Kelli's Musing: Listening for the Offer

Written By Kelli Sexton,
CEO of Rockton Software

Have you ever had the experience where you suddenly notice themes that you have never seen before? Like,
when you buy a new car and suddenly see that same make and model everywhere? Or when you learn a new word, and suddenly see that word in multiple places?  This similar type of awareness of themes in our own lives can open us up to new experiences.

My most recent thematic discovery starts in the days when Mark & I were still in college. While Mark sought classes around theatre, I avoided them.  In order to satisfy my graduation requirements, I took what I thought would be an easy class: theater improvisation. It turned out to be anything but easy for me! I couldn’t jump in when someone pretended to hold the door open of a car for me and pick up the story line; I simply froze.  Ever since that fateful class, I have believed that I lacked the quickness to really play theater games, and proudly conferred my distinction of being a Premier Audience Member. So there’s the start of my theme – theater games are not for me.

Fast forward to my recent attendance of my daughter’s back to school night.  Her theater teacher shared insights that a business owner had identified the character strengths of creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and confidence coming out of his participation in theater http://tomvanderwell.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/10-ways-being-a-theatre-major-prepared-me-for-success/. These character traits rang true as I could recognize Mark’s strengths in these areas and suddenly my daughter’s participation in theater sounded much nobler than simply taking an easy elective class.

The third tie related to playing theater games came from a book I am currently reading: “To Sell is Human” by Daniel Pink http://www.amazon.com/Sell-Human-Surprising-Influencing-ebook/dp/B0087GJ8KM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381151755&sr=8-1&keywords=to+sell+is+human. In one section of the book, he describes how business executives were attending a class on theater games and learning some very valuable skills; namely, the art of listening. See, in theater games, you don’t what the other actor is going to offer – such as a spaghetti noodle that suddenly takes the shape of a fire hose that leads to firefighters arriving at the door of the scene. You can’t plan ahead of time, you simply have to listen for the offer.

And that word, listen, is the final piece of my themed event.  Just recently, our entire team completed 360° reviews of everyone, and the consistent suggestion for improvement in my peer evaluation was around having the ability to listen to other view points, particularly when I think I already have the answer. Suddenly, it has come full circle to me: how my earlier challenge in playing theater games may have had less to do with my ability to respond quickly and more to do with being in the moment and really listening. Is there a place in your life that you should be listening?

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