Lessons in leadership from a class on improv

This article was written by Sara Gibson, Co-Founder and CEO of 20° — a consulting firm that works with nonprofits and early childhood providers to achieve lasting sustainability.

What do baklava and raccoons have to do with becoming a better leader and maybe even a better person? The answer, for me, is improv, and those are two themes that my classmates and I recently explored during our showcase on the WIT stage.

How did I end up there? On a whim and at the suggestion of a brilliant friend, I took an eight-week Level 1 course at WIT because I needed to play, wanted to connect with people I might not have met otherwise, and I desperately needed to laugh. I also learned a ton. Here are some of the lessons I am taking away from the experience:

First, there are no mistakes in improv — just different twists in the plot. That feels spot-on as a leader and has allowed me to extend myself, and others, more grace.

Second, “I got your back.” We learned that the essence of improv is that someone always has your back and will step in if a scene goes sideways (even if there are no mistakes in improv). In fact, before stepping out on stage, improvisers always say to each other, “Got your back,” and it feels genuine. Making the implicit explicit to partners can make it safe to try hard things.

Third, give the gift of specificity to your partner. One thing I enjoyed a lot was drilling down in a scene. When my scene partner would tell me who I was to them in the scene, what we were doing, and which emotion was present, it was a lot easier to create a better scene. I am working on taking that essence into work — being more specific and detailed, hoping to make work easier.

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Fourth, act like “peas in a pod.” Matching your partner’s energy and extending it, is one way to “play” in improv. In real life, zeroing in on where your colleague is and then staying there, has helped me in uncertain moments. Matching energy has also been helpful if I don’t at first know what’s happening in a given situation.

Last, vulnerability plays well… on stage and in life. It was quite a thing to show up with strangers and “act” for two-and-a-half hours every Monday evening. But this group of strangers eventually became the “Seven-Sided Dice” team, and in the end, we enjoyed beer and pizza together as friends, who already *knew* something about each other even if we didn’t *know* many of the details that are usually shared.

It was also interesting to have a sense of how someone would act if they were playing a put-upon roommate, angry landlord, dragon slayer, famous producer, or a child excited about visiting the ocean, but to have no idea where they worked, were from, or what they did for fun (outside of improv). It was an upside-down way to connect, and it was incredible. I left with a sense of these fantastic people that felt true, even if I didn’t know many details about them.

As someone who is often aware that I can be “a little much,” I enjoyed how improv let me play in that space and push boundaries. I am beyond grateful for my teammates’ skill, humor, and kindness — and the presence of our fearless teacher Mandy Murphy (who is herself a sports and social impact consultant by day) for inviting us to play.

And to my classmates and colleagues, “I got your back!”