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Burgert Kirsten
In essence Burgert is a connector. He is passionate about connecting people with people, people with them selves, problems with solutions, ideas with people and concepts with experiences and experiences with growth. He is a registered industrial psychologist and improvisation expert and has a MCom degree in Industrial Psychology and BA degree in Communication studies. He completed his industrial psychology internship at British American Tobacco and Psymetric Human Capital Assessment where he learned the interconnectedness of HR processes and the importance of people development in organizations. But more important are the connections he made with people.
Burgert's background in improvisation started as a clown in a children's theatre company. There after he was one of the co-founders of Lagnes Improv Komedie, the world's only Afrikaans improv group. After finishing his honours degree in Industrial Psychology he lived in the US where he performed with a youth theatre company. During his time in the USA he made a lot of connections of which the most significant one was the connection he made between improvisational theatre and industrial psychology. He realized that the same practices that improv actors use could be taught to teams to help them to connect better with each other and to be more innovative.
The next year he started his Masters research in which he studied the influence of improvisation theatre on the innovative climate in work groups (Click here to download his thesis). During his studies he also worked as a freelance team building facilitator for BA Team and improvisation actor/coach for Adlib Improv. In 2005 he went to study improvisation at the IO Theatre in Chicago. In 2008 he was a speaker at the Applied Improv Network's European conference where he presented the results of his research.
Burgert has conducted improvisation workshops for large companies such as British American Tobacco and Hollard Insurance, and to a small group of teenage recovering drug addicts. In the end Burgert believes that no matter who you are, all people have the desire to connect with themselves and one another. And he is passionate about facilitating this connection.
Burgert Kirsten (MCom) - Industrial psychologist and improvisation expert
Email: Burgert@playingmantis.net
Cell: 0822559625
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Why work with Burgert - What people say
Mark Baker - Industrial Psychologist, Excelebrate
Burgert is first and foremost attractive. He attracts people to himself and to each other in a way that is rare and exceptional while making the whole experience of working as a team attractive.
You and your improv methods have an amazing ability to pull diverse groups and people together while allowing them to have fun and think outside of themselves.
The methods that you use have the extraordinary ability of getting people thinking on their feet, out of "the box" and more creatively than they imagined possible while pushing them to become more adaptable.
If improving your teams creativity, adaptability and unity is what you are after, Playing Mantis is who you are looking for.
Julian - Siemens Healthcare Diagnostic Marketing Team
Burgert is a very engaging facilitator. He has a very approachable demeanor about him which helps you to be very natural in everything that you say so when it comes to fear and risk you sort of loose your inhibitions as you go along through the workshop. So it is a journey of losing the fear and engaging with a bit of risk taking witch naturally we don't like to do. So we feel quite liberated by the whole experience and Burgert helped us do that.
Petro Janse van Vuuren - Partner, Playing Mantis
Burgert is an exceptionally talented facilitator and trainer. He establishes a rapport with the participants effortlessly and skillfully. He then uses this relationship to guide them from where they are to where they want to go depending on the material and brief of the project. For Burgert connection with people is of te utmost importance and he can network like no one else I know. As a colleague, Burgert is dependable, hardworking and responsible, yet fun loving and easygoing.
Charl Weideman - Industrial Psychologist, British American Tobacco (internship supervisor)
During the course of the internship programme, Burgert has proven to be an asset to the discipline. He has demonstrated a very keen interest in the field and utilised every opportunity to develop his knowledge and capability across all the different spectrums of his programme. His contribution, although he was in a developmental capacity, was of a high level, applying his mind to questioning, understanding and application of behavioural science in the workplace.
He displayed a very high ethical standard during his programme, including the last quarter, indicating his understanding of appropriate conduct in the best interest of the discipline and clients (employees).