The big idea: Using improv to unite your team

Over the last couple of decades, work has increasingly been done by teams rather than by lone individuals. Surveys suggest that teams are central to engaging employees. Yet we know from years of psychology and management research, including pioneering studies by psychologist J Richard Hackman, that teams often don’t improve employee engagement or productivity. Among the biggest reasons: Leaders tend to dominate the conversation; they don’t listen and shut down others’ ideas. Consequently, team members are often too afraid, or simply too bored and disengaged, to contribute their own thoughts.

In my academic research, I’ve looked at many different types of teams, at a wide variety of organisations all over the world. The group that communicated best, with everyone contributing and learning, wasn’t in a corporate office park; it was in an improv comedy class. I’d signed my husband and myself up for a 10-week course to break out of the usual dinner-and-a-movie date nights. To my surprise, this weekly escape offered tools for improving the humdrum work of the teams I’d been observing.

In improv comedy, whether people are building a scene or telling a story, everyone has a chance to talk. Members’ contributions are welcomed and valued, and participants collaborate and support one another as they work toward a common goal. Getting everyone involved in this way is important: When we discuss each other’s ideas and perspectives, we learn from them and our decisions improve. Plus, the more we feel that others value our contributions, the more likely we are to share our ideas.

The following three improv techniques can be particularly helpful to leaders interested in engaging their teams.

1. Instead of getting ready to talk, listen.

Paying careful attention to what others are saying — listening fully to them and not speaking until they are finished — is a core principle of improv.

That’s because your goal isn’t to plan what you’ll say next; it’s to respond in the moment to what your partner says. And that is possible only if you are listening attentively and are attuned to the emotions and rhythm your partner sets for the scene. Having to wait until someone has finished speaking helps us be fully present and absorb what they’re saying.

There are many improv games that can help performers become better listeners. One that our class played often is called “Last Word Response,” which requires you to respond to your partner by using the last word they said. If your partner said, “I had a dream last night where a mouse became best friends with five cats,” you would need to come up with a sentence that starts with “cats.” The game teaches people to listen fully instead of jumping in or silently planning their response before their partner is done speaking.

Leaders might try a version of this game during team meetings: After someone finishes speaking, the next person should begin his response with that person’s final word, or at least the person’s last idea. And leaders should make sure to follow the rules like everyone else.

Listening also involves giving others a chance to speak and not taking up too much airtime. That means people must convey their thoughts briefly and clearly rather than dominating the discussion.

2. Don’t assume you have all the answers.

Because we’re all attached to our ideas, we often have difficulty staying open-minded when others take the conversation or the team’s work in a new direction. In fact, my colleagues and I found in our research that once people have decided on a course of action, moving away from it is challenging, even when evidence suggests the initial decision was wrong. And the more we feel like an expert on a topic, the more challenging it is for us to change our minds.

In improv, the currency you’re trading with is unpredictability. You never know what your partners will say next, what reactions you’ll inspire or even when and how the scene will end. That’s part of the beauty of improv: You’re always reacting purely in the moment.

This same type of openness can benefit the work that happens in teams. Leaders should invite it by telling their employees at the start of the meeting how important acceptance is and asking “Why,” “How” and “What if” types of questions to show curiosity. As I wrote in a previous HBR article, curiosity can open up communication, reduce conflict and improve engagement.

3. Help everyone feel safe enough to contribute.

Group conversations would be more effective if we approached them with curiosity. All of us are too quick to judge others’ ideas, and this urge becomes even stronger for those with some degree of power over others.

Power differences aren’t as obvious in improv, but players who are more talented or confident could easily take over a scene. Improv tempers this risk through a core principle: “Yes, and ... ” That is, even when you aren’t excited about the direction someone has chosen, you accept the terms of the scene and then add to them rather than contradicting them.

Let’s say the first player in a scene offers you something: “Here, have an apple.” Your reply shouldn’t be, “This isn’t an apple. It’s a very small watermelon.” That response might buy you a laugh, but it would kill the scene. A better response would be, “Yes, and we can fill it with poison before we give it to the queen.” The “Yes, and ...” rule requires players to accept all “offers,” or premises, and make their partner look good by building on the scene he started.

Leaders can rely on the same principle to ensure team members stay engaged. In business settings, this technique is known as “plussing”: building on someone’s idea and saying “Yes, and ... ” rather than “Yes, but ... ” By communicating curiosity rather than judgment, plussing softens criticism — making it easier to hear and use.

Whether on a stage or in a work team, an open atmosphere fosters confidence, spontaneity and trust. In my research, I’ve found that employees feel much more comfortable offering ideas when their leader has demonstrated that she is open to them. In doing so, a leader shows that she respects her employees and gives them the confidence and sense of safety needed to speak their minds.

By applying these improv techniques in their teams, leaders can help everyone have more fun and encourage more creative ideas. Everyone will feel heard — and believe that working on a team is better than going it alone.