I was recently reminded of the power of improvisation when applied to business. I love improvisation and recall participating in the “Everyday Improviser” course run by Rob Poynton, as noted in: “Noticing more“. I’ve written numerous posts about improvising, click on this link for google search results on my blog posts on the topic.
I also have Rob’s book “Do Improvise” on my pile of “books to read”, so perhaps time for a pause, to read the book, to notice. (Pausing and Noticing are also closely related to Improvising).
Today I want to simply note the power of “Yes and” for improvisational thought, a process that can be truly creative.
Imagine you start a story with one line, such as “the young woman stood on the railway platform, smiling and expectant”. The next person is to build on that story, beginning with “yes, and”, such as “Yes, and they were smiling as they had just kissed their partner goodbye after a marvellous weekend”. Now imagine this continues for 10, 20, 30 added “Yes, and” contributions, what kind of story would that create?
Consider this for bringing “play” to business through such improvisation, giving people permission to simply go with the flow of whatever comes forth. Now then imagine going straight from that into a brainstorm (or perhaps a mindstorm, where people write down their thoughts rather than say them out loud) on taking your products or services to the next level. You could start with “our clients come to us for professional and responsive service” (the sort of “duh!” expressions of blandness on many professional service websites!). Now go to “Yes, and” and see what happens. You could readily end up with a deeper understanding of your clients, the opportunities and gaps you have and what you could choose to do differently.
Where could “Yes, and” take you today?