Team Building Through Improv

Examples of Concepts and Applications

 

Public Speaking – One of the most universally feared tasks in the business world. Improvisational exercises and drills chip away at this fear and provide tools to make the most out of presentations and public speaking.

Team Building – team skills are essential to success. Through exercises in commitment, listening and trust, team members tune into each other’s needs (and client’s needs) more readily.

Being present and in the moment – Actors focus on being “in the moment”, reacting to the emotions going on with their scene partner to move the scene forward. Executives and employees can improve on being present for their clients, co-workers and associates to better serve the company and each other.

Generating Creative Ideas & Solutions - Writer/Actors come up with material that is “creative”, so what constitutes a “good” piece of work? In the artistic world, one person views a comedy sketch, a painting or piece of music as funny, beautiful or moving while another person might find the same piece uninteresting or even offensive. Improvisation techniques can provide tools to put aside results (for the time being) and generate only ideas which helps avoid being “shut down” when creatively coming up with solutions. The point is to come up with as many options as possible and then qualify them later. If everyone sits around trying to come up with the perfect solution or the winning idea, fear can set in that an idea isn’t good enough. Many times part of a “bad idea” isn’t so bad after all and can actually lead to a better idea. Ideas should come as fast as possible when brainstorming. Also…

Deadlines - can constrict the creative process, or it can enhance the process if certain brainstorming/improv tools are used. Placing a severe, almost ridiculous time constraint on a list of solutions can actually benefit the team. For example, telling a team that15 ideas must be presented in 5 minutes may seem outrageous in a certain environment. HOWEVER, this puts the team in a situation where all ideas need to be on the table as soon as possible. There is no time to judge good or bad in this case, just get the ideas out. “Bad” ideas can lead to good ideas, but only if they are shared in a non-judgmental way. Extreme time constraints can lift the stigma and reluctance of sharing a “bad” idea. The term bad is in quotes because we really don’t know what ideas are good or bad. A bad idea is much better than any idea that doesn’t get communicated and shared.

Translating the Actors Skills/Tools – Much of improvisational acting is the study of human behavior and the human social experience. Eye contact, listening, commitment, team building, trust… these skills do translate to the corporate world.