sophisticated, conscious brains. Our physical and vocal responses emanate from much more primitive, and therefore less controlled, places.
What this truth leads us to is the realization that no matter how brilliant the content we have to deliver is, we had better get our bodies along for the ride, or we have much less power to affect and convince our audience. Casting directors say that they make their decisions about the actors who audition for them within the first fifteen seconds of their audition. They do not have to wait to hear how the monologue unfolds. They can tell from the way the actor looks, sounds, stands, moves, whether he will fulfill their requirements. Similarly, the success of a trainer, salesperson, or manager may be much more connected to how the message is delivered than we like to think.
For the same reasons that physical and vocal communication is powerful, students often confront it with discomfort and confusion. As soon as we engage our voices and bodies we become vulnerable. We must tear down the walls that have protected us. The reward we receive in exchange is an ability to affect and be affected. It is a valuable power, indeed. A number of the spontaneity and trust-building exercise in this book, double as techniques for increase physical comfort and awareness. The uneasiness that comes with the first forays into this area is more than worth the results.
A final point about the integration of the internal and external experience: It is possible to develop from the outside in, or the inside out. British acting training tends to work the first way, and American the second. Sometimes, if a student is struggling with their physicality, asking them to change their internal focus can help.
A number of years ago, a colleague and I were hired by a major software company to train their new spokeswoman. She was to be their new “human face,” designed to make their image more attractive to the home consumer. “Carey” had already been exposed to media training, but she came to us nervous and confused. From her previous coach, she had learned how to sit, how to stand, what not to say. What she had not learned to do is behave authentically. During the two days that we were together, we had Carey practice telling stories from her own life, and talk about her own passions and desires. As she opened up, her face and body relaxed and without thinking, she began to look more attractive, more convincing, and easier to understand. For her, the key was internal connection, and the external behavior took care of itself.
Whether you approach integration from the inside out or the outside in, the integration remains imperative. Just as a house divided against itself cannot stand, and instrument divided against itself cannot sing.
Status Behaviors
A more specific area of non-verbal work that is explored throughout improv communities is status behaviors. “Status,” in this context, is defined as power dynamics. Status dynamics permeate all aspects of human interaction.
Status is not the same as official title or rank, although they may connect in some ways. In studying power, social science researches have investigated different sources of power. They have then divided them into two classes, positional and personal. We make a mistake if we assume the two always go hand-in-hand. The ineffectual VP may have less actual status than the efficient personal assistant. Status is both fundamental and complicated. Words, actions, clothing, title, knowledge all combine to define a person’s status.
As a way of looking at relationships and dramatic action, status entered the improvisational lexicon, via the work of Keith Johnstone. I do not think it is a coincidence that Johnstone, a Brit, focused on the concept, while none of his American counterparts did. In the United States, we eschew the concept of class and power. Everyone is supposed to be created equal, and so that must mean everyone is equal. An awareness of status differences, especially within a small community or team, has come to constitute political incorrectness. Organizations flatten their hierarchies and expect that status differentials will disappear. And perhaps not surprisingly, it is often those with the most power who resist the concept the most strongly. As social science tells us, the privileged are often blind to their privileges.
But make no mistake. Status dynamics exist. All the time, everywhere. What may distinguish one culture from another is what characteristics endow someone with status, which behaviors are expected of individuals with differing status roles, and how stable those roles are. Johnstone’s genius was to recognize that status can be understood not as something we are, but as something we do. We confer or accept status through our behaviors, and it is those interactions which determine who is perceived as holding the power.
Johnstone found that when his student “played” high or low status, their work on stage became richer and looked more like real-life behavior. It is his focus on behaviors that signal high or low status that has proved so useful in communication-skills training. Through an exploration of these non-verbal cues, students heighten their perceptions of status relationships, and learn to raise and lower their own and other’s status. Peter Falk’s detective character, Colombo, for example, plays low-status in order to confound murderers, who often hold high-status positions. Ultimately, Colombo wins through his tenacity, brilliance, and expertise, but in the meantime, he tricks his adversaries into underestimating him, so that they let their guards down.
Psychologists Levine and Moreland say, “Humans, like other animals, usually have little difficulty reading signs of status and recognizing who defers to whom. People high in status in a group tend to talk more and are freer to interrupt. They also display their status nonverbally, by standing erect, maintaining eye contact longer, and generally displaying signs of confidence.” Johnstone adds, high status individuals tend to move fluidly and hold their heads still. Low status behaviors, he says, include making oneself small physically and vocally, saying “um… and uh…” a lot, touching one’s face and hair, and trying to make eye contact, but looking away quickly. The first set of behaviors signal calm and security. The second, nervousness and a desire to hide or please.
