How improv will help improve your career (and life)
Contrary to popular belief, improv is not just for born actors or comedians. I should know; I've been taking classes for 10 years and, although I'm still pretty awful at it, it has changed the way I live and work. Recently, the business world has very much taken notice — the benefits of improvisational theater have filtered to thousands of companies across the planet.
In its simplest form, improv is creating a scene without a script. You know, like life.
Anthony LeBlanc, associate artistic director of the Second City training center in Chicago, relates a story about a Goldman Sachs manager who -- after seeing what a one-day workshop did for his team -- decided to pay for everyone to take an eight-week course.
Here are just some of the things business people (and humans in general) can learn from doing improv:
Yes, and: This little phrase is so crucial to improv, it’s the title of a recent Second City book on improving your life through improv. Want to brainstorm? Let a colleague feel heard? Just say Yes, and. “Yes, I see your point of view, and let's build on that."
From Second City’s Yes And book:
"Work cultures that embrace Yes, And are more inventive, quicker to solve problems and more likely to have engaged employees than organizations where ideas are judged, criticized, and rejected too quickly."
Failing well: At BATS Improv in San Francisco, one of the main tenants of creativity is to be able to fail. It sounds counter-intuitive, but learn to laugh at your failures and move on, and you’re that much more likely to take small, creative risks that pay off in the real world.
Ceci Walken, director of corporate training at BATS, explains:
"We're not saying the end result should be failure, we're saying failure is a part of life and business. Teams that are super-creative fail frequently as they take risks. By celebrating failure we can incorporate those learnings quickly with humor, pivot and find solutions."
Listening: LeBlanc says we often don’t realize how little we listen, instead focusing on what we’re going to say next. He suggests this exercise: start a conversation between two people. Each speaker needs to listen carefully, and start their sentences with the last word of their partner's previous sentence. "I really like flowers." "Flowers are pretty." "Pretty good conversation we're having, eh?"
If you find yourself in one of these cities, the top-notch improv organizations below all offer shows, beginning-level classes, and workshops or events with corporate clients.
Chicago, Hollywood, Toronto: Second City Has an entire department for business clients.
San Francisco, Palo Alto:BATS Improv Offers group training for companies.
Seattle:Jet City Improv Offers corporate and team-building workshops.
New York City:Chicago City Limits Specializes in corporate clients and team-building.
Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Houston, Boston, etc:ComedySportz All 23 cities offer classes, corporate events and training.
Amsterdam:Boom! Chicago Teaches classes (in English) in improv and public speaking, and works with companies throughout Europe. Bonus: If you’re just visiting Amsterdam, go one of the company's hilarious boat tours.
Don’t live in any of the above? Fly into Chicago for 3- or 5-day immersion classes at Second City in improv or sketch writing or to San Francisco, where you can study improv, Shakespeare, or singing at BATS over a weekend. It’s like funny summer camp for adults.