Improvisation isn’t just about quick wit and spontaneous performances; it’s a transformative skill that can go beyond the stage, bringing profound benefits to everyday life and workplaces.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Improv contains many useful lessons and skills that can help you:<\/p>\n
We spoke to Max, one of the founders of Hoopla Business, about his improv journey. From attending a drop-in class run by his future business partner, Steve Roe, to falling in love with the improv mindset, Max’s experience highlights the unexpected ways in which improvisation can change lives.<\/p>\n
In this interview, Max shares insights into the principles of improv and its powerful applications in the workplace. Whether you’re a sceptic when it comes to “arty-farty” activities, or a believer in their transformative power, Max’s story is sure to enlighten and inspire.<\/p>\n
Short on time? Head straight to our <\/b>Key Takeaways from the Interview <\/b>at the bottom of this page.<\/b><\/p>\n
How would you define improvisation?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
On a very simple level, improvisation is acting without a script. Many people would normally associate improvisation with being on stage – playing jazz or improvising comedy theatre. But we act without a script in life all the time.<\/p>\n
How did you get into improv?<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
I came into it for two reasons. So at the time, I was a professional stand-up comedian. And a big part of that job is you have to often do a role in clubs, which is emceeing or hosting, so normally within that you deliver some material, but you have to do a lot of crowd work and be very in the moment and spontaneous and I just wanted to learn some skills around that. But that, for me, was almost the kind of rational intellectual cover story for what I realised in hindsight, as I wrote my book, was a much deeper, emotional need, which was around being confident, but being confident without having control, which I think is such a lovely thing to have in life. And I think confidence might even be the wrong word. I think it\u2019s freedom from your critical internal monologue, freedom from the need to please others, freedom from fear. And so those were the two things I wanted to get out of improv. So I attended a drop in class that I found online. That was run by Steve Roe, who later became my business partner! And the more I did it the more I fell in love with it. I thought, \u201cthis is absolutely transformational\u201d.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s interesting, because I can see how it\u2019s easy to be cynical about improv. To be honest, I\u2019m intuitively that guy. I\u2019m a bit suspicious of \u2018Arty-Farty, Flim Flam\u2019 things, not in a closed-minded way, rather that I take a more rational perspective. And I came to improv expecting to hate it, but I was blown away, and by the end I was absolutely in love with it. It really has changed my life. And as I\u2019ve worked with other people I\u2019ve seen how it\u2019s changed their lives too. How they\u2019ve used the concepts and ideas from improv to change theirs. And that\u2019s what my book is about really, it\u2019s sharing these concepts and applying them to the stuff we do every day<\/p>\n
How do you think improvisation can help in the workplace? How can it really help businesses as a whole, and people more generally in their work?<\/b><\/p>\n
I think improv is all about your relationship with change. It\u2019s a way of practising dealing with change. On a day to day basis, when a change happens, we go through a loop. First, we have to notice the change, and that seems quite easy but actually, it\u2019s really hard. Often we bring cognitive biases with us, and we don\u2019t have very well developed listening skills. So we have to work to actively notice the change. Next, we have to respond to it. We have to let go of our existing plan and surrender control, which again can be pretty difficult. Often we\u2019ll have some cost to letting go of the existing plan: whether that be energy, our own ego, or money and resources. The final part of the letting go process is about reframing it, and making a new decision based on the change. Once you act on that decision you are back at the start of that loop. And that\u2019s what improv is all about really. It\u2019s about allowing ourselves to be changed by our scene partner\u2019s offer. To accept it and then build off it to make it work, even if the offer is not something we were expecting. And that ability to adapt to change, to employ creative agility, is a crucial tool for every business. Improv is all about making choices with limited amounts of information. Which can be uncomfortable when we like to plan and know exactly what\u2019s going to happen. But by practising that skill, of making lots of new choices quickly, through improv, we get much better at it. At being flexible, adaptable and agile. And that\u2019s a really useful tool for businesses, and for individuals to have at work in general.<\/p>\n
On top of that improv is a brilliant tool for learning the art of really attentive listening<\/b><\/a>. It requires a deeper level of listening, where you really allow what others are saying to land and influence you. And that ability to listen attentively is a very valuable quality for not only brilliant leadership<\/b><\/a> but also more effective, innovative brainstorming sessions<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n People usually think they listen well, but then when you put them through a series of exercises in one of our improv workshops and they realise, \u201coh, wow, I really don\u2019t listen attentively at all\u201d.<\/p>\n There\u2019s such a difference between thinking that you\u2019re listening, and the sense of being deeply present in the moment when you are truly listening in improv, isn\u2019t there?