Inviting an Elephant up the Stairs: Improving Communication through Improv
Improvisation is about listening and helping individuals work together to improve communication, enhance teamwork, increase creativity, and create more open and better leadership. Improv skills align perfectly with the necessary skills required to be a successful research administrator, whether working with colleagues or faculty.
Research management is typically thought of as an intricate network of rules and regulations that must be followed. However, we also facilitate, mitigate ambiguity and complexity, and ultimately are communicators (translators) to our stakeholders (PIs). As it is, communication among individuals is often challenging, with tight deadlines, rapid exchanges, and different focus of the participants only adding to the challenge. For example, while working towards the same end goal, the research administrator is apt to home in on the compliance aspects while the researcher refines the science, and each may have trouble conveying to the other what it is they need. So, how do we better align them?
Improvisation, i.e., improv! While many think of improv as a comedian telling jokes in a club in front of a brick wall, at its core, improvisation is about heightening communication and listening and helping individuals work together to improve communication, enhance teamwork, increase creativity, and create more open and better leadership. Improv teaches us how to read body language, think on our feet, be able to pivot quickly, learn to be at ease in situations you’re unprepared for, and explore ideas/give them a chance. Mostly, improv teaches us acceptance and invites initiative and teamwork. In other words, Improv skills align perfectly with the necessary skills required to be a successful research administrator, whether working with colleagues or faculty.
Rules of improv start with learning how to say “yes, and,” which is the first, most important, and most common “game.” During the game, players must make statements that add to and continue the conversation and “accept” or embrace the “gifts,” i.e., new information, offered to them. Sometimes players may need to take risks to continue the conversation. In all cases, both players should listen closely and build upon what the other is saying and remember there are no mistakes, only opportunities. For example:
Karen: “I have to update a biosketch form for Professor X.”
Mark: “Yes, and in the process, we can update the Professor’s Other Support page.”
Karen: “Yes, and that will make Professor X happy and save him time in the future.”
Mark: “Yes, and he will then have more time to train his X-Men.”
In this example, Mark and Karen are supporting each other and offering something new. They are listening and taking initiative; both walk away knowing more than they did before the conversation took place.
The converse of being accepting is known as “blocking,” i.e., rejecting information or ideas offered by another performer. Blocking shuts down the interaction and ends the conversation. Close listening is not required, and we may not learn much about the other person or situation. For example:
Karen: “I have to update a biosketch form for Professor X.”
Mark: “OK. Thanks.”
Note that Mark’s response stops the conversation. He acknowledges Karen’s statement, but he doesn’t move it forward or add anything positive to the interaction that would give us more information. In this latter example, the Other Support page might not get updated, in which case Professor X would not be as happy and his X-Men would not have more time to be trained by him.
Improvisation, like research administration, is a team sport – there are no stars. Improvisation asks that we listen to what our colleagues are saying. It challenges us to respond to what is being said rather than anticipate a response. “Yes, and” builds on what is offered and allows us to build a connection and know more about a situation while still acting quickly. Improv teaches us to respect what others are saying and invites us to be a part of the solution. In other words, improv encourages us all to be better communicators.
To learn more about improvisation, check out these reference materials: