Add a Little Improv to Your Life

Have you ever been at a job that tries to “shake things up”, by taking everyone to an obstacle course, doing trust falls or bringing in an improv coach? Was your reaction something similar to…

The execution might have faltered, but I think the idea is on the right track — especially when it comes to introducing the concept of improv, or, as some may say, the ART of improv.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of improv is, “short for improvisation, improv is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, action, story, and characters are created collaboratively by the players as the improvisation unfolds in present time, without use of an already prepared, written script.”

If you’ve never seen improv, either live or on TV (like the show, Whose Line is it Anyway?), it can reach the highest peaks of hilarity and the lowest lows of awkward silence. You never really know what is going to happen, but when things are clicking and the partners are flowing, it feels like magic is happening. We all deserve to feel a little bit of that magic.

I’ll go over each rule of improv and show you why they can beneficial to add to your life (work or personal!). Except the rule, don’t ask open ended questions — I think that one can stay in the improv world. To make this easier to digest (and easier to write), I’m going to introduce one rule now, and then I’ll follow up with the others in their own articles.

The first rule of improv is, don’t deny (you might have heard this phrased as “yes, and…”). Denial is the number one reason most scenes go bad and that’s because it shuts everything down. It shuts down your partner, it shuts down the communication, it shuts down the flow of ideas. It’s the conversational version of “a body at rest, stays at rest”. When you deny someone by saying something like, “No, that won’t work”, it becomes so much harder to reach the original goal of the conversation. By continuing the exploration with a version of “yes, and”, you are offering a gift to your partner. You’re extending a hand, inviting them to continue moving forward with you. Even if you think it’s an idea that won’t work, try finding a way to encourage more conversation instead of denying it — it could spark something really fantastic.

My next few articles will cover the following rules (and why they are so helpful):

You don’t have to be funny.

You can look good if you make your partner look good.

Tell a story.