Improv rules for creativity

You have probably seen some improv comedy on television or during a live show. It’s often hilarious and when I first saw it I was in awe of the creative capabilities of these people.

It wasn’t until later that I found out that this skill can be learned and that it is even a very useful and popular skill to have in business.

Improv has a few simple rules. But it only unlocks its real, powerful potential the more you practice it.

RULE 1:   AGREE

This is a tough cookie really. Over time we have all become experts at drilling through our own ideas by killing others’. It starts in Kindergarten when ‘mine is better than yours’ and it’s ‘either – or’.

No wonder we later get stuck in brainstorming sessions: as soon as someone throws out a weird, silly idea, it gets thrashed  with ‘that’ll never work’, ‘we’ve tried that before’ or ‘this is silly’.

Instead we should listen more and agree more. And let our brain work with the crazy idea we’re given.

I have this dilemma often with my 3 year old. When he goes to sleep, after the official story from the book, he wants a ‘real’ story, meaning one that comes directly from Mommy. And he usually has a very precise idea on what the story should be about. So he’ll say ‘I want a story about a spider’ and I frantically start re-arranging my brain which was ready for a nice little elf story. Instead drilling through my elf story, I run with the spider and start talking slowly. And the more I talk, the more images pop up in my head and before I know it, the story is there. And it turns out that most are actually really good! Material for a short story book soon? Who knows.

So, next time when someone throws this idea at you, fight the immediate reaction of wanting to swipe it off the table and say ‘YES’.

RULE 2: BUILD

It’s all very nice to agree with wild ideas, but you don’t get anywhere when you leave it at that. The secret is to build on those.

Improv is about spontaneity. It’s about imagining things, even the impossible. It’s about taking the weird and seemingly impossible and doing something unexpected with it. Very often this leads to hilarious outcomes. But they are by-products. The key thing about improv is to be open to crazy ideas and to build on them. And that is just the skill that will make a difference in today’s business. That is the skill that makes you (and your company) more creative and agile.

How do you do that? Simply by saying AND.

So, in practice: you agree and then build. You say: YES, AND…

And here’s what can happen if you say yes to everything in life