![\"Yes](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.secondcity.com\/content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/yes_and.jpg?resize=569%2C217\")
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Rule number one in improvisation is that when you are tasked as a group to make something out of nothing, you can\u2019t start with the word \u201cno.\u201d You also can\u2019t simply say \u201cyes.\u201d To build something original as a team, you must begin with \u201cYes, And.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because great original work isn\u2019t easy. In fact, it most often emanates from some discomfort. This can be a real physical discomfort that pushes us to innovate a better wine bottle opener or more comfortable mattress; or it can be a societal discomfort, how do we feed more people or how to we provide a better education for those without access to well equipped or well staffed schools.<\/p>\n
These are all real world, tactical issues. But the fact is, most working human beings are part of teams and groups that are also tasked with some level of original thinking. New slogans, new software, new processes or new methods of employee engagement.<\/p>\n
A \u201cYes, And\u201d approach does a few things.<\/p>\n
In some ways, \u201cYes, And\u201d makes \u201cNo\u201d a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n
At Second City<\/a>, we call our teams \u201censembles.\u201d And there\u2019s a reason for this. The ensemble is an orientation, a guiding practice, a methodology that various individuals move in and out of all the time. Indeed, that means the ensemble changes – sometimes dramatically so – with each addition and subtraction. But the same \u201cYes, And\u201d principles apply.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another thing about ensembles. We\u2019ve all heard the adage that \u201cwe\u2019re only as good as our weakest member.\u201d We don\u2019t buy that. We offer, instead, that \u201can ensemble is only as good as it\u2019s ability to compensate <\/em>for its weakest member.\u201d In our world, the onus isn\u2019t put back on the individual, it\u2019s put back on the group. Because at any given time one of us will be the weakest member. And it\u2019s at those crucial moments that great ensembles reveal themselves.<\/p>\n And what about leaders?<\/p>\n We have some thoughts on that as well. We were leading a workshop for The Spertus Institute in Chicago, covering some basic improv exercises. We began playing the game \u201cFollow the Follower,\u201d which is a silent game in which an individual is picked to be leader, and the rest of the group has to imitate their movements until the individual – in silence – successfully hands off leadership to another. The rest of the players need to keep keenly aware to recognize the new leader and begin following their lead.<\/p>\n Dr. Hal Lewis, who runs the center, pulled me aside and said, \u201cYou know you\u2019re teaching Peter Drucker\u2019s theories on management. This is all about a flat organizational structure.\u201d I nodded in agreement and then went home and looked-up Peter Drucker. Hal was right.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a great improv phrase, \u201cAll of us are better than one of us.\u201d Great leaders know how to lead and how to follow. In Sydney Finkelstein\u2019s terrific book, \u201cSuperBosses,\u201d he calls this kind of leadership, \u201chands on delegation.\u201d Leadership operates in a dynamic that is decidedly non hierarchical in nature. Leadership is a practice, not a position. We\u2019ve all seen amazing leaders who are nowhere near the top of the corporate food chain. Just as we have seen singularly terrible leaders who are running the show.<\/p>\n Our lab for understanding this work is about 60 years old. We\u2019ve been actively beta-testing these theories in our classrooms and on our stages for decades. Just recently, we made the initiative to move from anecdote to actual. We are teaming with the Center for Decision Research<\/em><\/a> (CDR) at the Booth School<\/a> to test out our improvisational theories and practices with a broad swath of scientists and researchers.<\/p>\n I really like the language that we put in our proposal with the CDR: \u201cThis research initiative examines improvisation in a more expansive sense: as an elemental feature of human experience in an inescapably dynamic and social world…In essence, we can make it possible for people to practice being unpracticed, and thus to encounter life\u2019s many such moments with greater courage, resilience, and success.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, And.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: <\/em>Kelly Leonard has served in executive creative roles at The Second City<\/a> in Chicago for nearly three decades. He has developed productions with such talent as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Keegan Michael Key, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Steve Carell and more.<\/p>\n![\"Mind](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/janusdialogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Brainstorm_small.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>The fact is, people are not practiced at working well in groups. Except for the occasional team building workshop, there is no group \u201cwarm up,\u201d no group \u201cpractice\u201d before we set off on our collective working day. This would seem unfathomable in sports. No team practice? You won\u2019t win.<\/p>\n