"In making an idea together, you are trying to build a shared reality. We are both building a non-existent thing. Because improvisers are creating something out of nothing, they are forced to listen to each other, to pay attention, in a deeper way than in their ordinary lives. People can make assumptions and skim over details in their day-to-day lives, but while improvising, they have to catch every word and even catch details that go beyond their partner's words."
"Deep listening can be a kind of empathy. It's trying to understand where someone's coming from and what's going on underneath the surface. It's not nodding our heads mindlessly. It's not thinking about what we're going to say next. It's giving someone our undivided attention and letting their words and body language affect us. A good leader should be a good listener. They represent us, and if they're going to"
The mayor of New York City took an improv class, connecting improvisation with leadership skill development. Improv requires collaborators to build a shared imagined reality, which demands focused attention on words and subtle details. That focused, shared imagining functions as empathy by prompting participants to picture the scene together and consider what they believe about the idea being created. Improv also teaches comfort with uncertainty by forcing participants to respond in the moment without predetermined plans. Active listening, empathy, and tolerance for uncertainty are presented as essential qualities that help leaders represent and inspire people.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]