Hello all! We are in a series called What does improv have to do with change management? In this series, I’m sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned so far from improv class that have direct application to my work as a change management practitioner. Last week’s post was Take a breath, give yourself space. This week’s lesson is….

Emotions matter

Improv class is one place I have learned about how much emotions matter and how much more interesting, enjoyable, and fulfilling an experience is when we pay attention to emotions. If all I’m doing in an improv scene is saying things/providing information and not paying attention to any emotional queues my scene partner is providing the scene doesn’t really go anywhere and it’s boring for the audience. When I’m emotionally invested in the scene and I’m paying attention to and addressing the emotional information my scene partner is providing, the scene has life and the audience is engaged and entertained.

As change management practitioners, we often focus quite a bit on the intellectual part of a change (what people need to know and what they need to do differently) while steering away from how people feel about a change. In my experience, we often dismiss how people feel (it doesn’t matter how they feel, the change is happening and they just need to get on board) or we label peoples’ feelings and decide we need to manage them (oh, they’re just resisting the change, we just need to mitigate their resistance).

I think we can learn a lot from the world of improv regarding emotions.

I think we can learn a lot from the world of improv regarding emotions. What if we saw them as a source of energy, a gift, and an important ingredient to the success of the change initiative instead of something to be avoided or “dealt with”? My hunch is that while this approach might make the initiative feel and/or be less controlled/more messy, it would result in a much more successful initiative (both in the result and in people being honored as whole human beings).

Closing thoughts

I want to hear from you! What has your experience been with either factoring in or avoiding emotions as part of a change initiative?

Please post your thoughts and comments below. Let’s help each other become the best change management practitioners and enthusiasts we can be!

Thank you for reading. Until next time, take care and keep up the good work!

Mike