Image credit: Xalanx
“Can you make the improv exercises industry-specific?”
I get this request from learning and development (L&D) professionals. My answer is always no.
And they look at me like I’m wasting their time, like I suggested replacing their quarterly reviews with interpretive dance. Though now that I think about it…
But I’m not being stubborn. I’m protecting their learning.
The Problem With “Relevant” Training
When I have people play “expert interview” - where they pretend to be an expert on something they know nothing about - someone always asks: “How can I use this at work? I can’t just blurt out answers in my regulated industry.”
They’re missing the point entirely. We’re not learning to blurt. We’re learning to think. (It’s a shame though. If “blurting” was a corporate skill, I would be a Fortune 100 CEO.)
If I say, “plan a surprise party for a friend” during an improv exercise, people laugh, get creative, and build on each other’s ideas. The energy soars.
If I say, “solve your quarterly budget crisis,” the room goes quiet. People freeze. They’re suddenly trying to find the RIGHT answer instead of ANY answer.
The conscious mind kicks in and creativity dies.
Why Your Brain Needs Permission to Play
Here’s what’s actually happening: Your conscious mind - the part that thinks, evaluates, has that filter - is constantly grabbing control from your subconscious, where creativity lives. Every time you try to be “appropriate” or “correct,” you’re literally blocking your own innovation.
Laughter isn’t my warm-up act. It’s my secret weapon.
When people laugh, their conscious filter shuts down. When you’re being silly about planning a fake vacation, your brain isn’t trying to impress anyone. It’s just playing. That’s when the magic happens.
Think about it: Information is everywhere. Google. YouTube. AI. If logic alone created transformation, we’d all be perfect.
But transformation requires a mindset shift. And a mindset shift requires getting in under the radar.
The CEO Who Couldn’t Play Catch
I watched a CEO completely freeze during word association. This guy runs a company. Makes million-dollar decisions before lunch. But I toss him an imaginary ball and ask for the first word that pops into his head?
Totally frozen. Like Elsa and Anna but without the songs and hilarious snowman.
We started small. Safe. Word ball - just catch an imaginary ball, say any word, toss it to someone else. He literally couldn’t do it. Not upset, just… blocked.
Three days later? He’s belting out “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley to open his practice presentation. (I’m not making this up. SINGING. In front of everyone.)
Not because I taught him to sing - trust me, nobody wants that. I was in four high school musicals. Had a total of one - ONE - solo singing line (“We’ve got mangos and bananas you can pick right off the tree” - bonus points if you can guess the musical…). But because three days of silly exercises finally got him out of his own way.
By the end, he was the most outgoing person in the room. Jumping up to lead warm-ups. And when we finally got to work scenarios? Completely transformed. Confident. Comfortable. Creative.
The silly stuff broke down barriers he’d been building for decades.
What This Means for Your Training
I see trainers make this mistake constantly. They’ll do something fun after lunch - “just to get energy back up.” Someone asks why. “Oh, just an energizer.”
What a missed opportunity. Like buying a 12-function Instant Pot and only using the “pressure cook” option (you know who you are).
Every funny or interactive activity should have a learning objective. That’s the beauty of improv games - yes, they’re fun, yes, they’re high energy, but there’s ALWAYS a takeaway.
When people play “Yes, And” about where to go for dinner, they immediately feel the difference between “yes, and” versus “yes, but.” They realize how “yes, but” creates a negative atmosphere. They take that back to work.
When they play Two Word Story - each person contributing just two words - they learn they can build something amazing by thinking smaller, not bigger. They realize that when things change direction (which happens constantly in the game), they have to let go of their original plan.
All from telling a story about nothing important.
The ROI Question
“But how do we measure this?”
You don’t. Not immediately. (I know, I know, but your ROI KPIs can wait just a bit, Gary.)
Scientific research works the same way. Sometimes the breakthrough comes 20 years after the “pointless” study. If you demand ROI on day one, you’ll never innovate.
Your people are so trained to look for KPIs and immediate returns, it’s counterintuitive to start silly. But that’s exactly why it works. We’re building muscles, not just transferring information.
Here’s what L&D professionals can try tomorrow:
Look at every activity you run. Are people laughing? If not, ask: “How can I make this sillier?”
Take one exercise. Remove the work context entirely. Make it about birthday parties or vacations or superheroes. Watch what happens.
The ridiculous moments give you MORE to debrief, not less. When someone does something absurd in the game, that becomes your teaching moment.
Every improv game I run has a learning objective. But the learning slips in because their defenses are down.
Your team doesn’t need more information. They need their creativity unlocked.
And that starts with being willing to look silly.
Look, I get it. It's hard to propose “Pretend to be a piece of toast” as a leadership development exercise. But breakthrough moments come from starting silly and getting creative.
What “silly” exercise have you been avoiding because it doesn’t seem professional enough?
Want to learn how to use improv principles to transform your training? Grab a spot on my calendar to talk about my train-the-trainer programs. I promise there's no singing required. Unless you want to. In which case, please don't.