Leaders, Are You Ready To Take The Creative Leap Into The Future?
What is Applied
Improvisation?
Applied Improvisation is
an experiential learning
process that can enhance
individuals and their leadership
competency. An academic
model developed by Boston
Strategy Group establishes
three foundational values and
nine key principles adapted
from theater-based improv for
management purposes. Many
know the foundational values
that include ‘active listening’, ‘say
yes’, and ‘say and’. But improvisational
principles are a bit
more mysterious to most; and
include Awareness, Connections,
Presence, Initiations, Agreement,
Vulnerability, Simplicity, Value,
and Creation. These nine
principles serve to shape
one’s executive thinking and
ultimately create guidelines that
transform management behavior.
Assembled, these actionable
guidelines can enhance
executive capability in a wide
range of business scenarios to
improve leadership, accelerate
innovation, improve trust and
communication, and better
enable teamwork.
Through workshops, programs,
and seminars, participants learn
– in real time – how to apply
these improvisational principles
to everyday business, whether
through brainstorming sessions
that consider all contributions,
or by focusing on a coworker’s
response instead of using that
time to formulate one’s own.
Not only do leaders learn how to
evaluate their unique experiences,
they learn how to encourage their
fellow employees to collaborate,
communicate, and adapt at the
moment. As businesses today
often rely on speed and efficiency,
learning how to nurture and
accelerate forward momentum is
crucial to stimulating innovation.
Selected activities and exercises
in the hands of an experienced
instructor can lead to revelations
in personal understanding and
enhanced leadership competency.
Alan Eisner, Dean of the School of
Management at Clark University,
which is bringing applied
improvisation to its leadership
program, said “Our staff are
looking forward to bringing this
unique experiential learning
process to our graduate students.
The techniques of improvisation
will undoubtedly bring many
out of their comfort zones and
help them grow as leaders and
communicators. We’re certain
they’ll have a transformative
learning experience as they add
these improvisation principles to
their business acumen.
Science of Applied
Improvisation
Unlike theatrical improv, Applied
Improvisation is not comedy.
Since appearing as an academic
field in the 1990s, numerous
scientific studies and a great
quantity of anecdotal research
illustrate how improvisation
training can improve key
leadership competencies.
Many of the world’s leading
corporations, universities, and
healthcare organizations have
embraced Applied Improvisation.
Google, Proctor & Gamble,
McKinsey, Harvard Business
School, Boston’s Children’s
Hospital, and Fidelity Investments
are just a few examples of large,
global institutions leveraging the
power of improvisation training.
As a specific example, Peter
Felsman, a prominent researcher
writing in Thinking Skills
and Creativity, stated, “We
found evidence that improvisational
theater training
causes increases in divergent
thinking, uncertainty tolerance,
and affective well-being. This
provides the first evidence that
improvisation causes increases
in uncertainty tolerance and
positive affect relative to a social
interaction control.”
Today, many management
theorists are just beginning
to build important theoretical
bridges between the study of
organizational improvisation and
individual characteristics. For
example, Ivey Business School
in Ontario, Canada; Stony Brook
University in New York; and
Danube University in Krems,
"At the end of day, if
leadership
doesn’t understand
how to relate,
support, encourage,
motivate, and
create effective
interrelationships
with people, today’s
organizations are
simply not going to
succeed."
Leadership Excellence presented by HR.com DECEMBER 2021 25 Submit Your Articles
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