Draft of a model designed by Mike Bonifer of GameChangers and Dave Gray of The Dachis Group to describe an 'improvisational' organization or brand.

1. The Improvisational Model Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group

2. This is your company. Your brand. You. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

3. It is not a question of whether things will change. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

4. ? ? ? It is a question of how. ? ? ? Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

5. p The Improvisational Model is an improvisation-based system for individuals and organizations to consistently generate positive outcomes in a dynamic business environment It operates on six sets of behaviors, or ‘Practices’ that can be learned and shared across your enterprise. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

6. p Performing Heeding Learning The six Practices are in natural tension with one another. Think of them like strings on a musical instrument or instruments in an orchestra. They should be in tune and in harmony. Engaging Creating Deciding Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

7. Market Ability Performing Empathy Knowledge Heeding Learning Outcomes Outcomes The six Practices result in six types of Outcomes that define your brand in the conceptual, virtual and physical dimensions which it performs. Engaging Creating Community Innovation Deciding Values Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

8. p p Performing Heeding Learning By continuously tuning and harmonizing the Practices, managers can orchestrate different business outcomes. Engaging Creating Deciding Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

9. p p Game Game There is a game structure to every business scene. The crucial question is whether a game is productive or reductive; whether it generates harmony or discord. Skillful leaders can tell the difference, and, when necessary, do something about it by, literally, changing the game. Game Game Game Game Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

10. p p Game Game The elements of an improvised game are: Objectives, Environments, Roles and Rules. Leaders can use game structure to adjust tensions between the Practices and orchestrate outcomes. Game Game Game Game Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

11. Market Ability Performing Empathy Knowledge Heeding Learning Outcomes Outcomes Leadership is Orchestration Engaging Creating Community Innovation Deciding Values Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

12. Citations Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

13. “Improvisation has a positive effect on team innovation when combined with team and contextual moderating factors. We…provide initial evidence suggesting that the improvisational skill can be learned by organizational members through training. Our results shed light on the opportunities provided by training in improvisation and on the challenges of creating behavioral change going beyond the individual to the team and, ultimately, to the organization.’ Improvisation and Innovative Performance in Teams Vera and Crossan; Organization Science, May-June 2005, pp. 203-224 Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

14. A study published in the October, 2010, issue of Science concluded that “a group’s collective intelligence accounts for a 30 to 40 percent variation in performance.” Researchers found that the performances of groups “were not primarily due to the individual abilities of the group members. The average and maximum intelligence of individuals did not significantly predict the performance of their groups.” Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Groups Woolley, Chabris, Pentland, Hamshi and Malone Science, 29 October 2010 Vol. 330 no. 6004 pp. 686-688 Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

15. I “I have noticed in the companies that I’ve started and funded and been associated with, that those companies that are fundamentally founded to change the world, to make the world a better place, to make meaning, are the companies that make a difference. They are the companies that succeed. “If you start a company with the intention to make meaning you will probably make money. If you start with the intention of making money, you won’t make meaning, and you probably won’t make money.” Make Meaning With Your Company Guy Kawasaki; Founder, Garage Technology Ventures; Academic Earth; Stanford University Lecture, Fall 2004 Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

16. Performance Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

17. Case Study – Disney & Pixar Between 1995 and 2010, the boxoffice performances of Disney Animation and Pixar Animation products created two remarkably different trajectories. Global boxoffice revenues in millions of $ Let’s analyze these trajectories in terms of ‘Orchestrating Change’ practices. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

18. Case Study – Core Practices The Game: Different emphasis on Values yields different Market Ability outcomes Casting itself as a ‘defender of values’ kept the brand focused on its past, at the expense of market ability in the present. The deciding question “What would Walt have done?” could only be answered subjectively. Embracing Disney’s values wholeheartedly liberated Pixar to focus on what was most crucial to its success—market ability. the deciding question “What will Jobs do next?” could be answered objectively. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

19. Case Study – Connecting Practices The Game: To engage with new communities, heed new voices and visions. By heeding primarily the sound of its own voice, Disney Animation crowded out new voices and limited its ability to engage new communities. By listening for new creative voices and heeding what was happening in Silicon Valley,Pixar was able to engage new (non-Disney) communities. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

20. Case Study – Discovery Practices The Game: Different relationships betweenLearning and Creativity produce differentInnovation outcomes. Its dependence on stock footage, archival reference material and institutional knowledge limited its ability to innovate and, as a result, the market lost its enthusiasm for the brand. Tapping into the powerful knowledge flow and problem-solving culture of Silicon Valley let Pixarget to solutions faster and consistently turn creative discoveries into market-able innovation. Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

21. Appendix Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

22. M Practices Outcomes p E K p = performing c = creating h = heeding d = deciding l = learning e = engaging M = Market Ability E = Empathy I = Innovation V = Values C = Community K = Knowledge h l c e I C d = Orchestration V These two diagrams show how practices can be orchestrated to produce business outcomes. In Example #1, directing resources toward heeding, learning and engaging results in Community activation. In Example #2, emphasis on learning and creating generates innovation, which, with skilled orchestration, results in Market Ability. Market Ability ‘Orch Charts’ Example #1 Example #2 p h l l e c Community orch = heed, learn, engage orch = learn, create, perform Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model

23. p “The creation and destruction of harmonic and 'statistical' tensions is essential to the maintenance of compositional drama. Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consistent and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese.” —Frank Zappa Mike Bonifer/GameChangers Dave Gray/The Dachis Group The Improvisational Model