The Benefits of Improv Training
How Improv Helps your Business
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Chances are, if you’re the one pitching an improv workshop to your team, there’ll be some “I don’t want to look silly” reservations. So it’s an important to remind them that while the workshops are hilarious and fun, they do pack a bunch when it comes to skills training.
The main one being, that no matter how much we might plan ahead, every interaction we have in our life is improvised! And even beyond the ability to adapt in the moment (thinking on your feet) improv training is an essential tool in business, because the core skills of improv apply directly to what teams and leaders need in today’s fast-changing workplaces.
Here are some examples of how it helps:
1. Strengthens communication and active listening
Improv requires you to listen closely so you can respond in real time, and have your response be clearly connected to what they said. In business, this translates to:
Fewer misunderstandings
Improved inter-departmental collaboration
Better client conversations (and conversations in general)
2. Builds adaptability and comfort with uncertainty
Improv scenes change without warning, and you had to be constantly adapting to the world being built around you. Practicing flexible responses helps employees:
Stay calm under pressure
Pivot quickly when plans change
Embrace ambiguity rather than freeze in it
3. Encourages creativity and rapid problem-solving
The “make it up as you go” mindset helps people:
Generate ideas without self-censoring
Approach challenges with curiosity rather than fear
Find unconventional solutions (yeah, improv gets weird)
4. Develops confidence and presence
Having to speak on the spot, without having a speech prepared helps build:
Executive presence
Public-speaking skills
Confidence in high-stakes interactions such as pitches and negotiations
5. Cultivates psychological safety for teams
Improv is built around the concept of “Yes, and…” which is designed to create a culture where:
People support rather than shut down ideas
Teams become more cohesive and trusting
Innovation increases because risk-taking feels safe
6. Enhances empathy and openness to different ways of thinking
Building ideas together makes it so there isn’t one person controlling the story. Which forces you to not only be open to the fact that people think different, but enjoy it. Focusing on others teaches:
Reading nonverbal signals
Understanding others’ perspectives
Responding with empathy in conflict or feedback situations
7. Improves leadership agility
Many Fortune 500 companies practice improv training precisely because leaders learn to:
Make decisions with imperfect information
Empower others in shared storytelling (similar to collaborative leadership)
Model openness and vulnerability
8. Makes skills more likely to stick
Studies show there are tremendous benefits to laughter while learning. Because improv is experiential and playful, participants:
Retain lessons longer
Reduce stress and anxiety
Build stronger team bonds
Improve morale and engagement
Have fun!
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“In a business world that’s more uncertain than ever it pays to be able to think on your feet. That’s why some business schools are using improvisation classes to teach skills such as creativity and leadership.”
Why using improvisation to teach business skills is no joke. – CNN
“Through improv, we can work on anything from leadership, to influence, to adaptability, to crisis management. We can help people’s communication skills. We can show them how to stay focused, in the present moment, at a very high level.”
Improv comedy and business: Getting to “yes, and.” – Slate
“In fact, studies have shown that people can improve their communication skills and lower their anxiety with regular practice. Improv’s low-stakes training increases the likelihood that team members will feel comfortable communicating in a variety of work situations.”
Why Improv Training Is Great Business Training – Forbes
“Even if you never make anyone laugh, these techniques can make you more open minded and better at communication and collaboration.”
3 Ways Improv Can Improve Your Career – Fast Company
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How Improv Helps with Anxiety
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When my therapist suggested I try an improv class to help with my GAD, I thought it was the worst idea ever! It felt like I’d said, “I’m scared to leave the house and I hate my life,” and he said, “Get on stage and make up jokes in front of an audience.”
So, I just want to make clear that the Improv for Anxiety classes aren’t about being funny (though you can be, and often will be), it’s simply using improv games and exercises to connect with others.
And it’s not just about connection, improv helps with anxiety more than people expect in a bunch of different ways. It trains specific cognitive, emotional, and physiological skills that map directly onto the mechanisms of anxiety. Here’s how:
1. It teaches your brain to tolerate uncertainty
Anxiety often comes from wanting to control outcomes or predict what will happen (to avoid the bad). Improv forces you into situations with no script, which gradually teaches your nervous system:
“Uncertainty is survivable.”
“I can handle the unknown.”
“Unexpected moments can actually be positive.”
Do this enough (repeated exposure) and it lowers your threat response to ambiguity.
2. It interrupts anxious rumination with presence
Improv demands focus on the immediate moment: your scene partner’s words, tone, body language, are all important to what you respond with.
This trains:
Mindfulness
Reduced self-monitoring
Faster recovery from intrusive thoughts
You literally don’t have time to spiral while improvising, because it’s all appening right now.
3. It reframes mistakes as fuel, instead of failure
Anxiety often stems from fear of messing up or being judged. In improv, mistakes are celebrated because they create new possibilities. There’s even an improv saying, “mistakes are gifts.” This thinking builds:
cognitive flexibility
self-compassion
resilience
These directly counter the perfectionistic thinking that fuels anxiety.
4. It strengthens social confidence through safe exposure
If you have social anxiety, or performance anxiety, improv gives you:
practice speaking spontaneously
support from a non-judgmental group
repeated success experiences
desensitization to being watched
Over time, this rewires the association that people are watching doesn’t mean danger, but that you’re safe.
5. It activates your parasympathetic nervous system
One of the key factors of improv, for me personally, was laughter. I hadn’t laughed in years before I took and class, and it felt nice. Laughter, play, and creative flow produce:
lowered cortisol
relaxed muscles and deeper breathing
increased dopamine and endorphins
This helps your body unlearn chronic fight-or-flight-or-fawn activation.
6. It builds trust in your own thinking
Many people with anxiety doubt their ability to respond “correctly.” Because improv requires instant decision-making, it stops being about doing it right, and just doing it. And by just doing it, you get repeated proof:
“I can come up with something.”
“I don’t need a perfect plan.”
“My instincts are enough.”
This confidence transfers to daily life.
7. It creates a sense of belonging
Anxiety lessens when you feel connected. And yet, anxiety is often what keeps you from connecting with others. It’s nice to laugh, but even better to laugh with others. Improvers in general are super supportive, great listeners, and pretty funny, which are nice qualities to surround yourself with.
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