Amongst the myriad tools for making teams better, or for being a better leader, supervisor, or facilitator, I’m constantly impressed by the power of improv. The skillset goes by many names: flexibility, adaptability, or being quick on your feet. All of these generally refer to the same things, and improv is perhaps one of the more socially pressurized contexts for learning them. Beyond the ability to refer to yourself as “flexible” with confidence, improv (or something improv adjacent) can be personally and professionally rewarding.
For clarity, improv (abbreviating improvisation) is most often used in reference to theater techniques developed to help people thrive in the spotlight. Whatever hiccups or challenges, improv experience prepares a performer to adapt and can give a shy performer a lower stakes form of showmanship. Personally, I think performing Shakespeare is a much scarier challenge than to be amongst a smaller crew of people in a make-shift show based on audience suggestions (no offense intended to the truly stunning skills of improv troupes everywhere, who do amazing things).
Like many practices, removing improv from its home context is a jump, but much less of one than it seems! Facilitating a team meeting is not so far off from a stage performance, and sometimes it can be far more tightly scripted. Committees following rules of order can be extraordinary to watch, a careful ballet of words and forms, though, sadly, far less likely to be accompanied by music or applause. Applying improv skills to meetings can make a facilitator, or a participant, far more comfortable when technology fails, when someone is put on the spot, or when disagreement arises.
So, knowing a bit of what improv is, and how it applies outside of theater, how do we get better at it? What a fantastic question that I ask myself all the time!
For those looking to jump in the deep end, improv classes/workshops are not uncommon in many cities, especially if there’s a theater community. For the more cautious, there are party games like Yes, And or That Escalated Quickly, with summer camp games like Mafia as excellent additional options. For the more game inclined, Dungeons & Dragons is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game (TTRPG) that has spent the last decade or so blossoming in part thanks to improv/theater performers. D&D is the most common of many TTRPGs, ranging from the most esoterically math inclined to essentially improv games with a single page rulebook. Lasers and Feelings, one of the more well-known one-page games, is a single 8.5×11 meant to get you pretending to be a crewmember of what is definitely not the copyrighted Star Trek franchise.
Whatever your preferred starting point, the key to improv is practicing it in a lower stake environment first. Improvisation is valuable when it helps ease the confusion, startlement, or fear that can come from surprises. It gives you reflexes for those moments when your mind goes blank, or when your face wants to betray how you actually feel. It’s also a great, borderline miraculous, excuse to interact with others, form social connections, and try something new.
Life doesn’t come with a script, and we all learn to improvise to handle that. Growing in a skill you may not know you had, and doing so intentionally, purposefully, can make you a far better team member, facilitator, friend, and leader. If you were itching for an excuse to try a party game, start a D&D group, or take a class, here’s a reason.