How to Use Improv for Team Building

At The Leadership Laboratory, we often talk about our approach being the blend of the art and science of leadership development.  In addition to our deep background in research and theory, we also have experiences rooted in the performing arts.  As such, the improv curriculum is one of the most fulfilling for us to facilitate.

The foundation of improvision is a concept called “YES, AND”.  Yes, And means that we say “yes” to whatever we are given in a scene, and build upon it to make it even more effective and even more efficient.  So often, whether in a team meeting, sales pitch, or day-to-day conversation, we are faced with the opposite.  How often has someone on your team proposed an idea, only to be met with a flat out “NO”?  Or even “YES, that’s a great idea, BUT…” followed by a blocker, such as we don’t have the budget for it, or it will never get approved.  

“YES, BUT” or “NO” blocks the best of ideas from ever fully developing, and discourages others from sharing their ideas as well.  When we embrace a “YES, AND” mindset and mentality, we create a team culture with high degrees of trust and psychological safety, where individuals feel comfortable to share their thoughts openly.  Embracing this idea will allow someone to feel comfortable to share their creative and out-there idea, which will encourage someone else to share theirs, which may inspire a totally new thought that may be the solution the team has been looking for.  Only when a culture of “YES, AND” exists on a team can we discover the most creative ideas worth pursuing, and have the environment to fully embrace the wacky ideas that percolate along the way.

The Leadership Laboratory has a detailed facilitator-lead curriculum to help encourage all of the concepts behind improvisation, and inspire your teams to embrace these skill sets that impact collaboration, trust, active listening, and creativity.  We hope you’ll reach out for more information and request a workshop!  In the interim, we wanted to provide a handful of exercises you can lead with your own team to begin to inspire these concepts within your department.

Before beginning these exercises, it’s helpful to review the guidelines below with your team to ensure everyone feels set up for success:

1. Never Say No – It’s all about Yes, And!  As you’ve seen in a few of the morning improv activities, you have to accept what you’ve been given in a scene in order for the scene to move forward.  
2. Use Statements, Avoid Questions.  Questions can block the movement forward by putting the responsibility on the other person to make the decision.  Be confident in your contributions.
3. Give & Take – Go with The Flow.  Many of these activities will involve group work. Make an effort to ensure that everyone is contributing somewhat equal amounts.
4. Listen – As was seen in the morning activities, listening is crucial as it allows you to take in the information and react naturally.
5. Be in the Moment – If you’re thinking and planning ahead, you aren’t fully present or leveraging true active listening.  LISTEN and REACT to what’s around you in the moment!
6. If you’re stuck, make an observation – In a scene, there will be times when you feel stuck and cannot move forward.  In these situations, make an observation about your surroundings, which will help get conversation flowing again.
7. Don’t try to be funny – it will happen naturally!
8. It’s OK to end improv – Every scene must come to an end eventually, and you should feel comfortable working towards that resolution.

Feel free to use the exercises below as a starting point – be sure to reach out and let us know how it all turns out!

Circle Stories is an exercise where the team is responsible for telling a story in the style of “Once Upon A Time”.  Each person can only share one word at a time, meaning that the direction of the story can change at a moment’s notice!  Start by having everyone stand or sit in a circle, making sure everyone can see each other.  Select the first person to say their word, and continue around the circle having each person add to the story by sharing just one word.  Like every good story, there should be a beginning, middle, and an end!  Remind participants that the objective is to share a complete story that makes sense – it’s easy to want to throw in fancy words, though the objective is to showcase collaboration and set the next person up for success, encourage participants to add a word that will help to advance the story and allow each person to react to what’s been given to them with confidence!

In this exercise, identify two participants: the customer and the customer service representative.  The objective is for the customer to guess what item they are returning based on the responses that are given in conversation by the customer service representative.  Send the customer out into the hallway, far enough that they cannot hear the rest of the group talk.  As a team, identify what the item the customer is returning.  Is it a baseball bat?  A yacht?  Meryl Streep?  When the customer comes in, have them confidently approach the customer service representative, and begin by saying “I’d like to return this item”.  The customer service representative will respond in kind “I’m so sorry, of course you can return it!  What seems to be the problem?” and allow the conversation to continue.  The customer will share different issues they may have had with it, and without giving the answer of the item too easily, the customer service representative can reply with clues or hints that helps the customer figure out the item.  Once the customer has figure it out, they can end by saying, “Thank you so much for your help, though I definitely won’t be needing this (insert item name here) anymore”.  The objective is to showcase communication with confidence, and how we can help and support others through ambiguity.