Playing with status highlights the power of non-verbal behaviors to change the sense of a message. In an exercise adapted from Impro, participants are given a short script of neutral dialogue, and asked to play it over and over with different status relationships. The huge effect of a roll of the eyes or a giggle is stunning. Often, I will use a job-interview setting for the short scene, written by the students. It might look something like this:
A: Good morning.
B: Good morning.
A: Have a seat.
B: Thank you.
A: I have looked over your resume.
B: Yes?
A: I see you worked at Global Inc.
B: Yes. For a number of years.
A: Very impressive.
B: Thanks.
Participants usually begin with the assumption that the interviewer will have high status by default. All the actor playing the role must do, though, is sound impressed and eager to please, and the interviewee’s status rises. Conversely, even a line like “very impressive” can seem cutting when said with a dismissive tone.
Because it is so fundamental to our social structures, our sensitivity to status is highly honed. “Status Cards” illustrates this awareness. Participants are given a playing card that they put on their foreheads without looking at the face. The card signifies their status, and the group treats each member accordingly. When they are asked to line up in order of status, based on how they were treated, most groups have over 90% accuracy, and many individuals can guess their cards exactly.
Not only are we aware of status, but the desire for it is an exceptionally strong motivator. Keith Allred, an expert in negotiation theory, stated in one of his classes at Columbia University that people will give up tangible gains – like money – in exchange for status. And, he says, they will reject agreements that are clearly within their best interests, if they feel like they are not getting the respect they deserve. It makes sense that status wields such influence in human interactions. Historically, the guy with the highest status got the best food and the most opportunities to procreate. (That is probably still true, though the attributes that confer status may have changed.)
Status is not static. You may have high status in one situation (for example, giving a presentation) and low status in another (fixing your computer). Think about your family. Who has the highest status when it comes to making decisions about money? How do you know? What behaviors does that person engage in that signal she or he has the status? How about when it comes to deciding which movie to see, or what to serve for dinner? Does the same person have the status?
In my co-worker, Mandy’s, family, her mother has always controlled the financial aspects of her family’s life. Her mother is extremely generous and not visibly controlling, but her status is clear. Mandy’s father actually makes more money, but he deposits it in a joint bank account and goes to his wife when he wished to make a major purchase. She has the power. There are a number of reasons that her mother holds this status. The main one is she loves to manage the money. Her husband doesn’t care to. In this situation, he has the positional power as the breadwinner, but she has status stemming from her knowledge, expertise, and passion.
Now consider your organization. What attributes confer the most status on individuals there? Title? Expertise? Age? Gender? Knowledge? Affiliation? In which situations do you feel you have status? Are there situations in which you would like to have more? Less?
Once people recognize that status exists, they may assume that everyone craves high status all the time. However, some of us are not most comfortable in the visibly high-status role. In Impro, Johnstone said he believed, “… that people have a preferred status; that they like to be low, or high, and that they try to maneuver themselves into the preferred position.” A colleague of mine, for example, claims that she prefers to be the second in command. There is always someone else to go to for help, to learn from, and to pass the buck to. Yet, she has affiliative power, and enough status to be included in important decisions and exciting activities. Where do you think you are most comfortable? What about each of your direct reports? Your trainees? Does it change with the situation?
Business people and performers benefit from status awareness in contradictory ways. For the performer, knowledge of status is useful because it is the stuff of drama. Take the great Greek tragedies. They are all about a character with extremely high status – a king, a god – falling from grace. Many American classics recount the story of a low-status character attempting to achieve the American Dream - acquire money and fame and, hence, status. Improvisers study status, because it helps them create drama. Changes in status make for compelling action on stage.
Trainers and leaders working in business settings find status awareness useful for the opposite reason. By learning to equalize status, they can enhance communication and motivation.
Remember the trust formula? If the status gap gets too big, people do not believe that leaders can empathize with them, so they do not feel safe. And, a leader, if he is separated from his people by too big a status gap, fails to get important information and advice.
Through an awareness of status interactions, trainers can raise the status of their learners to facilitate participation and comfort. Or they can raise their own status to focus the group. Managers can set effective limits or seem more accessible. Individual contributors can increase the possibility that their ideas will be heard and valued. Salespeople can connect with their clients, children can appease their parents, and couples can resolve sticky issues that they might not have understood before. For a further discussion of the topic, consult Impro, or for an academic approach, look to French and Raven’s seminal work on social power dynamics in 1959.
