The play's the thing: using interactive drama in leadership development

Abstract

PurposeThis paper was written to help practitioners in the field of arts‐based learning understand the impact that training with its roots in theatre can have and has had on business executives – and the causes of that impact.Design/methodology/approachThe paper was developed by examining the 17‐year experience of Performance Plus… in delivering theatre‐based training to a wide range of large US businesses. It examines the way that drama can affect people in the audience and then, more particularly, how theatre based training affected the behaviors and actions of key management participants. The article then connected those results to the work of philosopher E.F. Schumacher and social scientist Daniel Goleman.FindingsThe fundamental conclusion of the paper is that drama is an extremely effective tool for helping people learn skills and behaviors they can apply in the everyday routine of business.Originality/valueBecause so little has been written about theatre‐based training, the primary value of this paper is to open readers’ eyes to a new and powerful way to train business executive – and to outlines a few of the many ways that approach can be taken to ensure that management participants in training programs are actively involved and engaged in the programs being presented and as a result embrace the learning from the program in a lasting way.