FUNNY BUSINESS: Second City

BUSINESS SECOND CITY

The business world never follows a neat script.� Situations change on a dime.� Clients demand more and more.� And the ability to think on your feet can be the difference between success and failure.� Yes, the business is serious.� So who would have thought the tools used to create comedy could also help your company come out on top?

Capital H Group CEO Dan Weinfurter wanted his consulting firm’s first company-wide meeting to start with a bang. But when his handpicked motivational speaker, renowned “solutions architect” Lisa Lewindowski, walked to the podium and addressed the troops, something rather extraordinary happened. She was heckled.

“Yeah hi, Stan Krebs here, Houston office,” the heckler began. “Yeah, I don’t have a desk. I’m using six coffee cans and a surf board.” Momentarily stunned, Lewindowski tried to placate the employee. But then another voice joined in, also con cerned about the company’s rapid growth. The tension in this Chicago ballroom became downright palpable, not only due to the unexpected interruptions, but also because others in the audience had similar is sues—only they were too shy to speak up.

Second City Crew Luckily, the hecklers were quickly silenced, and it didn’t require a call to security or an act from management. No, such actions proved unnecessary, as the entire room busted up with laughter when the disgruntled employees, as well as the motivational speaker, were identified as actors from Second City, the world-famous Chicago comedy theater. These imposters not only were hired to break the ice at this corporate meeting, but also to help pop the tension bubble on some tough company issues. Over the next three days, the folks from Second City led Capital H Group through various levels of improvisational training, setting the tone for the nascent company’s still-dev eloping corporate culture while initiating real connections among colleagues who had never met.

“A young company has to improvise,” says Heidi O’Gorman, chief marketing officer at Capital H Group. “We wanted to get the message across that we’ll always value thinking on y our feet.
Second City got us laughing at ourselves… but they also helped us learn to share ideas.”

Business as improvisation
Chicago’s legendary Second City comedy theater was the launching pad for stars John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers and scores of other household names. Founded in 1959, it’s also one of the pioneers of improvisational comedy, where performers work without a script, building off each other’s ideas with often hilarious results. But there’s another side to Second City, and it’s no laughing matter. At Second City Communications, President Tom Yorton and a group of seasoned writers and actors help companies, from startups to the Fortune 500s, learn how to use improv-based techniques to tackle everything from new protocols and product launches to leadership development.

John Belushi

Wondering how the skills used to make people laugh translate to running a smooth business? Well, improvisation isn’t always about “the funny.”

“Most know us as funny people,” says Yorton. “Fewer are aware of this learning part, but we show how the same tools apply. One of the biggest lies out there is that you can structure yourself into success. Business itself is an act of improvisation. The best-laid plans can go awry—the question is, how do you react?”

While Second City Communications has been involved in business training for at least 15 years, the organization previously functioned primarily as “half-time shows,” performing sketches and other entertainment at c orporate events. But in the past few years, Second City Communications has evolved into a robust consulting division, with offices in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit and Las Vegas. Along with an in-house staff, Yorton draws on a network of more than 150 performers who serve as training facilitators. These experts wor k closely with clients to determine each company’s specific pain points and create customized programs in which improvisational training is hard-wired into a meet ing agenda.

Bill Murray“When companies think training, it’s like something to be checked off a list… they forget it’s about learning,” says Hilton Hotels Senior Vice President of Brand Management Jeff Diskin, who utilized Second City for a recent conference of hotel general managers. The training included entertaining vignettes that showed typical customer service situations gone horribly awry, and then break-out sessions where the general managers could put the learning into practice. “But [working with Second City] we did it in a more participatory way, and that made it stick. They take some radical approaches, but you can see the light bulbs going on.”

Bring a brick, not a cathedral
While there’s no such thing as a typical session, most include some core exercises that focus on communication and the importance of working within a team—vital skills for any company. For example, this past March, employees from the Chicago office of public relations firm Weber Shandwick began with what seemed to be a simple icebreaker. The group of 14 stood in a circle, tossing each other an increasing number of imaginary, colored balls. By the time the group reached the sixth “polka-dot-colored ball” things got a bit out of control. They all laughed, gave themselves a hearty round of applause, and then relaxed.

Second City Workshop

But the activity revealed itself as more than just an apt metaphor for business world multi-tasking—it also emphasized the value of eye contact and the importance of not just delivering information, but also confirming that information is received. Later, the action moved to the Second City theater main stage, where teams constructed a story one sentence at a time, demonstrating that, when you give to the group rather than your own self-interests, the results are not only more effective, but oftentimes more creative. In Second City-speak, the relevant axiom is “bring a brick, not a cathedral,” as even seemingly minor contributions can lead to overall team success.

“Taking care of your partners, teeing them up, building on good ideas—that’s what great improvisation is all about,” says Yorton.

Dare to be different
Earlier this year, when telecommunications giant Motorola was looking for ways to introduce a new series of procedures for their mobile devices division, Director of IT Bob Roe decided on a rather unconventional method: a live, interactive, human board game. So he collaborated with Second City Communications to figure out how this wacky idea might actually work. After a series of meetings, Second City came back with creative ideas on how to inject humor and keep the game lively and entertaining, while also delivering on the learning component.

“We could have gathered everyone in a classroom and just killed ‘em with eight hours of PowerPoint, but we needed something more,” says Roe. “Some of the teams struggled, but everyone learned something. It re-ignited those tendencies from when you were a kid, when you want to learn something new.”

Sue Gillan, an acclaimed writer, performer and current director of the Second City Chicago’s revue From Fear to Eternity has served as a facilitator for nearly 10 years. She says some corporate honchos are a bit skeptical about the effectiveness of the training, at least initially.

“It’s hard to get your head around at first, and it’s the real leaders, the real forward-thinkers that get it, because they’re risk-takers themselves,” says Gillan. “I understand the fear, but there is a method to the madness. We speak in different terms [during business sessions versus traditional comedy improv training] but the exercises don’t really change. That’s why it works without a big leap. But it’s such an experiential workshop. And at the end of the day, even the biggest naysayers get it.”

“Good companies rely on good, fluid communication,” says Yorton. “Improvisation helps companies capitalize on opportunities, break down barriers and build strong teams. But it also can score points for management because it’s actually fun.”

Fun—now that’s a novel concept. When was the last time you heard that word used to describe corporate training?

Second City Communications has offices in Chicago, Toronto, Detroit and Las Vegas. For more information, visit www.secondcity.com

Eugene Levy

SECOND CITY TIMELINE
1959 The Second City opens in Chicago
1960 Alan Arkin joins
1961 Joan Rivers joins; first album Comedy From The Second City recorded on Mercury Records
1967 Peter Boyle joins
1968 Filming for the first Second City feature film, The Monitors, is completed
1969 Harold Ramis joins
1971 John Belushi joins
1973 Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, John Candy and Bill Murray join. The Second City Toronto opens
1974 Eugene Levy joins
1976 Shelley Long joins; The Second City Toronto debuts “Second City TV” throughout Canada
1977 26 episodes of SCTV debut in 55 US markets
1979 The Second City premieres “The Big City Comedy Show” on NBC
1982 SCTV nominated for seven Emmys and wins Best Writing for a Variety Show
1983 Richard Kind joins
1986 Dan Castellaneta and Mike Myers join
1989 Chris Farley and Tim Meadows join
1993 A permanent Second City mainstage opens in Detroit
2001 The Second City tours Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE on a USO tour
2003 The Second City celebrates its 1,000th performance at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas

Rod O’Connor