This week’s episode features longtime HR executive, Lauren Schaad. In this episode:

• Lauren shares about her background in HR and her improv origin story
• She talks about the importance of leaning into who you are
• We discuss how improv allows us to try out different hats
• We talk about the connection between improv and business
• Lauren shares how improv helped her be her authentic self at work and why that’s imperative for high performing teams
• We discuss the importance of an environment fostering psychological safety and how an improv mindset can foster forgiving environments
• We highlight why and how improv is more than just laughing together and having a good time. It’s this AND … it is more than fun and games!
• Lauren shares what she wishes organizations knew about improv that they don’t already know
• We talk about giving and taking focus as a tool we can use to create humor and support high performing teams. And we each share an improv exercise that helps people practice giving and taking of focus
• Mary shares about a time she unexpectedly sang opera
• Lauren shares advice she gives to teams and people managing people.
• We demonstrate the improv exercise called “Convergence”, great for improving presence, connection, and fostering magic amongst individuals and teams
• Lauren shares about the time she delivered a goat

Lauren forged a 12-year career as a headhunter, helping senior leaders across nonprofit, tech startup, and financial services industries to better articulate their career journeys. When not at the office, she immersed herself in Boston’s improv scene, becoming a proud graduate of ImprovBoston’s Comedy School.

Lauren’s interest in working with marginalized communities was born during an internship with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, where she met enterprising, basket-weaving women lifting themselves from poverty to prosperity. This solidified her belief that the arts, and improv, should be accessible to all. To better serve communities living on the margins, Lauren is working towards certification as a trauma-informed expressive arts Coach (EXA-CE), anticipated in 2023.

A lover of travel, Lauren would have definitely joined Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Tales of her globetrotting adventures – at warmer temperatures – can be found at SheClimbs.com. Lauren is based in Denver and performs the first Friday of every month with the house team "Jeff," at Chaos Bloom theatre.

From Lauren when asked how improv has improved his life offstage, “Improv has provided a safe space to play and to be silly. In my professional life, I’ve learned that it’s more than okay to bring your full personality into your role as leader; employees appreciate working with a Manager who is real, kind, funny, relatable, not just “professional.”

In my personal life, improv has helped me to become more comfortable:

- Remembering detail when meeting new people (i.e. at parties)

- Communicating within groups and either supporting others, or having my voice be heard (give and take of focus)”

Learn more about and connect with Lauren on LinkedIn and Instagram.

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