What I've Learned Teaching Improv to Executives

I just got out of a meeting with a Vistage Chair who is bringing me in to do two improv workshops for the groups he leads. Of everything I do, nothing gives me more joy than teaching improv to leaders.

It’s also quite a challenge.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned doing these workshops:

1. Leaders don’t listen as well as they think they do. The key to learning to improvise is being present and listening. Without fail, it’s always the person whom the group assumes will be “the best” at improv who struggles the most. People assume the best improvisers are the people who are normally confidently vocal — those who are first to speak, a little dominating and often loud. My experience has been the exact opposite. If anyone has a bit of an advantage in improv, it’s the more reserved introverts. They tend to know how to listen better. I’ve seen real moments of realization in the eyes of leaders who see that they need to become better listeners in “real life” after playing some silly improv game.
2. We all have “cool kid” syndrome. I am pretty sure I made up this term. To me, “cool kid” syndrome is still being an insecure kid in a grown up body. Remember the coolest kids in middle school? They weren’t cool. None of us where. But they had somehow risen to the top of our dysfunctional social structure. They were typically the most risk-averse kids at school. Because they weren’t sure how they got where they were and they didn’t want to do anything to lose their status. I can almost see a room full of executives turn into these cool kids as I tell them we are going to “play some games that might make you feel a little silly.” Arms fold. Eyes dart to the ground. Nervous laughter ensues. They are all hiding the very same secret — that they aren’t quite sure how they got there. And they don’t want to do anything to let others see that.
3. Leaders say “no” more than they realize. The first rule of improv is to say, “yes, and.” You’ve likely heard that before. I do a series of exercises to teach them how to say yes. Then toward the end of the workshop I actually have them do a couple “scenes” just like professional improvisers at The Second City or The Groundlings might do. (I mean they are technically awful scenes, but the same sort of scenes those pros do nightly.) The second I allow them to try to do a “real” scene, they immediately revert back to saying no. After three hours of learning to say yes, they still say no. It’s engrained in us. Because it feels safer. But it’s not It’s a hard habit to break.

I’ve written more specifically about improv before if you want to learn more:

• The Tao of Improv Comedy
• Three Ways to Use the Power of “Yes, And”

Or if you’re really brave, bring me in to teach your team how to listen, say yes and also admit they aren’t as cool as they think they are. :)