As we strengthen our physical and vocal instrument, align our bodies with our minds, and raise our awareness of the effects of our behaviors, we augment our communicative prowess. It is not a fluke that our political and community leaders are increasingly being drawn from the ranks of performers.
Application
When the business community first began to turn to theatre professionals, it was for presentation-skills and media training. It is no trick to translate theatrical techniques to the performance aspects of business communication. As I am sure you have already discovered, there is more to it than that. The behavioral, vocal, and status-based exercises included in this book provide guidelines for developing skills that business professionals ignored for many years, and are now learning to value and address consciously. They are suitable both as workshop activities and as personal development tools. Apply them in the following ways:
Enhance Presentation Skills
The most straightforward application of this non-verbal work is, in fact, presentation skills. The leader explaining a strategy or setting direction, the trainer standing in front of a classroom, or the sales manager giving a report needs to be seen and understood and needs to inspire confidence and enthusiasm. Whenever people present in formal situations, the effects of their gestures and vocal tones are magnified. A habitual gesture that may not be noticeable one-on-one can loom large on the stage. The time to think about the non-verbal aspects of a presentation is not during the presentation. There are plenty of other things to focus on then. Strengthen your voice and body ahead of time through regular exercise, and spend as much time planning the form of your presentation as you do planning the content. (Form, by the way, includes not only your physical and vocal work, but also all of the “set and costume” trappings. What do your slides look like? Is your handwriting legible? What are you going to wear?)
Align the Mind and the Body
Since the body and the mind are connected, they affect each other. This is hardly news for those of you who have lain awake at night worrying about a project or relationship. The good news is that by taking care of our bodies we can relieve stress and increase productivity. During a presentation, for example, taking the time to breathe slowly and deeply can reduce nervousness as well as its physical manifestations.
A strong body can also help a trainer maintain concentration and energy throughout a session. Whey the body gets tired, so does the brain. An eight-hour day constitutes an awfully long performance. Even with breaks, it requires physical as well as mental stamina.
In a related vein, the more healthy and alert your body is, the more attuned you can be to the environment, and, as we know, listening and awareness enhance both creativity and communication. In addition to the external environment, your own body will give you useful data. If you feel hungry, perhaps your students do, as well. If your gut feels tense, perhaps there is some sort of conflict that you need to resolve. Take care of your body, and then listen to what it tells you.
Make Conscious Status Choices
An ability to manipulate status dynamics is a potent tool. As noted, the more equalized the status, the smoother the communication. Facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and presentation skills all depend to some degree or another on this capacity. A trainer may choose to raise the status of his students to increase their sense of control and feeling of competence, for example. This can be achieved through an action as subtle as sitting, rather than standing, or one as blatant as turning over the position of teacher to a participant. A new manager may choose to change his gestures and vocal patterns to sound more confident, and therefore credible, when speaking to the CEO. A coach can pay attention to the subtle signs of high or low status in the person being coached, and adjust in order to keep communication flowing.
When experimenting with status, here are a couple of tips to keep in mind. First, inauthentic behavior will be spotted and backfire. Our animal sense is keen. The power here resides in aligning behavioral signals with our intentions. If the two are not aligned, the results could be ineffective, embarrassing, or at worst, unethical.
Second, the qualities that bestow status on someone vary widely from environment to environment. What one wears in a law firm to garner high status is not the same as what one wears on a football field – or at a dot com, for that matter. The same holds true for vocabulary, story, pedagogical, and managerial choices. Know your audience. What will they identify with? Which stylistic choices are they used to? What is their preferred status relationship?
If you are conscious, aligned, and authentic, your non-verbal behaviors can catapult your effectiveness to increasingly higher levels of mastery. Although stretching in these ways may feel unnatural at first, these ways of expanding your performance range can have deep impact.
Key Points:
Non-verbal behavior often carries more weight than the verbal communication.
Three aspects of non-verbal behavior from theatrical work are:
- Forging a strong body
- Aligning the mind and body
- Status
An actor’s (or presenter’s) body is his instrument.
Giving a presentation is like being on stage.
We focus more on content than on form, even though form is so important, because developing our voices and bodies can be uncomfortable at first.
Status is defined as power dynamics
Status can be viewed as something we do, not something we are.
Status is fluid and variable.
Status comes from a variety of personal and positional criteria, including non-verbal behaviors.
Personal and positional status positions are not always aligned.
We are very attuned to and motivated by status.
Individuals may have preferred status roles.
The more equal the status, the more communication is facilitated.
The more we learn to consciously shift and expand our range of performance, the more positive impact we can have.