The STORI-strategy of Applied Improvisation facilitation

- A FRAMEWORK TO GUIDE THE FACILITATION OF AI EXERCISES/GAMES.

Open experimentation
(Climax)

O
Transition (Rising Reflection
tension) T R (Denouement)

Integration (new stable

state)

Strategic intent –
(Catalysing event) S I

S – Strategic Intent (Also sometime “Strategic Frame”

Note that there are two distinct intentions:

INTENTION 1
The intention of the group that is related to the context, and that the group is aware of and
agrees with e.g.:
 Improving doctor-patient communication
 Discovering interpersonal principles that could help an MA CRP class meet their
intentions.
 Improving customer service at Spier Wine Farm.
Each individual exercise has a particular intention related to meeting this requirement. This
intention may or may not be revealed to participants. I prefer not to reveal this intention,
but to allow participants to find it through reflection (Action, Reflection, Transformation)

INTENTION 2
The broad intention of every game is always to enable play.
This intention is embedded in the rules of the game, so explain them carefully.
For every individual game, the rules work towards a particular game intention:
 As you walk - go, or stop when I clap.
 When someone says “I fail” we applaud them.
 Create an image of the concept that is offered to you without any talking – show
don’t tell.
T – Transition
To assist participants in overcoming the threshold between talking and doing, offer the
following:
 Do a demonstration of the game play using a volunteer.
 Start the game and if they miss it, stop, and clarify a rule or two. (Read the group,
sometimes you can say, “Sorry if I was unclear, let me clarify and repeat the rule.” Be
careful not to put them off by blaming them or letting them feel “wrong”. Work with
the group energy here
 Start with a first rudimentary phase of the play that you can build on as they get into
it.

O – Open experimentation
Watch the flow.
Allow one round of game play, watch how it goes.
Sometimes you must stop and reflect before taking them to next levels of the game.
Other times you can add complexity bit by bit if they are in flow.
Play with time
Sometimes people get frustrated if it goes on too long and you want to stop before this
happens.
Sometimes the frustration of letting it go on is exactly what you want so they can break
through their scripts and get to flow.
Other times they get frustrated if you interrupt too quickly – again, sometimes you may
want this, depending on the strategic intent.
You learn what to do when, through experience and by reading the group.
What makes it “open”?
Within the game rules, anything goes.
Every offer, and every experience, is valid and should be excepted and played with

R- Reflection
The most common reflection prompt:
 Discuss in pairs, what that was like?
Other common questions:
 What made it easy? Why?
 What made it difficult? Why?
 What helped you in trying to meet the intent of the game? Stay in flow?
 What was the difference between…?
 Which did you prefer?
 Tell me more about that.
NOTEs:
 - These are suggestions, and not by any means a script. Design your questions so that
people reflect in relation to the overall strategic intent of the session, as well as in
relation to what this game could possibly teach, or what skill it might develop.
- Questions are open ended – try not to ask questions that require a “yes” or “no”
answer.
- Facilitator may offer a tip to support game play.

I – Integration
Two ways to integrate:

INTEGRATION 1
Allow participants to go again so they can implement what they had learned from reflecting
on the first round.
The experimentation-reflection-integration cycle may continue a few times to ensure that
the strategic intent is met.

INTEGRATION 2
Sometimes people get stuck in the reflection and end up talking too much.
Other times you play again, but they still don’t get it.
Other times you or the participants get bored with the game, or it flops for whatever
reason.
Then you integrate by playing the next game that can build on the understanding.