How Improvisational Thinking Makes You a Better Leader

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Kristen Brun
Founder and Executive Coach
Automatic Summary

Transform Leadership with Improvisation

Hello, I'm Kristen Braun, a seasoned improviser, leadership coach, and facilitator with over 15 years of leadership experience in the realms of advertising, tech, and marketing. Over the past six and a half years, I've discovered how my hobby of improv can transform anyone's leadership skills and bring them to the forefront. There is no need for one to perform terrifying live shows like I do—unless you want to.

Improvisational Thinking: A New Approach to Leadership

Even though we typically consider improvisational theatre to be comedic, it does not always have to be. When you are in the moment, immersing yourself completely, that's when the magic happens. This state of being is possible because of certain patterns observed during improvisation: an increased activation of our medial prefrontal cortex and a decrease in activity from the lateral prefrontal cortex. The medial prefrontal cortex is essential for language and creativity, while the lateral prefrontal cortex is often associated with self-monitoring or your inner critic.

Your inner critic, though a part of you, can be a hurdle to creativity. This doesn't mean your inner critic is inherently bad—it can be useful in evaluating ideas or assessing potential threats. However, for creativity to flourish, you must let your ideas come to you free from judgment, which is a core feature of improvisational comedy.

Improvisation and Leadership: A Parallel Approach

Not only can improv help you silence your inner critic, but it can also make you an authentic, empathetic, and adaptive leader. Recent research shows that improv training in the workplace leads to an increase in playfulness, individual and group creativity, and empathy. In my model of effective leadership—Ad Lib leadership—presence is the foundation. The other four components being resilience, authenticity, supportive and creativity.

How To Develop Improvisational Thinking?

Presence

Being in the moment is critical for both improv and leadership. Practicing mindfulness can help you grow this skill. Take a few moments of mindfulness every day and observe your surroundings. This could be as simple as taking stock of what you can see, feel or smell before a meeting.

Authenticity

Being authentic stems from trusting your instincts. Your initial response is usually your most authentic, and likely the most relatable to your team. So follow those instincts.

Resilience

Having resilience is all about building a tolerance for failure. Learning to deal with failure is like flexing a muscle—the more you do it, the stronger it gets.

Creativity

Creativity or divergent thinking, generating new and original ideas, can be augmented by actively engaging in idea generating sessions. Establish an ideation process where judging ideas is not allowed.

Supportiveness

Be supportive. As a leader, it is important to know when to lead and when to let someone else take the reins. Many breakthroughs occur when you stop trying to control everything.

Lastly, I want to leave you with these points:

  • Being present is the foundation to developing improvisational thinking.
  • Your inner critic can be helpful, consider it as a tool rather than an adversary.
  • Practice. It plays an important role in building neural pathways and making this approach more natural.

If you're interested in further developing these skills, reach out and take advantage of the free 30-minute coaching session I am offering. You can also download a comprehensive list of 12 exercises from my website or by scanning the given QR code.

I look forward to connecting and hearing from you soon.


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