What can unscripted, improvisational theatre training offer leaders as they negotiate a fast-moving, uncertain world, asks Julie Flower
What does it feel like to step on to a stage in front of 100 people, having no idea what you and your team-mates will co-create? That’s improv. What does it feel like to step into a room with a coaching client, having no idea what you will co-create? That’s coaching.
Improvisation can be described as “creativity, adaptation and innovation under time pressure” (Ratten & Hodge, 2016, p149). Coaching, as a dialogic activity concerned with co-creation, is inherently improvisational. The fast-moving, uncertain environments and systems in which modern leaders operate often call for improvisational skills and behaviours, as we’ve witnessed over the past two years. However, improvisation is rarely mentioned by name.
As a practising coach and an experienced improvised comedy performer, studying for the Henley MSc in Coaching for Behavioural Change, I was intrigued that improvisation had been very little researched with respect to coaching. In this article I build on my recent research to explore how training exercises used by improv theatre performers can help coaches develop their self-awareness, skills and creativity, as well as offering potentially powerful tools and techniques for use with clients.
What is improv?
Is it just about making up absurd stuff on the spot and having fun? Or is there more to it? Theatrical and comedy improvisation (improv) “is a style of theatre performance where the actors perform without a script and make up the play as it is being performed” (Ratten & Hodge, 2016, p150). Long associated for television audiences with the comedic programme, Whose Line is it Anyway?, improv actually encompasses a variety of different formats and genres, with a wide emotional range. As a form of spontaneous creativity, it relies on performers being ‘in the moment’, listening actively and building on ‘offers’ made – the principle of ‘yes, and’. Training exercises derived from improv have been used extensively within corporate training, team development and business school courses over the past 20 years, promising to build collaboration, confidence, spontaneity and creative thinking, among other areas of skills development and behavioural change (Koppett, 2001; Leonard & Yorton, 2015).
Relevance to coaching
The client’s context
Developing the ability to improvise is increasingly important to respond effectively to the rapid change and uncertainty in which modern leaders, teams and organisations operate. Although the concept of improvisation has made its way into the management literature over the past two decades, it remains a young field of research. However, when faced with complex challenges such as a financial crisis or a global pandemic, or longer-term issues such as climate change, coaching clients may find benefit from understanding, developing and being comfortable with a more improvisational approach.
Coaching skills, behaviours and ways of being
Coaching, as a dynamic, dialogic, client-focused practice, can be viewed, to some extent, as an improvisational activity (Read, 2013). The International Coaching Federation (ICF) recognises the importance of a creative partnership, defining coaching as “partnering with clients in a
thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximise their personal and professional potential” (ICF, 2019).
The coaching literature and professional competency frameworks recognise the need for coaches to develop skills, behaviours and ways of being that are associated with improvisation, both in the theatre and in the workplace, even if it’s rarely mentioned by name.
These include:
- presence (being ‘in the moment’; being aware of, and using, our own emotions; sitting with uncertainty)
- co-creation (spontaneity; creativity; building on and making ‘offers’; taking risks)
- active listening (with all our senses; maintaining an open curiosity)
Potential benefits of improv exercises
The application of improv exercises in the workplace has, until recently, lacked a strong empirical underpinning (Ratten & Hodge, 2016). However, a number of studies suggest potential benefits of interest and relevance to the evidence-based coach in their work with individuals, groups and teams. These include positive findings with respect to the development of flexibility of thinking, collaborative behaviour, climates for innovation and psychological safety (Kirsten & Du Preez, 2010; Felsman et al, 2020).
From a practitioner perspective, research in the field of therapeutic social work indicates an increase in flexibility, open-mindedness, therapeutic presence, self-disclosure and self-awareness for practitioners who engaged in a course of improv training (Romanelli et al, 2017).
My recent study (Flower, 2021) into how coaches experience engaging in improv exercises provides promising findings with respect to:
- the development of coach presence (including emotional self-awareness and empathy)
- the strength and speed of relationships
- a desire to be more experimental, creative and playful within coaching
- the potential for direct practical application within coaching encounters.
Getting practical
This section highlights a number of ways in which you can use improv exercises, both for your own development and with clients, together with some example exercises. It’s not exhaustive and you’re encouraged to be curious and creative with the application of the exercises and the learning from them. As a form of experiential learning, it’s important to have the chance to reflect on the experience of taking part.
Driscoll’s ‘What? So what? Now what?’ framework can be helpful for self-reflection or debriefing improv exercises with clients (Driscoll, 2007).
To develop attention and get ‘in the moment’
Exercises used by improvisers to develop their skills of attention can be interesting alternatives to mindfulness-based practices at the start of a session, or as a ‘warm-up’ for brain and body.
Naming things
Can be done individually or as a pair or group, with each person doing the exercise for themselves:
– Move or look around your space pointing at things and naming them (eg, door, light switch, candlestick)
– Next, do the same again but naming each item as the last thing you pointed at (eg, you point at a table then a lamp, so you name the lamp ‘table’, and the next item ‘lamp’)
– Finally, do the same again but naming things anything they’re not (eg, a door is named as a cat or a light switch is named as tennis)
To develop listening, self-awareness and co-creation
Many exercises can be viewed as beneficial in this area, as listening, self-awareness and co-creation, within a relationship of trust, are cornerstones of improv. Two exercises are given below, one physical and one verbal, with different kinds of energy.
