Improv(e) Your OT Communication Skills With These Simple Tricks
Chloe Shmays, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Being an occupational therapist requires effective communication and the ability to think on your feet, two skills that are also necessities in improv. I took an improv class during my MSOT program and learned some tips that I’ll take with me as I begin my practice. For those of you looking for a fun elective or just wanting to pick up a new occupation, step outside of the box with improv! You might not become the next OTina Fey, but you will learn some solid translational skills. Here’s a quick reference guide to how you can incorporate improv basics to reframe approaching complex workplace situations.
Increased Confidence
You have everything, you are everything. Accepting this simple rule of improv can be daunting, but it helps unleash creativity and leads to boosted confidence. I try to translate this mindset into my OT training, especially as I’m about to embark into my Level II fieldwork. While we obviously have a lot to learn as fledgling OTs, we also need to reassure and nurture our ego as students by remembering that we have the resources needed to succeed—including a mentor, our professors, our families, and most importantly, all the knowledge we’ve accumulated in our training.
Thinking on Your Feet
I find myself wanting to rehearse a lot of what I’m going to do and say in a therapy session to ease my student jitters. Like it or not, the environments in which we work are unscripted and require quick thinking. With improv, you either take the conversation in a new direction or let it die if you don’t respond quickly. Improv exercises that force you to reply on the spot help you focus on environmental cues to candidly respond in unanticipated situations…without getting flustered! Training ourselves to calmly and swiftly reply to clients will come in handy during therapy sessions where we can’t always predict what will happen.
Active, Not Reactive, Listening
We are conditioned to tune out what others are saying before they’ve even finished a thought while we formulate responses. As therapists, we may be thinking of our recommendations, strategies, and solutions before our patients have even finished sharing the deficits or barriers they are experiencing. This type of reactive listening can often lead to faulty assumptions. Improv encourages you to be more conversationally mindful through active scene building. Because improv performers don’t have a plotline, they have to stick to the prerequisite of listening closely to other performers to appropriately respond and build dialogue in a scene.
A common introductory improv game to encourage active listening involves only speaking in gibberish and having a partner interpret what you’re saying. This requires active listening on a new level of interpreting tone, nonverbal cues, and facial expressions. This game provides an opportunity to build skills necessary to identify when your patients are feeling frustrated or misunderstood. In addition, asking open-ended questions and tuning into tone and expressions can help you effectively pick up on what your client or coworker is conveying.
Commitment or Bust
Scenes quickly fail when people become uninvolved and noncommittal. You absolutely need to stay committed and present in a scene if there’s any chance for it to thrive. Part of a successful improv scene involves making your partners look good and feel supported through gift giving. Gift giving is a strategy that allows your partner to build off of the story through phrases like “you are,” “you have,” “I am,” and “I have.”
Your clinic is your scene, so regularly give gifts in conversations with colleagues and clients by clearly communicating your goals, ideas, and emotions. Growing a scene is like growing a health care team. You need to be committed to listening, learning, and contributing in order to deliver the best client-centered care.
“Yes, and”—The Instinctual Improv Phrase
Denial is the number one reason why scenes flop. For example, if you say “Merry Christmas, here’s your bag of coal!” and your partner responds “that’s not a bag of coal, that’s a bag of Swedish Fish” your scene comes to a screeching halt. The same thing happens in health care, with both clients and colleagues. If you reject or negate an opinion, the door closes on opportunity to learn with each other and build a therapeutic relationship.
This often happens when working with interdisciplinary teams, especially when it feels like someone is stepping on your practice domain. Instead of immediately becoming defensive with a rebuttal, try employing the “Yes, and” improv rule to validate others’ experiences, build trust, and problem solve together through instant affirmation.
For more information on improv in action with different client groups, check out this approach to using the “yes, and” technique with individuals with dementia.
Chloe Shmays is a second year MSOT student finishing up her Level II placements in an outpatient clinic and a school. Upon graduation, she hopes to work in pediatrics and has a specific interest in pediatric mental health. Her favorite new occupation is fumbling to keep plants alive at her community garden plot.