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, the way improvisers talk about listening is a little bit different to how we tend to talk about it in business and in life. Lots of people have gone on active listening courses at work, which focus on how you behave when the other person is speaking. A lot of it is about nodding and making the \u2018right\u2019 faces, maybe repeating certain phrases back. But really, how do you know someone has genuinely listened to you? When you see what they do with what you\u2019ve said<\/i>. So in improv we define listening as the willingness to be changed. That means when I\u2019m truly listening your words should land on me, and impact what I say next. Not only does that create stronger rapport between me and you, but it allows us to co-create ideas together<\/b><\/a>, and at a greater level of connection than we\u2019d get to without it.<\/p>\n And I think that, for me, is why improv is so simple yet complex. Because it\u2019s not just about the skill of listening, it\u2019s also about the emotional blockers we bring that stop us from really doing it. What are the patterns we have that mean we get in our own way of really listening? For example, we aren\u2019t truly listening because we\u2019re bringing ego to it; we want to make sure the other person knows that we know what we\u2019re talking about. Or we bring fear, so we\u2019re worried we\u2019re not going to get through what we want to say, or that we\u2019re losing control of the conversation. And if we can become aware of those emotional blockers in our interactions, it frees us up to behave and act with more spontaneity.<\/p>\n I might throw something else in here. I haven\u2019t haven\u2019t spoken about this in an interview before, but I\u2019ve started having therapy. Initially I started doing it as part of another project I\u2019m involved in at the moment. I did it in quite an archetypical blokey way, you know, for a project, not because I needed it\u2026 And I thought I\u2019d be doing it for about six weeks, but I\u2019ve done it for four or five months now. And what I\u2019ve realised is what therapists do is help people identify their patterns. Patterns we\u2019re not even aware we\u2019re repeating, or how ineffective they are. And I feel like in a similar, more every day way, improv helps you to become aware of your patterns in terms of how you\u2019re responding to others.<\/p>\n And, as my therapist put it, with awareness comes choice. If you\u2019re not aware of the patterns, you have no choice and you can\u2019t change your behaviour. That\u2019s a really inspiring, empowering idea. And I think it\u2019s so useful.<\/p>\n And we can apply it to how we listen. Communication is really hard, but sometimes, when we\u2019re talking past each other, we don\u2019t call it out. If we can bring a little more awareness to the conversation then perhaps we can acknowledge, \u201cHey, I think we\u2019re talking past each other here\u201d. It doesn\u2019t have to be done in a heavy way, say it with a smile and give yourselves the chance to reset. Often, when I\u2019ve had terrible conversations it\u2019s because I haven\u2019t called out what\u2019s going on. Sometimes just labelling it is half the battle and if we call it out we can come back to a more attentive way of listening.<\/p>\n One of the core improv principles we haven\u2019t explicitly mentioned is \u2018Yes, and\u2019. Do you want to explain what it is, and how it works in business?<\/b><\/p>\n Sure. So, \u2018Yes, and\u2019 is sort of the big underlying idea of most improvisation. It\u2019s a simple concept that allows improvisers on stage to build scenes very quickly. It\u2019s based on the premise that if I say something, say a line, you accept the idea and then you add something to it. So if I say, for example, \u201cAh you\u2019ve delivered me the milk\u201d, then you, as my scene partner, would respond with something like, \u201cYes, I delivered you the milk and I\u2019ve thrown in a little treat for you there on the side, just for free, winky face\u201d. So I\u2019ve accepted the milk idea, and I\u2019ve added something to it, and now we\u2019ve got a situation which we can build on. This principle helps us to be very effective in building scenes when we haven\u2019t got anything planned at all.<\/p>\n Offstage, this is also a really useful skill when you\u2019re trying to create an abundance of ideas to find an innovative solution. \u2018Yes, and\u2019 is a great mindset to bring into a brainstorming session<\/b><\/a> or a meeting if you want to generate lots of ideas. Accepting and building off others\u2019 ideas in the business world can often be anathema to a lot of people though, because people bring status into the room. They bring expertise and with that a tendency to criticise and shoot down ideas before they\u2019ve had a chance to really flesh. Not only does this mean that fresh new ideas get killed before we\u2019ve developed them enough to see if they\u2019ve got legs, it also means we create an emotional culture in the room where people don\u2019t want to pitch their ideas. And the outcome of this is that we\u2019re discarding a lot of ideas and being less creative.<\/p>\n And it can seem a bit flimsy: how does that one interaction make a difference? But cultures are built through these minor interactions and when you add them all together, well that\u2019s the culture of a place.<\/p>\n And again, it\u2019s about self awareness. It\u2019s about asking \u201cWhy are we saying no to ideas?\u201d. Often we\u2019re saying no as an unconscious reaction to uncertainty, or because we\u2019re bringing old habits from what we\u2019ve done before, or we\u2019re afraid of risk\u2026 Keith Johnston, one of the pioneers of improvisation in the UK, says \u201cThere are people who prefer to say yes, and there are people who prefer to say no. Those who say yes, are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those that say no are rewarded by the safety they attain\u201d. I really love that quote.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s important to remember that saying yes to an idea doesn\u2019t mean dropping our point of view. We\u2019re dropping our agenda so we can co-create on the same page, but we\u2019re not dropping our perspective.<\/p>\n Is there any practical advice you can offer for people wanting to practise \u2018Yes, and\u2019 within their business? Say for a brainstorming session or an ideation process?