Those of an age like me will remember Whose Line is it anyway on Channel 4 in the daytime during the school holidays – I’ve watched a few nineties editions, and I can’t believe it was deemed suitable for children! I still love to watch the American version which seems to still be going.
There are two concepts from improv I’ve built into my daily life thanks to people like Simon Thomson, lara A king, Viv Groskop and Pippa Evans:
1. “Yes, and” – take the offer, and build. Sometimes this morphs into a explanation of what I'm taking, “what I really like about that idea is…” which creates optimism and a space to grow understanding.
2. “Trust that you will get to the end of the sentence” which has really helped my speaking and presenting.
In another hat-tip to Bruce Daisley and his excellent podcast, he discusses the nature and business related skills of improv with Kelly Leonard of Second City, the Chicago based improvisational comedy enterprise. Kelly describes the difference between improv and stand-up comedy:
⭐ Stand-up: where someone brings you into their world and tells you stories, which take you through a range of emotions and hopefully surprise you and make you laugh, is about *giving* your perspective to the audience.
⭐ Improv: where the audience offers a suggestion and then the improvising team take that and play, bouncing off each other, is *taking* perspective from the audience.
When you’re meeting your team or your clients today, think about whether this is a perspective *giving*, or a perspective *taking* conversation.
Have you honed your lines and practiced, know the beginning, middle and end of your story? Are you holding court, with occasional questions from the “crowd?” You're *giving* your perspective here. Which, if someone has asked you, is fine, but it's not always what is needed. And easy to slip into if you're wise, experienced, and possibly amongst the most senior people in the room.
Or are you *taking* perspective: paying close attention to what the people around you are saying, listening to the very end of their sentences, and building on what they tell you? Is it a collaboration, a sounding board, or giving them freedom to download?
Sometimes, you’ll flip between these during the same conversation – but having a language to describe the mode you’re using makes it easier to be aware of when you need to bring a different one.
Says Kelly: Our workplace future needs “human skills, people knowing how to talk to each other, and getting things done. It’s not about code, it’s about creativity and connection. Let the AI do [the code] stuff.”
I couldn't agree more.
Merrill Financial Solutions Advisor
5mo“Yes and…” is critical for a growth mindset. It lends itself to exploring and heightening of ideas. Nothing kills growth more than “Yes but..”.