Don’t get in your own way. We are always encouraging our improv participants to be in the moment and get off script. Effective improv is reliant on participants not over-thinking their next action or reaction. Rather, we focus on listening, and building off our team mates. That can be difficult to do in improv, in work, and in real life. I’m always getting in my own way. I over-think. I over-plan. I mentally script out how a particular “moment” should look, instead of letting things play out as they would naturally do. Conversely, most of us would probably agree that the best (i.e. most enjoyable, awe-inspiring, breathtaking) moments occur naturally and authentically, without too much scripting.

What might you do this week to be more comfortable in-the-moment?

This past October, BossaNova teamed up with WTPF for the conference HR Edge. After a full day of engaging and informative sessions, like Jim Haudan on the Art of Engagement and Tom Finn on Handling Pressure, attendees dropped all pretense and propriety and tried their hand at

improvisational comedy with me (Cary Paul) and BossaNova’s Shawn Westfall. During the debrief, participants called attention to some poignant moments that emerged amidst the laughter. We thought these were well worth sharing—for the benefit of anyone in HR, and anyone in business for that matter.

We see it like this: improv is like HR is like life. Here are three key insights that make it all more effective and more fun:

1. Being “in the moment” takes practice. The BossaNova team always emphasizes the importance of being in the moment with our improv workshop participants. They practice thinking on their feet.  Being adaptive. Going with the flow. Improv is all about getting off script and being both real and authentic. Now more than ever, HR professionals face ever-changing priorities. The ability to be present, adaptive, and proactive is a core competency for business success. And while it may seem crazy to practice being in the moment, that’s exactly what professional improv comedians do.

Tip: Do a quick role play with a colleague as a “warm-up” for an important meeting, or as a way to take the edge off a challenge you’re facing.

2. It takes a team. One of the biggest worries people have about improv comedy is being in the spotlight – and being alone.  What participants quickly come to realize is that you are anything but alone; it takes a team for improv comedy to be interesting, successful, and funny. The HR function, like improv, works best when communication is open and relationships and solid. The ability to work as a team can conquer many challenges.

Tip: Use these practices to earn your team a standing ovation.

3. The past shapes our future. Improv draws on the experiences of our past—places we’ve been, people we’ve known, situations we’ve confronted. Through improv exercises, participants practice calling on that past to react to verbal cues from their scene-mates. Similary, the discipline of HR is all about applying what we’ve learned before with smarts, grace (and sometimes humor) to the situation at hand. This works best when it happens as a muscle-memory reaction, without over-thinking.

Tip: Take five minutes to reflect on what you’ve laerned and experienced in the past, as it relates to a current challenge or opportunity. What’s important for you to keep top of mind? What could you apply?

Consider what action you might take today to improve your in-the-moment skills, to amp-up your team, and to draw on the past in a productive way to shape your actions for today.

And don’t forget to take a little time out for a laugh or two.

Click here to see some funny scenes with clients performing improv with us.

There’s an unexpected catalyst for transformational change out there that most companies haven’t considered tapping into. It’s not leadership from the top. It’s not buy-in from the bottom. It’s not a compelling vision. It’s not a mission statement that everyone can easily remember and recite. (Although all of these things matter). It’s humor.

Humor in Evidence

Research has proven that smiling and laughter are good for your health, make you more attractive to be around, and help boost your energy and rate of accomplishment. Just ask the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (known for their Laughter Therapy practice, Psychology Today (see The Benefits of Laughter, and Discovery Health’s How Things Work Series (How Laughter Works), –all of which have provided ample evidence. This is easy to envision and apply in a personal context: imagine parents smiling and laughing at their babies, or friends struck by a fit of giggles. But somehow when it comes to work, well … really now, are smiling and laughter endeavors we should promote? And could they, in fact, have bottom-line benefit?

Putting Humor to Work

“Work” and “serious” are a long-held associations, and work as a place of somber mood and serious tone is still very much in evidence in the corporate world today. (Thomas Edison once said: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”.) Plus economic recessions are no laughing matter, so the realities of our existence today don’t help us out of our mental box. And yet some organizations have found ways to embrace fun and levity as strategic assets in spite of, and even as a way out of, the gloom and doom. Think Southwest Airlines, where play is the rule, not the exception. In fact, Southwest is one of the few airlines to thrive in a post-9/11 world.

Improv-ing Business

So there’s a case to be made, in general, for humor in the workplace. But what about as it relates to transformational change, specifically? We say there’s a case to be made there too, and to make that case we turn to improvisational comedy.

Improvisational comedy is comedy made up completely on the spot (as in the popular TV show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?) Improv is a unique brand of humor that generates laughter as a result of a shared experience of risk-taking. Here are four key skills of improv. As you read them, consider their relationship to successful transformational change in the workplace:

• Being open to new ideas. Developing comfort with accepting ideas of others, building on them, and taking them to the next level.
• Listening. Being attentive, sensitive, tuned in.
• Being in the moment. Dealing masterfully with the unexpected. Demonstrating agility and flexibility.
• “Under-thinking.” Walt Disney said it best: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Consider a quote from the Organizational Development Practitioner’s article titled “Improv Culture: Using Practices from Improv Theater to Help Organizations Evolve Successfully Over Time,” (Vol. 35, No. 3, 2003 edition):

“Improvisers are masters of evolution: They balance strategy and spontaneity in the face of uncertainty, working collectively to create a sustained, engaging story that works. They often work without the benefit of specific planning, must incorporate unexpected inputs thrown in from left field, and have to adapt rapidly to new contexts.”

We’ll explore improv skills and how to apply them more in coming editions. In the meantime, trying on that humor is serious business and laughter is the best corporate medicine.