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Leadership is an art that requires many qualities, including confidence and honesty. But there’s another skill you should master (especially in a rapidly changing, unpredictable world): improvisation. Now, you might raise an eyebrow because you associate this term with comedy and entertainment. But improv techniques have proven to be invaluable in various professional domains, including leadership.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss how five basic principles of improvisation can improve your leadership skills.
1. Being adaptable
Improvisation is all about being flexible. You should always be ready to adapt to the unexpected. That’s crucial in leadership, as circumstances change and challenges constantly evolve. Improv teaches you to embrace change, quickly shift gears, and remain calm under pressure. If you’re comfortable with the unknown, you can better navigate uncertain situations, make sound decisions, and guide teams through difficult times.
2. Communicating effectively
Strong communication skills are the foundation for effective leadership. Improv can considerably enhance these skills. For example, active listening is paramount to improv: actors need to listen intently to their fellow performers, so they can build upon their ideas and come up with authentic responses.
Now, let’s apply this to leadership. If you actively listen to your team members, you can foster a culture of open communication, collaboration, and empathy. Improv also helps you convey your ideas in a clear, concise way. It allows you to articulate your vision and inspire people.
3. Building trust and joining forces
Improv is a team effort. An individual actor’s success depends on trust and collaboration. It’s not much different in leadership. If you create an environment where team members rely on each other and feel safe to express their ideas, you’ll foster innovation and creativity. You can even use an improv rule-of-thumb called “Yes, and…” to encourage people to accept and expand on each other’s ideas. It will also help promote a positive and inclusive culture.
4. Considering mistakes as opportunities
There’s no such thing as failure in improv. Mistakes are considered as opportunities for growth. If you reframe failure as a stepping stone to success, you can create a culture that encourages people to take risks, experiment with new ideas, and keep improving themselves. As a leader, you’ll also benefit from seeing failure as a learning opportunity: you’ll find it easier to adapt to unexpected outcomes, think on your feet, and find innovative solutions to (unforeseen) challenges.
5. Developing emotional intelligence
Improv provides a platform to explore and develop emotional intelligence. It requires performers to tap into their own and other people’s emotions. Leaders should do the same. If you want to improve your leadership skills, try and develop your emotional intelligence through improv exercises that focus on expressing your feelings and empathizing with others. It might just help you manage conflict, inspire teams, and build meaningful relationships!
Let the stage be your training ground!
Improvisation is not just reserved for the stage. When applied to leadership, it has transformative potential. If you want to become a more adaptable, communicative, empathetic leader, enrich your skillset with the above-described improv principles.
Climb on your own leadership stage and let it be your training ground. By embracing improv, you’ll take your leadership skills to the next level.