5 Improv Exercises to Break the Ice at Work

Get your team energised and engaged with the power of improv…

Breaking the ice at work can be challenging but it is crucial to fostering creativity and collaboration among team members at work. Improvisation exercises offer a fun and effective way to get everyone comfortable, energised, and ready to contribute. Not only that, but they also build essential skills like attentive listening, spontaneity, and better teamwork.

Here are five improv exercises you can try with your team to break the ice and set the stage for a more productive and dynamic workplace environment!

  1. Party Planner

Improvisation is based on the ‘Yes, and’ principle, which is a commitment to build on other people’s ideas. In a scene we acknowledge and accept our scene partner’s offers (the ‘yes’), and then build on that offer with our own addition (the ‘and’) to propel the scene forward. ‘Yes, and’ is also a very useful tool in real life – especially in a setting where you want to generate a lot of ideas, such as a brainstorming meeting. Delaying judgement here can help teams to create an abundance of ideas, and studies have shown that the more ideas you create, the more innovative the solution you eventually choose.

The Exercise:

  • In pairs, imagine you’re planning a party for work.
  • Person A should begin by saying a statement such as, ‘We should have cocktails!’.
  • Person B will then ‘Yes, and’ that idea with a statement like, ‘Yes, and let’s make the cocktails customised to every department at work!’.
  • Taking it in turns, every sentence going forward should begin with, ‘Yes and,’ as you build on each offer. We think you’ll find your adventure gets pretty big, pretty fast!
  1. One Word At A Time 

In improvisation, 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.

The Exercise:

  • 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.’
  • The next person carries it on by saying ‘day.’
  • Continue telling the story, one word per person, until it comes to a natural conclusion.
  • Remember, you can never be too obvious!
  1. One Minute Life Story

Most of the time in life, we listen to people… a bit. In improv we encourage attentive 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 fully considered way. Being this thoughtful is also a great skill to have at work, because making people feel fully heard also makes them feel valued, which brings out the best in everyone.

The Exercise:

  • In pairs Person A will have 60 seconds to tell Person B their life story.
  • When the 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, so don’t forget to really listen!
  • When you’re done, swap over so that Person B now tells their life story in 60 seconds before Person A has 60 seconds to repeat it back to them.
  • This is a good way to get everyone in the room chatting before the meeting begins proper.
  1. The Infinite Box

In improv we practise silencing our inner critic to make more room to play. And a sense of play is the secret to a brilliant creative meeting! By delaying judgement on each other’s ideas we can foster a more encouraging and playful climate in our team, vital to allowing more innovative ideas and solutions to emerge.

The Exercise:

  • Working in pairs, imagine there is a box in front of you 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 to struggle to immediately name things they are ‘pulling out’, Person B takes over pulling imaginary items out of the box.
  • 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!
  1. Pass The Clap

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!

The Exercise:

  • Everyone gets in a circle, and someone volunteers to start.
  • The person starting looks at their colleague on their right or left, engaging them with eye contact.
  • Once they have engaged their colleague the aim is for both of them to clap at the same time, whilst looking at each other.
  • The person who has now ‘received’ the clap, then passes it on to the colleague next to them in the same fashion (eye contact, then clap together).
  • As the clap is passed around the circle you can increase the speed.
  • Once you’ve got to grips with that you can clap across the circle for variety too.
  • This is a great exercise for focusing a room, it gets people out of their seats and it’s weirdly addictive!

Key Takeaways

  • Foster Collaboration: Improv exercises like Party Planner help teams build on each other’s ideas using the ‘Yes, and’ improv principle to foster a collaborative and creative atmosphere.
  • Encourage Spontaneity: Activities such as the One Word at a Time story emphasise spontaneity and help participants let go of the pressure to be perfect, leading to more creative outcomes.
  • Improve Listening Skills: Exercises like the One Minute Life Story enhance attentive listening, making participants feel heard and valued, which is crucial for effective teamwork.
  • Create a Playful Environment: The Infinite Box exercise encourages participants to silence their inner critic and embrace playfulness, which is key to fostering creativity and innovation.
  • Energise the Team: Pass the Clap is a fun and engaging warm-up that gets everyone moving and focused, setting a positive and energetic tone for meetings and teamwork.

Want more tips like these? Check out Company Director and Co-Founder of Hoopla Business, Max Dickins’, book, ‘Improvise! Use the Secrets of Improv to Achieve Extraordinary Results at Work’.  

Want to book us to help you break the ice at your next conference or event?

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