1. YES, AND…
Improvisation is based on building on other people’s ideas. In a scene we say ‘yes’ to our scene partner’s idea (accepting it), and then build off the back of it with our own addition (the ‘and’) to propel the scene forward. ‘Yes, and,’ is also a super useful tool in real life – especially when you want to generate a lot of ideas. Delaying judgement helps teams create an abundance of ideas. And studies have shown that the more ideas you create, the more innovative the solution you eventually choose.
TRY IT AT WORK
‘Yes, and’ in pairs Imagine you’re planning a party for work. Person A will begin by saying a statement such as, ‘We should have cocktails!’ Person B will then say, ‘yes, and’ and add to the idea – ‘Yes and let’s make the cocktails customised to every department at work!’ Taking it in turns, every sentence going forward begins ‘yes and,’ as you build on each offer. You’ll find your adventure gets pretty big, pretty fast.
2. SPONTANEITY
In improv, being obvious is the best way to be more creative. Letting go of the pressure to be clever or funny frees you up to contribute far more ideas than waiting for ‘inspiration’ to strike. This helps you be more spontaneous. You may think that your suggestion is boring. But your obvious is another person’s genius, because everyone makes different associations. Plus, the creative value of an idea is not just the idea itself but the place it moves us to.
TRY IT AT WORK
Word at a Time Story Create a story together by taking it in turns to speak one word at a time to move the story along. The first person starts by saying, ‘One.’ And the next person carries it on by saying ‘day.’ And so on. Remember, you can never be too obvious!
3. GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER
Most of the time in life, we listen to people… a bit. In improv we encourage thoughtful listening. Which means not only listening to the end of your partner’s sentence, but also taking in their body language, the tone of their voice, and the way they take up space in a room. It means we can then respond to them in the most thoughtful way. This is also a great skill in meetings. Because making people feel fully heard also makes them feel valued. This brings out the best in everyone.
TRY IT AT WORK
One-minute life story in pairs Person A will have 60 seconds to tell Person B their life story. Then when 60 seconds is up, Person B will have 60 seconds to repeat that life story back to their partner in as much detail as possible. When you’re done, swap it over. And don’t forget to really listen! This is a good way to get everyone in the room chatting before the meeting begins proper.
4. BE AN ALLY NOT A SALESPERSON
Most of the time in life, we listen to people… a bit. In improv we encourage thoughtful listening. Which means not only listening to the end of your partner’s sentence, but also taking in their body language, the tone of their voice, and the way they take up space in a room. It means we can then respond to them in the most thoughtful way. This is also a great skill in meetings. Because making people feel fully heard also makes them feel valued. This brings out the best in everyone.
TRY IT AT WORK
Infinite Box in pairs In front of you is an imaginary box which is full of everything and anything in the whole world. Person A will begin by pulling stuff out of the box as fast as they can and naming it off the top of their head, e.g. ‘a bag, a rabbit, a car…’ Person B’s job is simply to encourage them by smiling and saying ‘yes!’ As soon as Person A starts runs dry of ideas, Person B takes over. Remind people the point isn’t to say a GOOD idea but say ANY idea. This attitude will kill your inner critic and make you more playful. And play is the secret to a brilliant creative meeting. The important thing here is to not judge each other’s ideas. How we react to each other’s mistakes creates the climate in our team. A failure friendly environment is important for innovations to emerge.
5. BRING YOUR BEST ENERGY
How many meetings have you sat through that have been lethargic and dull? We can do better than that. Bringing a positive and playful energy is important when you are trying to solve problems together. This can be established by some silly warm-up exercises that get everyone moving. Here’s one that sounds mad but is great fun. Thank us later!
TRY IT AT WORK
Pass the clap This is not what it sounds like! Everyone gets in a circle. Someone starts. They look at their colleague on their right or left, engage eye contact, and the aim is for both of them to clap at the same time. The person who has ‘received’ the clap, then passes it on to the colleague next to them. (Like all good parties.) As the clap it passed around the circle you can increase the speed. For higher level clapping, you can clap across the circle too for variety. This is a great exercise for focussing everyone, it gets people out of their seats and it’s weirdly addictive. We promise.