Improv
Today leaders are improv performers. Is your muscle built? Is agility with a capital A driving you and your leadership team’s day to day flex around how you execute your strategy or even adapt it? I was reminded of the essential role improv plays in today’s leadership repertoire this week at our Outsell Leadership Community meetings.
In just weeks:
· DeepSeek (I keep wanting to call it DeepSink — Freudian?)
· Devastating fires in LA (understatement of the year)
· A Black Hawk helicopter barreling into a commercial jet (awful)
· Whiplash on tariffs, scientific funding on ice (no pun intended.)
· Government employment on shifting sands. (Those are users in our info services world!)
I could go on.
It is dizzying. As I write there is an atmospheric river on the west coast and an ice storm on the east. Every day since COVID it seems there has been some sort of you-know-what-show playing out in slow motion. Whether it’s in our industry, affecting our industry, or just ‘of the industry’ given the news cycle and our role in it. Today’s news stems from social, and always-on cycles reported, scrutinized, blathered about, re-reported. Whether hypothetical news, fake news, or real news it’s a seesaw.
What are leaders to do? As some this week discussed funding disappearing, government seats in question, the removal of DEI references on websites — some referenced taking out their COVID playbooks. Others spoke about sticking to values regardless of terminology. While others discussed avoiding knee-jerk reactions and managing steady — staying calm.
I was reminded of many years ago when a team member joined Outsell. He was a professional improv performer and wanted to bring improv to a corporate setting. I was all in. He trained our team. We practiced at all-hands meetings. We even ‘performed’ at an Outsell Signature Event bringing our members into the mix. It was beautiful.
We learned the art of making things up as we go, working toward a theme but being able to adapt, trusting one another in a setting without a playbook, and lifting one another up or giving one another relief all while getting ‘the job’ done. It was fun and it strengthened us. Sure, we had and have a strategy. Sure, we are executing against it and have goals and objectives. But today, improv is great muscle to build because you have to flex and still get to the destination. We must be able to do it with grace, humor, trust, and teamwork. And there is magic in the ‘improv’ way to prepare us.
Whether you cook without a recipe, paint outside the box and without numbers, or love music and improvisational jazz. Whatever your hobby, try it the ‘improv way.’ If you are really up for it call in a trainer to teach you and your team improvisational performance. It is perfect for the times.