At Setup, we are actively analyzing internal teams and external partners to help marketers achieve their goals. We’ve found that whenever there are weak links between Brands and Agencies or within departments, the source is often poor communication.

Our recent blog “Talk the Talk: Mastering Workplace Communication + Collaboration,” goes into more detail about how poor communication skills can lead to faster burnout and ultimately failed Client relationships and worse cultures. 

Connection in a post-Covid world is different. Most teams are remote and trying to rebuild the remnants of culture’s past. Our August #MarketersBreakfast was aimed to cure this slump by focusing on the tools leaders need to build better and more healthy communication practices to unite their teams and improve their organizations. 

To do this, we incorporated fun, low-pressure improv exercises that aimed to create open and supportive atmospheres for connection and creativity to thrive. These exercises could also be utilized for onboarding, cross-departmental collaboration, brainstorming, and more. The session was led by Setup Marketing Manager, Madeline Evans, who is also a professional improviser producing, performing, and teaching all over the city. 

Marketing Brand representatives in attendance included TK Elevator, J-B Weld Inc, Cox Automotive, Inspire Brands, Panasonic, and more. 

How can Improv Help Business Leaders Succeed?

Effective communication is the cornerstone of successful relationships. This means honoring and listening to other people’s ideas and articulating your own vision so that everyone is on the same page.

Studies show that poor communication can lead to misunderstandings, reduced morale, and decreased productivity among team members.

Marketing leaders are not only communicating to their consumers, but they are constantly communicating to their C-Suite to prove value, their Clients and partners to work together, and their team to unite on a single vision. 

The key to improv is listening. Conveniently, that’s also the secret to building relationships and having good communication. Just like in day to day conversations though, listening to understand versus listening to respond is key. 

The improv philosophy is “Yes And,” which means celebrating an idea and building upon it. How often are you in a brainstorming session and an idea immediately gets knocked down? What would it look like to acknowledge, celebrate, and see where different ideas take you?

Improv causes people to celebrate other people’s ideas. What if we were constantly celebrating each other in the workforce? There is a reason you hired your team - every person has a valuable skill set or experience to offer. Leaders need to leverage these unique experiences and POVs from their team members to shape their strategies. The best leaders surround themselves with people who are smarter than them. How are you leveraging the unique perspectives that your team members bring to the table to influence your decisions?

Attendees opened up with laughter as we learned each other's names and focused on being completely present with one another. Madeline used UCB’s Will Hines’ analogy of everyone bringing a brick to the wall in order to truly build off of other people’s ideas and create an unpredictable masterpiece. Think about the kaleidoscope that is possible when other perspectives are encouraged as opposed to one person building a wall with their own ideas. Instead of listening or being inspired by anyone else, the result would be pretty formulaic.

Madeline emphasized that improv is rooted in a belief that you are enough, that your voice is unique and interesting and deserves to be shared, and tied it into how it is leadership’s responsibility to create opportunities for people to share themselves and their ideas. She led the group in trust exercises that broke down barriers, led to silly conversations, and encouraged people to be vulnerable. As marketers, we know that authenticity and vulnerability is the key to building relationships with our consumers. Empathy is at the heart of good marketing and also the heart of being a good person (and improviser). 

After the activities, people were more free to be out of their shell and network freely with one another. Multiple people felt energized and stated that, unlike traditional networking events, they truly felt like they knew the other guests and had something to talk about that was more meaningful than what they do day to day. 

In the end, all leaders want to do a good job. The key is to recognize your team’s worth and what they have to offer, and to listen and celebrate the people you surround yourself with. 

If you are looking for a fun, pressure-free experience to improve your culture, check out our Team Building service. This is led by our team member Madeline Evans who has over 15 years of improv experience, teaches corporate gigs and classes with Dad’s Garage, and leads her own improv program. If you are a Client-side marketer interested in attending one of our future events, RSVP here.