Whenever a Level 1 Improv class ends, students scurry around connecting on Facebook and Instagram. They drag their feet leaving the room, while exchanging contact information, as no one wants the experience to come to an end. Why?
Because although they entered the room as strangers only six weeks prior, the group forms bonds through cooperative play and team engagement.
While every improv class is a shared group experience that focuses on connecting, it also creates a team culture. The same can be said of work units, families, and any other environment where groups of people co-exist. So what makes an improv team play so well together? Each person agrees to:
1. Show up. While at first glance this seems easy and obvious, it really isn’t. Not only are you literally showing up in the space, you also set your phone aside, make eye contact, participate, engage, and be willing to be a part of the group process. No sitting on the sidelines or else the group dynamic suffers.
2. Be positive. I can coach a student with their technical improv skills, but I can’t coach someone into having a better attitude. Positivity breeds positivity. The same can be said for negativity. A group that enters their shared space smiling with the mindset of “let’s try” rather than “that won’t work” looks forward to working, creating, and playing together again and again.
3. Make “we” more important than “me.” One of my favorite improv games is Paperclip partly because it makes for a great group photo, and mostly because it showcases everyone’s true personalities. In Paperclip, the group is asked to form a physical tableau, so that everyone is seen and connected to showcase the concept of “we.” Every once in a while I’ll get a person who jumps in front of a beautiful tableau in progress to make it all about them. That’s putting “me” before “we” and in a team the ensemble is always more important that the individual members.
So have you ever thought about your roll in the team you’re in whether it’s at work or at home? What kind of team member are you?
-Amy Angelilli, Owner + Ringleader, Third Space Improv
