Improvisational theatre at work

I’m taking a set of improvisational theatre courses from the lovely people at Impro Melbourne. One of the reasons I’m doing impro, is I think some of the techniques and philosophies will help in my professional life too. As well as being a big big fun, it’s also useful. I’m being reminded of that today, while taking a class put on by the Centre for Leadership and Management. It’s all about being an “internal consultant”. Many of the techniques and philosophies for dealing with office politics and change management that the presenter is mentioning echo some of the ones that we’ve been learning in impro. The presenter has obliquely mentioned everything from status games - where you raise and lower your own personal status - to “make your partner look good”, which is one of the central idioms of impro.