Ripped from the headlines: Case studies of Heroic Improv

A terrorist event, an active shooter, a serious accident, a natural disaster, or other high-stakes crisis can affect anyone, any time. The good news is that you don’t need to have super-human strength and abilities to help yourself and your community in a high-stakes crisis. If you want to help and are ready to improvise in small groups with other people on the scene, you can act heroically with others to save lives.

Through studying case studies of rapid rescues and instant innovations in accidents, disasters and emergencies, I uncovered the spontaneous team abilities that people in small groups use to address high-stakes crises with other people on the scene in what I call the Heroic Improv Cycle©.

Heroic Improv Cycle©

Used with permission.  www.lloyddangle.com

The Heroic Improv Cycle© has five steps:
· Step #1: Alert­­­—Sharpen awareness of awareness of the crisis situation using your five senses.
· Step #2: Ready—Identify and communicate with people who might help you and locate material resources in your immediate surroundings that might be used in responding to the situation.
· Step #3: Connect—Quickly form a small group with 16 or fewer people and commit to collaboratively solving the problem at hand.
· Step #4: Focus—Think about what must be done by the group to address the problem until someone­—whoever comes up with an idea first—signals the next step the group should take. The focus of the action is driven by the problem and is determined using the principle of fluid, collaborative leadership.
· Step #5: Move—Shift into action, responding to what one member of the group has signaled the focus should be and assess the results. Early attempts to find a solution may not be entirely successful, so the entire cycle may have to be repeated until success is achieved. People desire to help, commit to the action, and work through the cycle. Each cycle generates discovery, experimentation, and exploration that informs the next cycle. At some point, an effective approach to the problem at hand emerges.

In this section of my blog, I present “ripped from the headlines” case studies of ordinary people following the Heroic Improv Cycle© to save lives.