The Art Of Improvisation And Business Communication

Published: March 15, 2017, 3:22 p.m.

b"With Bob Kulhan, President, CEO, and Founder of Business Improv, Author, Adjunct Professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School
Bob Kulhan And The Evolution Of Business Improv
Bob Kulhan, author, actor, and CEO of Business Improv, as well as adjunct professor at Duke and Columbia business schools, joins Steve to talk about what business people can learn from practicing techniques borrowed from the world of improvisation. Bob has worked with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and has taught for many years at Second City, Chicago's legendary comedy club and talent incubator. While he's gone on to help countless businesses improve their communication cultures via corporate training programs staged by Business Improv, his insights and practices could arguably be used by just about anyone, whether to become more productive in business or for relationships overall.
Improv Becomes Experiential Learning
Bob's experience with improvisation dates back over two decades when, much to his parents' chagrin, he abandoned an up-and-coming small business to dedicate four years to studying improv. After finishing that study in the mid-90s, in a development he describes as \\u201cpretty much by coincidence,\\u201d he forged the idea of running corporate training workshops based on improvisation concepts. The initial results were mixed; many clients had a hard time seeing any lasting value beyond a few diverting hours of fun.\\xa0 It wasn't until he landed a gig creating experiential learning programs at Duke's Fuqua School of Business that his ideas really started to take flight. The Fuqua School brought further conceptual weight to Kulhan's experiential improv practices, folding in academic work from fields of study like behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology, organizational theory, and behavioral decision making.
Rules Of Improv And Corporate Training
As a musician himself, Steve observes that most art forms are based on rules and discipline and asks Bob to talk the rules of improvisation as they relate to business and helping people and teams get better at what they do. Bob states that the core concept of improvisation is something he calls \\u201cYes, And.\\u201d\\xa0 This short phrase could be contrasted against \\u201cYes, But\\u201d and the sense starts to come into focus: The former opens a path for continued dialog and exchange, while the latter tends to foreclose certain possibilities.\\xa0 As Bob eloquently states it: \\u201c\\u2018Yes\\u2019 is unconditional acceptance; you give me this gift, this offer, this opportunity. \\u2018And', then, is the bridge to what you do with it, your intelligence, your energy, your attitude.\\u201d This is the fundamental rule in improvisation because it opens many doors, including one Bob labels \\u201cpostponed judgment,\\u201d which also has resonance in a business context. Other qualities that \\u201cYes, And\\u201d hones and brings to the forefront include slowing down and being focused in the moment, qualities that promote leadership and emotional intelligence.\\xa0 Communication is encouraged and enhanced by \\u201cYes, And\\u201d both on an individual basis and a collaborative team level. It also offers value as a conflict management practice. All of these refinements to communication scenarios and norms that the art of improvisation offers can bring enormous business value.
Steve wonders how much good improvisation depends upon relevant experience that can be drawn from. To use the music analogy again, it appears that even improvised playing is dependent on the ability to call upon a kind of stock or vocabulary of memorized riffs and phrasings. Bob agrees that becoming truly good at improvisation requires years of study and practice. He's sanguine about the possibilities, however, suggesting that verbal improv affords participants the chance to organically explore \\u201cinfinite potentials."