The Improv Diaries Day One

Failure is Essential to Creativity

My new year’s resolution included taking an improv class for professional development. I figured the better I could “yes, and…” and shadow-box with ambiguity, the better I would be in my coaching and consulting practice. Covid-19 had other plans.

In-class instruction was cancelled, and today, three of us (originally 6) joined our instructor on his maiden-voyage into eLearning. Mid-class, we had a real-time walk-out/drop-out as one student bailed — letting us know that the silliness he craved could not be delivered in a virtual setting.

We persisted. Building our repertoire of games, being generally silly, and learning some key concepts:

• Many people fall prey to “naive realism” — the false belief that we will all act the same given the same information

• Improv is about seeing what our partners are offering and accepting those offers

• To better help our partners (and audiences) to see our offers, we have to “put it on our face”

• Foundational to improvisation is the ability to observe, to take ownership for “building the bridge forward” together

By the end of the class, my other classmate announced that he wasn’t sure he was going to move forward.

(As all this played out, I secretly hoped that it could just be me and the instructor for the next 6 weeks. I would sit at his virtual feet, and soak up his improv wisdom. I would be Grasshopper to his Master Po — choosing wisely and building my extemporaneous comedy muscle).

As a newbie improviser I am a beginner, however, in life I am a pretty seasoned performer. Today’s improv lesson reminded me that failure is necessary to creativity, and that when given the choice, I will endure it to get the best outcome.

In this case, to withstand the ambiguity and to try and test out something new and unexpected was too much for my former class partners given their desires and dreams. They chose a crumbling bridge, I chose to build one given the materials and resources at hand.

Now I’ve just got to get myself to a class where we can build this bridge forward together.

Mary McGuinness, M.Ed., PCC is a learning specialist and executive coach based in Chicago, IL USA. Mary uses visual coaching and engaging facilitation (online and in-person) to prepare today’s workforce to connect, grow, and thrive in their careers, professions, and leadership. 

Photo Credit:  Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash