COMMUNICASA
'Organisational Change: Theatre, Music and Dialogue'.
by Jeroen M. Drontmann

This article focuses on the following questions: How can theatre and music be used to collectively hold a mirror up to an organisation and how can theatre and music effectively become an integral part of the processes of change so that perceptions become manifest and joint dialogue can be initiated?

While pondering on a suitable name for the type of contribution that organisations need so badly, I drove past a house called Communicasa. Communicasa; a house where as many people as possible gather to communicate (derived from the Latin word 'communis', literally 'collective, jointly'). There is a need for this, a need for a place where we can meet to enter into talks. Talks where human beings 'as a whole' express their feelings: the rational ('I feel that.....') as well as the passionate ('What I really want to do here is....') side of man. People talk to each other but also to themselves. After all, the better your relationship with yourself the better you will be able to give shape to your relationships with others.

In addition to the quality of direction that people experience, the quality of the relationships that they have with each other and with themselves is the major factor for success within organisations. The remarkable thing about this is that, in practice, we actually devote so little explicit attention to this aspect. We focus more on the results than on the quality of the relationships from which these results emerge. There is an urgent need to shift the focus. The signals of the 'new age’ (the quantity, complexity and pace of work are increasing rapidly) demonstrate to every organisation that the only way to address the challenges that we are faced with is by releasing the maximum creative potential of people. The secret of this seems to be to focus more closely on the quality of the mutual relationships.

But how can this be effected without losing track of the results and involving everybody, preferably all at the same time? Because, if, over a period of two months, we all go on retreat in groups of ten, everybody will experience things differently while we are addressing a common theme. It would, in fact, be best if everybody could join in because having an optimum work relationship is equally important to the secretary and the manager alike.

An alternative approach was developed on the basis of two worlds; namely consultancy and musical theatre. And not before time. Every organisation is busy implementing change and the quality of the communication involved is usually deplorable. If we want to address the challenges successfully we will need to enter into talks, as collectively, 'deeply' and rapidly as possible!

In the meantime in the theatre
'The curtain goes up and on stage we see a lot of people running about in all directions. Each of them carrying a mobile phone. Everybody in the theatre recognises from own experience this situation of total insanity. The hectic background music that is being played is working towards a climax. Suddenly it is quiet. One of the actors steps forward and says: 'I should have been at work, just like you, but something crazy happened to me this morning. I was shaving and I suddenly saw a different face in the mirror. 'It' started to talk (in the meantime another actor has entered the stage and acts the 'other'). 'It' said, 'I want to have a word with you now, I‘ve waited long enough. You’ve pushed me away for too long, you’ve not listened to me for too long. Do you realise that if I’m not doing well we’ll both not do well?!'. The other actor turned out to be the main character's 'feelings' or 'passion'. They enter into a conversation. There are several scenes with the manager (who has completely left her feelings 'at home') and at home with the character's partner ('do something about it, speak up when something is bothering you!'). The scenes are interspersed with touching music (……'It’s ridiculous, I see you every day, but I still can’t say that I know you. If you’d only decide to actually understand me. And if you’d only let me feel that you’re receptive to my ideas. Then I’m convinced that together we could achieve much more. I treat you just like you treat me. I’m just like you'...).

The performance is about the role that you usually play at work every day. About the inner voice that many people do not dare to express. About the glamour and rituals at work, that usually do not make us feel comfortable. About the tension between work and personal life.

Theatre and music do not give answers but act as mirrors

In the theatre hall 200 employees of a division of a large company are seated. For years, management has attempted to make the quality of communication discussable and to improve it. Every year the employee satisfaction survey showed that 'people' felt that 'people' did not handle each other properly. Action plans were put on paper, but this did not help. Just like any other process of change it involves managing the perceptions of the target group. The biggest challenge is how to bring them into the open so that they can be discussed!

Training sessions were organised. During these sessions a much-heard sound was: 'Can you explain this to my manager/staff, he/they just don’t understand it'! Training sessions during which teachers explained the importance of asking each other questions, looking at each other, first listening to the other before proceeding. But this also failed to work, it seemed as if the participants had heard it all before and 'already knew it'. In short, these sessions required the participants to use considerable 'head' energy but very little 'heart' energy. The main focus was on 'understanding it'. Those who did understand went home, but still did not put things into practice. Why not? Because people did not feel it as such, because it did not fit in with how they perceived reality! And also because 'they' did not change. Now, the idea was to:

• offer an experience to the entire group at once;
• do something different;
• have a pleasant evening out with each other;
• mix 'business' with 'pleasure';
• do this via the 'heart' to the 'head';
• not suggest that there is only one solution.

The theatre performance only described what the writers had 'read from' the employees during the orientational round of talks. The performance did not 'prescribe' but described. And it was such a probing description that an exchange of ideas about 'do you recognise this?'; 'have you also experienced that?' became inevitable.

DIALOGUE
- How is the exchange of thoughts given shape?
- What is the dialogue about?
- What is the connection between the dialogue and change in culture?

The musical theatre performance is followed by discussions. Discussions that from now on will be called dialogue. What is dialogue? There is no unequivocal definition of the word. Examples of dialogue can be found in those cultures where respect for individuals was of paramount importance. The roots of the word can be found in the Greek language: dia (= 'through') and logos (= 'meaning'). When you have 'entered into dialogue', you seek to understand the meaning given to something by someone else. There is a great difference between this and the other word that we tend to use as a synonym for talks; i.e. the word discussion. Unlike a discussion, dialogue involves 'seeing' things as a whole, transcending the various personal opinions, while a discussion involves breaking up the problem/discussion point into small components ('what do you think and what do I think?'). In a dialogue you mainly see the connections between the different opinions. A discussion mainly aims at making differences visible. A dialogue involves exploring and discovering matters, and being inquisitive. A discussion mainly means convincing, selling, and talking.

It is of the utmost importance that your perception remains 'clear' and that you choose independently to act. Otherwise, you will either do nothing or do the wrong things. A dialogue helps in this respect. Immediately after the performance the above 'group of 200' entered into dialogue. Plenary questions were asked, on the basis of which small groups exchanged views in the theatre hall.

The following are examples of questions about which people exchanged thoughts:

o What did you consider the essence of the performance?
o What scene, song or metaphor appealed to you most and why?
o How far away are you from what you consider as ideal behaviour in your contacts with colleagues or clients (if '10' = ideal, at what level on the scale are you now?)
o What is the most important skill that you should have in order to be able to live up to the behaviour that corresponds to '10' every day?

The actual dialogue commences when people are back in their workplace, supervised by specially trained (internal) ambassadors. These are offered a brief training course in 'directing dialogue' and they convene dialogue sessions with existing teams. The purpose of these sessions is to 'transform' the musical theatre experience into the normal team practice, 'to learn from and to teach others' and to transform the experience gained into personal and team learning points for everyday contacts.

What has actually happened? What is the sense of talking? Shouldn't we just make action plans? Things do not happen automatically, do they? The fascinating thing is that everything does happen automatically if collectivity gets involved. If the sense of awareness of a large group of people is heightened, reality suddenly does become different, as if it happened automatically! Leaders can serve as catalysts and 'carriers of the flame'. They cannot change a collective reality on their own. The culture within the organisation is no more than the people who are employed there.

My passion is to help the collective of employees co-create a Communicasa , a place where people meet and feel unified, each from within their own unicity. In that respect I recently created the ‘Heart at Work’ program that, besides theatre and music, includes, large scale events, an election of heroes and a documentary filmmaking process.

Epilogue
The topics of the talks that took place at our Communicasa over the past period include: ' How can we accelerate our merging process?' 'How can we optimise the communication and co-operation between people?' 'How can we further reduce the staff turnover?' 'How can we reduce absence through sickness?' 'How can we further develop our team?' 'What do we understand as integrity and what does the new behavioural code mean to me?'

If our mutual relationships were to be characterised by respect, confidence, openness, warmth, affection, not only would we perform better but the company that we work for would also operate better. We would like to give the best we can. And that is exactly what is needed to survive as an organisation in this day and age. We all feel a need to be connected to something that is bigger than our isolated selves. An organisation may be this connection - if only we can be ourselves. The only thing that we, as an organisation, need to do is to give people the opportunity of expressing themselves and, subsequently, to be confident that structure and order will emerge. The power and control that were prevalent within parts of the organisations should be replaced by companionship and affection. The collective enjoyment of music and theatre performances in which we recognise our current situation and, subsequently, entering into dialogue on the topics raised seems a sensible option.

Listen.
In every office
You hear the threads
Of love and joy and fear and guilt,
The cries for celebration and reassurance,
And somehow you know that connecting those threads
Is what you are supposed to do
And business takes care of itself
(James Autrey: Threads; in: The Art of Caring leadership, 1991)