20 Years of DR: Looking Back and Looking Forward
By Geoff Church and Didi Hopkins
In 1997, the seeds of Dramatic Resources were sown when co-founders Richard Hahlo and Geoff Church crossed paths at the National Theatre. They shared a vision: to help business leaders communicate better by bringing practical exercises from the world of theatre into the corporate landscape. The company was incorporated in 2003, and DR has been evolving ever since. We’re now a team of over 50 trainers around the world and a thriving office team based in the UK.
As 2023 draws to a close, we are marking 20 years of Dramatic Resources. Geoff Church and Didi Hopkins, one of our Senior Associates, look back on two decades at the forefront of leadership development.
Dramatic Resources: Geoff, Didi, can you believe we're celebrating 20 years of DR? How have things changed for the business?
Geoff Church: 20 years ago, we had to persuade people that the arts had something to offer the business world. Our clients found it hard to imagine how the work could impact their people. We needed tremendous vitality, daring and creativity to win hearts and minds! Didi was one of the earliest practitioners to join Richard and I on this journey. She has so much experience as a theatre practitioner and as a teacher. Didi’s background in education and working with groups from challenging backgrounds was invaluable.
Didi Hopkins: Thank you, Geoff. I've always thought that the arts should be valued in business, and not just by buying a painting and sticking it on the wall. When we first started doing this, we were still trying to convince people of that value. The attitude towards experiential learning has changed, and we're not knocking at doors in the same way. These days, people recognise that leadership comes in many forms. It’s a different world out there!
Dramatic Resources: Do you have a specific memory of an early DR workshop? Why does it stand out?
Geoff Church: The first big corporate session we ran was for the senior leadership team of a large UK bank. Richard still has the plan for that day and when we look at it, we simply can't believe the number of exercises we included! I still remember how exhausted we were – we wanted to give them everything. Now, we are much more selective in the work. That workshop was a huge success, but I think the learning lasts longer when you can go deeper into the exercises.
Didi Hopkins: So much prep went into those first workshops with new clients. We had so much to learn, sometimes in another language. At times, we were up until 4 in the morning. But with time and experience, you trust the material.
Dramatic Resources: Women's leadership must have changed a lot in the past 20 years. Didi, what insights have you gained from working with participants on these programmes?
Didi Hopkins: Years ago, I ran a course for women returning to work after having children. In the resilience workshop, I asked, “So what is resilience? When and why do you need it?” And their language was: “we get shot down", "I need a coat of armour when I'm in the room with men", “their comments are like arrows coming at me”... And I thought: This language is so violent. One of the women asked if I would do the training for her team in a mixed group. I asked the same questions and this time, the women said: “well, sometimes it's hard, but these things happen”. That’s why I think that a women-only environment is so rich. It doesn't mean that men and women can't learn with each other in the room. But when we have mixed groups, women don't say the same sort of things. I love the radical honesty of women’s leadership programmes.
Dramatic Resources: Is our original ethos still relevant to participants in 2023?
Geoff Church: Now more than ever, leaders have to be able to communicate effectively. There are more mediums for communication than ever before, and leaders are much more exposed. With social media, virtual interviews, and more frequent touch points with their teams, there's nowhere to hide. 20 years ago, leaders might have been able to convince themselves that effective, inspirational communication was a “nice-to-have". Now, everybody knows it's essential.
Didi Hopkins: The purpose of the exercises has always been to help the participants unpack what they need. At the end of the day, we help people make a change in their communication. However, the evolution and wider acceptance of our work means that we can use approaches that we might not have thought possible before. The first time I ran one particular exercise, I asked the business school participants to go out of the room and come back in on imaginary horseback. I could see that Geoff was thinking: how did this happen? But it was brilliant! We've seen our work play out again and again, and the more we do it, the better able we are to read the needs of the participants.
Dramatic Resources: As we all know, everything changed during the pandemic. What has changed in the training world in the last three years, specifically?
Geoff Church: Prior to the pandemic, we did very little virtual work and were quite resistant to the idea. The practical nature of our exercises is really important to us. Coming from the live theatre background, a huge selling point of DR’s work is that it's so interactive and lively and fun. But in the pandemic, we figured out how to translate that experience into the online world and now a significant portion of our work is delivered virtually.
Didi Hopkins: I think it’s important to note that we’ve been so much more exposed through the virtual work. We all saw each other’s home environments. In every women's programme that I ran online in the past three years, there were kids running through. While it's an absolute joy to be delivering face-to-face again, I really appreciate the intimacy that you get online. It’s a huge contrast to some of that early in-person work. One image has always stuck with me: many years ago, Geoff and I were working with a group of around 25 bankers. 23 of them were men, and 2 of them were women. At first, I wasn't sure if the women were meant to be there because they were literally standing a step outside of our circle. What’s come out of the virtual work is that we're encouraging people to be more human – to step into the circle.
Dramatic Resources: How has the diverse background and expertise of the team contributed to the evolution of our programmes?
Didi Hopkins: In DR workshops, we've often had to address things that are defined by a set of principles outside the world of theatre. At the beginning, I questioned what I could bring to a subject like difficult conversations. But the team is so diverse, and each person brings something new with them when they join the team – not only their theatre background and coaching experience, but additional qualifications and approaches, too. Before a client workshop recently, one of our trainers in Europe taught me a new improvisation game. After that, a new member of the team showed me an exercise from her Pilates practice with a little ball under the foot. DR is an unexpected, rich, nourishing place.
Geoff Church: We're incredibly lucky. We have an amazing team both out on the road delivering the work and in the office supporting us and working with clients. We are always spurring each other on and pushing the boundaries of the work. I know it's a cliché, but we are our people. It’s inspiring to watch the team engage creatively with the clients and develop new exercises.
Dramatic Resources: Thank you, both, for your time! Before we go, do you have any speculations on DR in 2043? How might the training landscape evolve further?
Didi Hopkins: The clients themselves have changed, and I think will continue to do so. When we started out, the leaders we were working with were predominantly male, white, and over 40. However, I still meet the same issues again and again. Even in 2023, we’re still confronting a range of systemic biases. Diversity of thought, background and experience leads to more successful companies and a great learning environment, so I’m looking forward to that. DR will need to rise to the challenge of meeting our clients’ needs, just as we always do!
Geoff Church: Looking into the future is fun. Organizations and teams will continue to become more global and virtual, so skills such as communication, motivation and effective leadership will become even more valuable. Some things will remain the same, of course. Stories, humour, and passion will still be crucial factors in building influence and rapport. But then there is the unknown – and that’s what makes the future exciting. Generative AI is going to shape learning and communication in ways we can’t yet imagine. As Didi mentioned, new and diverse leadership will bring new needs and perspectives into the mix. We’re determined to continue our own evolution towards becoming a truly diverse and inclusive company. The one thing I can say for sure, having been through the digital disruption of the pandemic and coming out of it stronger than ever, is that we’re ready. We’re ready to improvise and play with what comes next!
The future is knocking! Want to work with Dramatic Resources in 2024? Get in touch with us here.