"Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and fall backward."
… Yay. Clap clap clap. "Now it's your turn, James. Step right up and take the trust fall! Wow, you guys must really trust each other!"
Sound familiar? Unfortunately, for too many of us, it does. I'm talking about group training, the prerequisite to joining almost any organization to which you will ever belong. Whether it's an in-depth conversation, or a full-day affair of spiderweb mazes and strange blindfolded games, we've all been through it at some point or another. The problem is, most of us come away from group training thinking, "I will never get those four hours of my life back. I wonder how many people were paid however many dollars to come up with this mind-bogglingly boring experience?" Chet Harding and Norm Laviolette are out to change that. Who are Chet and Norm? I was hoping you might ask. Chet and Norm are the co-founders and co-owners of the Improv Asylum, a comedy theater that features improvisation and sketch comedy. Created in 1998, the show has been described as Whose Line is it Anyway? meets Saturday Night Live. Although the troop is conveniently situated in the middle of the North End in Boston, it has performed at various venues across the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
More importantly, however, Chet and Norm have created a corporate training program that incorporates the skills of improv comedy into the workplace. I first caught wind of the program last semester when I saw their paper advertisements plastered to the walls of the T. In the ad, there was a large man in a dress shirt hugging two disgusted co-workers. The ad read "No More Group Hugs with Brad from accounting!" Then, the program came up in my Organizational Behavior class. Most recently, I read an article in Harvard's Negotiation about the rising popularity of improv comedy in corporate training. That was the last straw - I had to write my own article. Improv corporate training mostly deals with teaching individuals how to work effectively with one another and how to think quickly on their feet. In fact, Improv Asylum claims to "train your head to think on its feet." One popular activity among many improv training companies is the "yes, and …" activity.
In improv comedy, actors are taught first and foremost to accept everything that is given to them. If you are opening a skit, and your partner tells you that you are in a bar in Canada using sweet pick-up lines on the ladies, you MUST go along with the story. If you don't, there will be an awkward battle between the two of you to define the scene, and everyone will know you are improv comedy wannabes. So, for instance, your partner starts the scene with, "It's really freaking cold out here." A good retort might be, "Yeah. I never thought I would dress up as a nudist colonist for Halloween." (Disclaimer: I have not taken the training seminar, and do not claim to be in any way funny.) You have accepted your partner's initial offering, and have continued to build on the scene.
In business practice, this skill can be very beneficial. For instance, brainstorming sessions utilizing this technique allow creative workers to build off each other's ideas rather than shooting them down and starting from square one. In negotiations, a "yes, and ..." approach solidifies progress and allows the negotiator to further the discussion toward his or her own ends.
Improv training can also help you become a better listener. Specifically, eye contact is a golden rule for improv performers. Without eye contact, performers might not catch subtle physical cues their partners are giving them. Likewise, in business situations, eye contact is extremely important. It is very difficult to listen intently and not formulate responses while the other person is talking. In the end, however, giving one's full attention to the speaker and picking up on all the body language and non-verbal messaging that occurs throughout conversation has the potential to pay off dividends.
The main benefit of improv comedy is that it teaches students how to deal with uncertainty. People must make incredibly difficult decisions on the spot, which forces them to think quickly. There are no scripts or plots in improv, and no matter how hard we try, there are no exact scripts or plots in the business world either.
Learn how to think on your feet, and your negotiation and communication skills are bound to improve.
Just ask Chet and Norm.
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