"Whose Line is it Anyway?" Is one of the funniest shows on TV. Four actors take the stage and act out completely unscripted, totally improvised scenarios based on prompts from the host and the audience — and it's really, really funny.
The idea of getting up on stage in a setting like this show sounds like an impossible feat. And, to be sure, these are great actors whose skill is hard to match. But the underlying practice behind what they're performing, improvisational (improv) acting, is something I think everyone can learn and better their lives from.
I've completed three levels of improv acting training, but even just a few lessons are enough to gain an appreciation of how improv acting works. And once you have that appreciation, you can internalize three great lessons from the craft: learn to listen, make others great, and find the right room.
Learn to listen
A key skill in improv acting is learning to observe and listen to others. Since everything that happens on stage is improvised, all of the information comes from what's being performed, so it's crucial that all performers know what's happening on stage.
In a typical conversation at home or at work, so much misunderstanding and happens because of miscommunication. Being able to intently listen and understand what's being communicated becomes essential.
Make others great
Another rule of improv is to focus on the making the other performers look good. If every actor just focuses on themselves, the scene falls flat and there's nothing funny about that. But if the performers are bringing out the best in each other, then everyone has a role to play, and the entire performance feels connected and meaningful.
It's easy to imagine how good it feels to be on a team that exhibits this behavior. If you don't worry about who gets credit, and purely on helping everyone deliver great work, then great things are bound to happen. There's a whole book on just this idea.
Pick the right room
Of course, the improv rules above, and all of the other rules ("yes and", etc.) are only possible because all of the other perfumers have agreed to play in this environment with the same rules. The actors know they will be in a place where everyone is intently listening and focused on making others great. Simiarily, these rules only work at work if you're in an environment that supports this. For example, if assigning credit (or blame) is supremely important in a group, then selfless collaboration may be difficult to instill as a principle.
Being the next performer on Whose Line is it Anyway might not be for all of us. But the skills that those performers have mastered are ones we can all work on developing, and improv is such a great (and fun!) way to do so.