The Best Improv Classes In Long Beach, CA

Last December I ran a basic communications workshop for the customer service team of a logistics company in Long Beach. It was a pretty straightforward affair with participants laughing a lot and learning some neat tricks about effective communication.

There was one moment I thought I'd highlight because it was so great. I was running an exercise called Classic Pairs in which you build out an improv scene scenario by focusing on WHO is in the scene. So one person says something like, "I'm a used car Salesman," and their partner self identifies as some sort of role that would fit with a Used Car Salesman by saying something very similar. Maybe, "I'm a wary customer."

(I'll note a quick trick with this exercise that I really like. If anyone has trouble thinking of an identity that fits with someone else's identity, tell them to simply copy the first person's choice. So, "I'm a used car salesman," can be met with, "I'm a used car salesman too!" Two used car salesmen, makes sense that they would know each other and be in a scene together right? And that comes from simply accepting and embracing what your partner has suggested, that's why I like it and it almost always works for this exercise.)

Okay, so we're playing Classic Pairs and it is going great until one player decides to get fancy. Wen it is their turn they walk up to their scene partner and announce: "I'm a Ethnobotanist."

Now I'm pretty sure no one in the workshop knew what an Ethnobotanist was except for the gentleman who brought it up. I looked it up later, it is someone who studies the relationship between plants and humans. Maybe he had studied biology at CSU Long Beach?

So his partner takes a moment to deal with what looked liked a sizable amount of fear. And then she simply responded with, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right. Can you maybe repeat yourself and say a little more about what you mean?"

DING DING DING DING DING! We have a winner!

Sure, admitting you didn't hear what someone else said in an improv scene might feel bad, as though you're saying you know less than your partner. But actually it is a great move and it is only a move made by players who have self confidence and prioritize getting it right over looking cool.

I think the same dynamics are at play in workplace communications. What to do when a colleague or client mentions something you know almost nothing about? Well asking them to repeat themselves while adding more context seems like a pretty good first step to me. It's not cool, but it is effective.