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I think a very simple thing you can do is to lay out clearly what you are expecting of people in a meeting. So being clear about what the problem you\u2019re trying to solve is, and that you\u2019re going to spend 20 minutes in \u2018Yes, and\u2019 mode where you\u2019re going to try and come up with as many ideas as possible – that we\u2019re actually going for quantity <\/i>over quality. Then, at the end of that 20 minutes, that\u2019s when we\u2019re going to be much more critical. We\u2019re going to pick the top three answers and really look at how we develop these.<\/p>\n By communicating that really clearly to your team, then the more analytical, critical minded people can relax and think to themselves \u201cOkay, I\u2019m going to get my chance to be more analytical and data driven later, so I can go all in on this \u2018Yes, and\u2019 approach first\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about communicating the separate phases of the brainstorming or ideation process, and letting people know that it\u2019s okay to throw out any ideas in that first, initial \u2018Yes, and\u2019 phase.<\/p>\n Another exercise you could try in your team at work is to set a brief with a tight deadline, and give everyone a target number of solutions\/ideas to come up with in that tight deadline. For example 50 ideas in five minutes. What the deadline does is it shuts people\u2019s inner critic up, because they\u2019ve got to get a particular job done in a certain amount of time, so they haven\u2019t got time to overthink it or criticise themselves. After the five minutes everyone gets to bring in the more critical side of their brain and pick their top three ideas. And what\u2019s interesting is, typically, your top three ideas are never within your first 25 ideas. But when I do this exercise with corporate teams in our workshops I ask them, \u201cHow often are you writing down more than 20 solutions for a problem when brainstorming?\u201d, and they\u2019ll say, \u201cNever because we spent so long on the first three ideas, beating them to death\u2026\u201d. So that\u2019s a simple exercise you could try at the start of a brainstorming meeting to get people into the \u201cYes, and\u2026\u201d mindset. Or you could also do it as an icebreaker<\/b><\/a> in a meeting as well.<\/p>\n What are your rules for good productivity?<\/b><\/p>\n I think productivity is all about doing very simple things with a boring level of consistency. In any sort of creative job it\u2019s not just about talent, that\u2019s a fraction of it, but talent is useless without the very basic discipline of turning up every day for a small amount of time. And it\u2019s linked to the \u2018Yes, and\u2019 philosophy: productivity comes from coming up with lots and lots of ideas, and being able to \u2018kill your darlings. You come up with double – treble of – what you end up using. That\u2019s the grunt work, and productivity comes from scheduling in time to do that work, in my opinion.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve also got a section in the book called \u2018Sweep the Scene\u2019. That title relates to how improvisers end a scene in a show – and if you haven\u2019t seen improv before, basically it\u2019s a load of made up scenes, normally linked by what\u2019s happened in the scene before, and to end each one you do something called \u2018sweep the scene\u2019. And the way that works in an improv show is someone runs across the front of the stage. It\u2019s like drawing a line under it, to say \u2018right that\u2019s finished, what\u2019s next\u2019. Which allows you to move on to something new and fresh. Having that mentality of \u2018sweeping the scene\u2019 is a great one to have in life too. I think it can help you to stop ruminating, and move on, or start something new. And that can feel scary – it can create uncertainty – but I think it\u2019s always worth renegotiating your projects and asking yourself, \u201cDo I want to do this anymore? Is this productive? If I end it, will I have space for something that I\u2019m actually going to enjoy or that is going to be more useful?\u201d.<\/p>\n And you run <\/b>workshops on public speaking<\/b><\/a>, which a lot of people are terrified of. In what ways do you think improv can help us to manage that fear?<\/b><\/p>\n When people think of improv, they go \u201cThat\u2019s absolutely terrifying. How do you do that? You must be so nervous!\u201d, and the answer is, I\u2019m not, actually. I\u2019m more nervous for a phone call with a client I\u2019ve not met before than I am going on stage to improvise a comedy show. There are a few reasons for that. One is that I\u2019ve practised. There\u2019s no getting away from it: the more we do something, the more comfortable we are. That\u2019s one part of it. The other part is, I know my teammates on stage have my back. Before shows we literally look each other in the eyes, touch each other on the back and say \u201cI\u2019ve got your back.\u201d So, there\u2019s support there. And the final thing is that I have a method, and so my focus can be on executing the process, rather than on the outcome. So I\u2019m not worrying about whether the audience likes me, instead I\u2019m thinking about my process: listening really well, calling out anything that\u2019s unclear, and coming on with energy.<\/p>\n This same idea of focusing on the process can be mapped across to whatever we do in life. I\u2019m a massive cricket fan, we\u2019ve got the Indian test team over here at the moment, and a lot of what the coaches talk about is executing the skill, rather than worrying what\u2019s going to happen if you get a nought. Really, the reason people get nervous about public speaking is we get lost in the outcome. We worry about what the audience are thinking, we think about the consequences of this for our career, and we lose sight of the process. If you can focus solely on the process it can really help you to control your nerves.<\/p>\n 4 Key Takeaways<\/b><\/p>\n Max Dickins is the Company Director and co-founder of <\/b>Hoopla Business<\/b><\/a>. His book, <\/b>Improvise! Use the Secrets of Improv to Achieve Extraordinary Results at Work<\/i><\/b><\/a>, is out now.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Want more information on Hoopla\u2019s \u2018Improv for Business\u2019 workshops?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n\n