Mirroring
A paired exercise:
– Two people sit directly opposite each other (either in person or on video)
– Making eye contact, one person should begin by leading – making gentle movements (no need to rush), which the other person will mirror. Usually, it’s done without words but sounds may emerge
– After a minute or two, swap, with the other person, taking their turn to lead
– Finally, repeat the exercise with both leading together
‘Yes, and’ (building, rather than blocking) – planning a daytrip
In pairs or in a small group with an order of speaking established:
– The pair or group are planning an imaginary day trip – it doesn’t need to be within the realms of possibility
– One person begins with ‘Let’s…’
– Each person builds on the last person’s ideas by beginning with ‘yes, and let’s…’ until it reaches a logical (or less than logical) conclusion
To develop confidence, spontaneity and explore self-awareness
The feeling of being put ‘on the spot’ can be overwhelming to many (including coaches). This exercise challenges us to become ‘experts’ in nonsensical subjects, not because it’s good to ‘blag it’, but because it’s a way of exploring our reactions and our resourcefulness.
Expert interview
Can be done in a pair or in a group setting:
– The speaker is endowed with a nonsensical subject matter expertise (eg, a fashion stylist for worms)
– They are then interviewed about their work by the coach, pair or another member of the group
About the author
- Julie Flower is a leadership and team development practitioner and coach, with a specialism in navigating complexity and systems leadership. She is also an experienced improv performer, including with award-winning Improbotics, exploring AI and human interaction. Julie is an external tutor in coaching at Henley Business School and the co-editor of J Passmore et al (eds.) (2021 & 2022) Coaching Tools, Libri. Vols 1 & 2.
As a coach
“Improv allows me to experience in a very real way what is it to co-create; how quickly rapport can be built, working in the moment in true partnership and creating something which none of us would have come up with on our own. I also embarked on a journey into relational mindfulness a year ago and, in many ways, the two are similar; the willingness to set aside all pre-formed ideas and assumptions, to be completely present, make space and be willing to work with whatever is coming up internally (emotionally, somatically, intellectually) and for our co-creation partner in that moment. Both provide rich learning in the balancing of ‘doing’ and ‘being’ in the coaching dance.”
- Stephanie Wheeler is a coach, LEGO® Serious Play® facilitator, writer, and research supervisor for the MSc Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology (MAPPC ) at the University of East London
As a leader
“Exploring the concepts of ‘yes, and’ and ‘yes, but’ came at a pivotal point in our journey as a leadership team. As a rapidly growing charity we are keen to generate and implement new ideas, and this needs to be balanced with the time and resources we have available. We took part in ‘yes, and’ exercises as part of a series of team coaching sessions. The experience has made a huge impression on us as a leadership team. We all have much greater awareness of our own behaviours and their impact on others, including how they can both encourage and stifle creativity and innovation. It now just feels like part of our culture that we call ourselves and each other out by saying, ‘that felt like a yes, but’…or ‘how can we make that into a yes, and?’ This is a simple yet powerful intervention that is helping us innovate, constantly expanding and improving what we offer.”
- Nav Mirza is chief executive of Dads Unlimited, a charity improving the lives of children of separated parents
References
- J Driscoll, Practising Clinical Supervision (1st ed). Baillière Tindall Elsevier, 2007
- P Felsman, S Gunawardena and CM Seifert, ‘Improv experience promotes divergent thinking, uncertainty tolerance, and affective well-being’, in Thinking Skills and Creativity, 35, 1-9, 2020
- J Flower, Everything’s an offer: an IPA study of how coaches experience engaging in improvised theatre exercises. Unpublished MSc dissertation. Henley Business School, 2021
- International Coaching Federation (ICF), Updated Core Competencies.
https://coachfederation.org/core-competencies – accessed 20th December 2019 - B Kirsten and R Du Preez, ‘Improvisational theatre as team development intervention for climate for work group innovation’, in SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 36(1), 1-9, 2010
- K Koppett, Training to imagine: Practical improvisational theatre techniques to enhance creativity, leadership, teamwork and learning, Stylus Publishing, 2001
- K Leonard and T Yorton, Yes, and: How improvisation reverses “no, but” thinking and improves creativity and collaboration, HarperCollins Publishers, 2015
- V Ratten and J Hodge, ‘So much theory, so little practice: a literature review of workplace improvisation training’, in Industrial and Commercial Training, 48(3) 149-155, 2016
- M J B Read, ‘The importance of improvisation in coaching’, in Coaching, 6(1), 47-56, 2013
- A Romanelli, O Tishby and G S Moran, ‘Coming home to myself: A qualitative analysis of therapists’ experience and interventions following training in theater improvisation skills’, in Arts in Psychotherapy, 53, 12-22, 2017