Broadband and Me

Surprises

I noticed that Johnnie is running a workshop on Facilitation for Surprises next week. I wish I could attend, as it sounds like the kind of thing I would enjoy and improve my understanding .

Johnnie's view on this and improvisation set me thinking the other week about the use of improvisation in different contexts and how you learn specific skills techniques which you then apply later.

I recently achieved an orange belt in karate. It was this that set me thinking about practice increasing your ability to perform and to be able to improvise in different surroundings.

Karate (and I apologise to those who know this) consists of certain types of moves (strikes, blocks) and stances, which you learn. You also learn to perform set patterns making use of these basic techniques called Katas. These patterns are often quite old but have been refined over time. Both techniques and patterns can be applied to kumite (sparring) or fighting and also worse case to real life situations should it become necessary.

Thinking of Kumite, the use of the differing techniques and patterns when faced with a new opponent is interesting. As a relative novice I tend to lose all sense of pattern and some technique. Those more experienced though can apply these across situations and opponents to 'win' the bout. This improvisation whilst different to the kind of 'acting' improv that Johnnie is involved in, has a lot in common and translates into a business context. Not I hasten to add in a conflict mode but in terms of practices, techniques and improvisation.

The reason this all popped into my head was reading Dialogue by William Issacs and the idea of techniques, patterns and practices linked well with the ideas in the book. I am wondering how to overlay Dialogue and Karate as a daily drill. Any ideas gratefully received...