Candace Swaninger on Talent Development, Parenting, Relationships and Taco Bell

This week's episode features Candace Swaninger…

Candace is a Talent Development manager, passionate about leadership development & onboarding. As the Senior Specialist of Talent Development at Petco she leverages strategy, relationship building, creativity and problem solving to help others become their best selves through impactful Talent Development programs. She also is a mom, Louisiana State University alum, and loves Broadway musicals and Taco Bell.

During this episode we discuss…

• How and why she got started improvising
• Her experience as a Learning Experience Designer at Petco
• Life as an improvisation
• How to get good at something
• Why improv is a powerful tool for change
• Role playing in talent development and how it helps leaders be better
• Improvising from premise as a way to become a better leader and fundraisers
• Ways she’s used improv and role playing in new leader onboarding
• How she measures success of using improvisation and role playing to train leaders and teams
• The role improv plays in her marriage and as a parent
• The fast food chain her and her husband sang about
• Improvising with children
• How improv helps us manage anxiety and dwelling and saboteur behaviors
• The saboteurs assessment
• An example of how saying “yes, and” helps us handle when life doesn’t go as planned
• Improv as a way to practice not being in control (and why it’s such a great practice for people that like to be in control)
• Improv as a form of mindfulness that benefits ourselves and how we interact with others
• An improv exercise that requires & improves focus and presence
• Improv as a way to improve relationships and parenting

From Candace, when asked how improv has improved her life offstage, “Improv has helped me both professionally and personally. Professionally, I use it frequently as a workshop facilitator. I also think it allows me to roll with the punches a bit more day to day. Personally, it definitely sparks creativity in me and my family. I like to make up songs randomly, and my husband started doing it with me while we were dating, and now my son also does it. It's also a great tool for play with kids.”

Connect with Candace on LinkedIn

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