This works best when the item is not too specific (i.e. Dannon Strawberry Yogurt vs. Yogurt).  Additionally, it is helpful if the Customer Service Agent does not give too much away too quickly, as it’s helpful to lead the customer to the answer more gradually.  For the customer, remind them that they should speak as confidently as possible, trying to hide the fact that they have no idea what is going on.

Is there a way to have an entire conversation, only using questions?  How would that work?  Are there two people in the group who would be willing to stand at the front of the room to demonstrate the exercise?  What would they talk about?  Besides topics that aren’t HR appropriate, is there anything off limits?  How would the dialogue progress?  Why would this be different than any other conversation?  Could it be that the only difference is that each participant is communicating exclusively with questions, taking it as far as the conversation can possibly go?  Was this description a helpful example of how the exercise might work?  Are you willing to give it a try with your team?

This is an exercise that’s entirely about putting together compound phrases.  The intention is for one person to say a word, and the next person to add to it, making it a compound phrase.  For example, if the first person says “book”, the second person could say “mark”, or “report”, or “store”, or “shelf”.  Once the second person says their word, everyone repeats the full phase, followed by “doo doo doo doo”.  So if the first person says “water”, and the second person says “fall”, the full group will then say “water fall, doo doo doo doo”.  At this point, the person who said the second word will now say the first word (ie “snow”), and the person next to them is responsible for completing the phrase (ie “man” or “storm” or “day”), and the full group will repeat the full phrase, followed by “doo doo doo doo”.

This is an exercise about celebrating whatever happens, mistakes included!  If the first person says “book” and the second person is caught off guard and say “ahh!”, then the full group will say “book ahh! doo doo doo doo”.

To begin, ask the group to stand in a circle, and pat a slow and consistent beat on their legs.  It’s easy to have this beat speed up, so remind everyone to keep the beat slow to make it easier for everyone.  Each set will have 8 taps total: person one’s phrase will have two taps, person two’s phrase will have two taps, and the full phrase said by the group will be said over four taps.  To practice, drum a consistent beat and demonstrate with this phrase: “book” (said over two taps), “mark” (said over two taps), “book mark doo doo doo doo” (said over four taps).

The objective of this activity is to focus on give-and-take, listening and being in the moment.  Participants often say that if they think of their word too far in advance, they aren’t able to provide an appropriate word for the second half of the compound phrase.  You must trust that your partner is going to provide you with a word that is easy to use, and speaks loudly enough that you can hear it.

In this activity, ask everyone to write down one or two topics on a small slip of paper.  This can range from “expense reports” to “The Academy Awards” to “mango sorbet” to “Columbus, Ohio” and anything in between.  Place all of the pieces of paper in a bowl, and ask one person to stand at the front of the room, and select one of the topics at random.  Each person will have 30 – 60 seconds to speak passionately about that topic, either as the biggest fan or biggest hater (their choice!).  The intention is to speak off the cuff with confidence; there’s no expectation that the speaker is an expert on the topic – whatever they say is 100% correct!  The goal is for each person to practice their public speaking skills on the fly, and allow the full group to laugh together at the passion we all pretend to have for some of the most interesting or mundane topics.

In this activity, a scene is replicated three times.  The first is set up by two participants where everything is perfect.  It should run about 90 seconds.  Provide these two participants with a basic storyline plot, and let them fill in the remaining details.  Meanwhile, keep two participants offstage where they cannot see or hear what is being done.  As the scene concludes, you suddenly announce that an actor from the group is ill and must drop out.  Call in one of the offstage participants as an understudy.

In the second version of the scene, one of the actors from backstage replaces the “ill” participant.  The participant from the previous scene, still on stage, leads the scene again without providing any of the information to the new actor before it begins.  When that scene is played for the second time, the remaining participant from the first scene falls ill.  Call in for the other understudy.

With the third version of the scene, one participant is brand new and the other was led through it by the original participant.  This activity deals a lack of control, and how to lead during ambiguous situations.  Ultimately, the participants have to find a way to make it work.

This activity works best when the “understudies” come on with complete confidence.  No matter what the title of the scene is, the understudy must profess that they know the role well.  At no time should the participant look lost in the scene, even when you know you’re way off base.