Rehearsing The Way We Communicate

A positive person-to-person interaction can go a long way to labelling a day as a ‘good, productive and rewarding one’ or one confined to the list entitled ‘best forget today ever happened?!! – #reachesforgin’.

Communication is at the heart of success (or failure) in the business world; how we communicate to each other, how we communicate an idea and how we present our thoughts to small or large groups. But how much time do we actually dedicate to rehearsing the way we communicate?

A Creative Approach

Actors, directors and theatre makers spend weeks, if not months learning lines, practising entrances and exits, unpicking the content, perfecting dramatic moments to ensure the highest possible impact and audience engagement. Why don’t we do this in the business world? Surely the stakes are just as high?

Yes, we’ve all stood in front of the mirror going through our presentations or mumbled answers to imagined questions whilst taking our morning shower - but who are we kidding in thinking that a few covert minutes will be sufficient in articulating our ideas, our vision. It’ s hard to imagine Helen Mirren’s pre-show prep limited to mumbling her lines to herself on the tube, or simply performing her part to a trusted friend in the safety of her living room.

How to make changes?

To make real changes to our communication style we need to challenge ourselves to do something different. Clearly the time to do something different isn’t when it really, really matters – at an appraisal, a high-pressured presentation or sales pitch. You need dedicated time, space and opportunity to try new things, to step outside of your comfort zone and get things wrong.

Yes, we get better with time and practise – but are we just getting better at doing the same thing and making the same choices time after time? An actor must play many parts, sharing stories and emotions in different ways – they have the flexibility to play a villain, a king, a boss, a director, an entrepreneurial sales person – they acquire the skills of metamorphosis through training and rehearsal – surely we can make the same advances in our communication by taking targeted, professional  training and rehearsing?

Training in Communication

At The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama we use the metaphor of the rehearsal room in our communication training workshops; we don’t use power point, we don’t use paper-based resources, we don’t do tables and chairs. We put the individual at the centre of an experiential learning journey.

Like a rehearsal our training is fast-paced, hands-on and reactive. We provide a safe environment to get things wrong, to try again and do something completely different. We’ve all been told by those over-flowing with confidence and charisma what it takes to be a fantastic communicator, but being told something and feeling it yourself is totally different. You only learn to swim by jumping in the water! You only learn to communicate effectively by experiencing it for yourself.