I love improv.

The joy of watching great performers come up with brilliant stuff on the fly — scenes and jokes so perfectly crafted in real time that you couldn’t script them any better — is unmatched. If you’ve ever cried laughing at Whose Line Is It Anyway or a live improv show, you know just what I’m talking about.

I’ve performed improv since I was around nine years old.

And recently, I’ve led a couple of enterprise improv workshops. These are sessions with corporate teams where I’m working with them on the basics of improv. And while these are definitely fun, that’s not precisely the point.

The core skills of improv are also hugely important soft skills in the business world. I’d like to explain a few. Believe me, though, these are both more fun and easier to learn at an in-person workshop vs. in a few paragraphs. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more about scheduling a business improv training session for your team.

Yes, And

“Yes, and” is the central tenet of improv. In beginner improv you’ll see way too many painful scenes like this:

Person 1: I bought you these flowers.

Person 2: Those aren’t flowers, that’s a carburetor! Also we’re both dolphins!

That’s… not great improv. It might generate a quick laugh, but it even more quickly grows tiresome. Person 2 failed to honor “yes, and,” which means acknowledging the reality set by the prior line of dialogue — and building on it. Yes, you bought me flowers, and — well, and anything:

Person 1: I bought you these flowers.

Person 2: Yes, they’re lovely — but I’m still mad that you stole my quiche.

Person 1: I bought you these flowers.

Person 2: Oh you misunderstood, I needed flour! I’m baking a cake!

Person 1: I bought you these flowers.

Person 2: Yes, and I’m allergic to them!

Person 1: I bought you these flowers.

Person 2: Yes! Yes! Yes I WILL marry you!

Person 1: Um… That’s not what I meant!

Note that in all these examples, Person 2 acknowledges and builds on what Person 1 has said and done, even if the responses aren’t what Person 1 (or the actor portraying Person 1) had in mind.

These scenes would feel quite different if Person 2 responded “No.” “No, those aren’t flowers.” The scene is immediately dead in the water.

The skill we’re driving here is the art of listening — which may seem like an obvious one. But very often — especially in sales and business conversations — we’re more inclined to wait for our turn to talk, instead of actually listening to what the other person is saying. We all always have our agendas. But actually listening, thinking about what the other person is saying, and building on it leads to far better results.

Guessing Games

Another improv training I use involves guessing games. There are many variants, but one I like is called Press Conference. That’s a game where one person leaves the room while the rest of us decide who they are, what they’re announcing, and where the announcement is taking place. Perhaps they’re “Weird Al” Yankovic, announcing he’s invented flying sneakers, and making this announcement from the rim of the Grand Canyon.

When the guesser comes back in, they know nothing about who they are, but I coach them to project confidence nonetheless. “Hi everyone, thanks for being here for this important announcement. I’ll take your questions.”

It’s now the job of the rest of the room to toss out press-style questions to the guesser, finding the sweet spot of getting them to figure out the who, what, and where — without being too obvious.

Wrong: “Hey, Weird Al, what’s with this flying sneaker announcement?”

Better options:

“What do you say to people who say this announcement is a parody of Nike?”

“What made you decide to hang up the accordion and pivot to this?”

“Why did you choose to make your announcement here? Are you planning an Evel Knievel-like stunt to show off your invention?”

“You’ve never worked in footwear before. Is it fair to say you’re just… winging it?”

On their own, none of these questions are enough to get the guesser there. But with a few more questions, the guesser can likely piece together what’s happening.

And this is a really important skill in business: We often know where we want a conversation to go, but there’s real value to leading someone there — a direct report, a colleague, a sales prospect, a customer – vs. just telling them what to do. This isn’t about tricking people, by the way. It’s about recognizing the value of helping people think through things in a way that gets them where you want them to be, while empowering them to do the reasoning through that gets them to that spot.

It’s worth noting that the guesser is building skills, too: Confidence and trust are key things here. The guesser must come out confident and provide answers to questions they know nothing about, and trust that their “press corps” will get them where they need to go.

Room For Improv-Ment

There are countless lessons from improv that drive business success; this is just a tiny sampling.

But the skills of improv — listening, confidence, building, collaboration, trust — are business skills, just funneled in a different direction.

(And again, if you’re thinking this kind of training could be useful for your team, say “yes, and” contact me!)