By comedian and singer-songwriter Reto Zeller
The body plays an incredibly important role in the learning process. This realization is an important reason why forms of learning and moderation such as corporate theater, which address the whole person with emotion, body and mind, have recently gained the upper hand.
Business theater has different approaches. At this point, I would like to introduce you to a representative method: the alienation technique. It is based on four stages:
1. Analyzing the real level of the group of participants
2. Offering an alienated but motif-like play situation
3. Reflection on the stage action
4. The transfer back to the real level
Here is a concrete example from a team development seminar: The participants are made up of two groups from a company that have been merged due to restructuring measures. This reality was translated by the trainer into an alienated, thematically similar game situation: the robbers Hotzenplotz and Snow White have to give up their homes and move into a shared apartment at the behest of the king, who has identified a housing shortage in his kingdom. The psychological themes behind the play scene and the team reality are identical: whether I move in with Snow White as Hotzenplotz or am merged with another department: In both cases
Lots of fun and many insights for the team development process
- What does it mean that Hotzenplotz stinks (proximity-distance)?
- What does it mean that he gets almost no space in the apartment (power)?
- How does Snow White react to his cocky nature (team culture)?
Much of what was shown in the scenes points to unconscious processes that came to the surface through the play and could be dealt with.
In addition to the insights for the real situation, corporate theater has other advantages. Theater elements promote contact between the participants and increase the personal presence of each individual, which increases the sustainability of the learning. Taking on and changing roles enables participants to gain new perspectives and points of view. Last but not least, the playful approach allows for frequent and hearty laughter
