What three hours of musical improvisation taught me about running a business…
‘Having an idea and delivering it with confidence — that’s the difference between a good and a bad improviser.
I’m in the bar after my first Showstopper’s improvised musical workshop, and I’m debriefing with Duncan, the musical director. The last 3 hours have put me comfortably out of my comfort zone — I love improvising, but this West End troupe really put us through our paces.
I also began to draw comparisons between how to approach improv and how to run a business…
- Just get your ideas out there and don’t over think!
The concept with Showstoppers is that the audience shout out an idea, and the group create a musical number — ON THE SPOT.
My creation process is somewhat different: I tend to have a very slap-dash approach where I try something out, shower it with criticism, go back to it, edit it a few times and then only share it when it’s worthy of public viewing. The first go is never the real one. But in musical improv the first draft is the FINAL draft .
This seems scary, but if we had sat around trying to write a good musical theatre song we’d have been there all night arguing over the first line. How often do we put off launching things until it’s perfect and then nothing ever get’s out there?
The paradox is this: don’t try and write a good song, and as soon as you take that pressure off you will invariably write a good song.
2. Did they notice that monumental f*ck up? Only if you tell them about it!
I found the idea of not being able to edit my work incredibly challenging: my instinct was to sing a melody and then go ‘oh no! that was awful! Can I try that again?!’ (No, you can’t).
But the moment I showed the audience that I had lost confidence, they lost confidence too.
This is a good reminder for business that if you feel like you’ve low-level messed up: a newsletter wasn’t as good as you hoped, you’ve quoted the wrong price to someone, you’ve signed yourself Sarag instead of Sarah in a professional email* — don’t backtrack — most of the time people won’t notice and you’ll just be drawing attention to it!
*so many times.
3. Set the scene for your audience
Don’t assume people know who you are or what you do. If you want people to care about you you need to give them details that they can get on board with, before you get into the big dramatic tear-jerker stuff. So many businesses go straight into explaining their product or service without even doing the very basic intros. Remember that although you live and breathe your business, most people haven’t the foggiest…
4. Look for patterns, which help ease the workload
As we created the verse line by line we were encouraged to pick up on any motifs. Something simple like ‘I can see a tree…’, ‘I can see a bench…’ , ‘I can see a frog.’
It seemed a bit boring and elementary, so the tendency was to try and do something clever and subversive for line 3, but actually the simplicity was what made it. (We were reminded that one of the best-selling songs ever had the lyrics ‘She loves you, yeah yeah yeah’).
So in your business if you notice something is working, keep doing it! Often we find a way of working and it starts to feel so easy we don’t feel like we’re doing any work, so we bring in a new sales strategy, a new way of marketing or client acquisition — so notice what feels effortless, notice patterns in the way people buy from you or find out about you and find a way to make your THING. People are so overloaded with information, the repetition helps it stick.
5. Do YOU really like it? Is it is it wicked?
People pick up on whether YOU think your idea is a good’n. If you have energy, confidence and conviction — people will want to get on board. It could be the best idea ever, but if you think it’s shit, so will they. Conversely, if it’s actually a very mediocre product or service but you’re throwing in bags of sass, people can’t help but love it.
Remember — it’s ATTITUDE not CONTENT that people pick up on.
6. Be clear when you tell people your idea for the first time
One of us had to be the chorus leader and sing a chorus first, then everyone repeated it second time around. It was up to the leader to make it really obvious what was to be repeated. Again simplicity was the key.
I asked a friend the other day ‘’how many people could explain what you do in your business?’’ — is your idea repeatable, easily articulated? Does it change every time you say it?
7. Make people feel included
Do the rest of the group feel part of the ‘chorus’ you’ve created? Are you helping them to learn it, to feel part of it in the way you direct and encourage? If you notice some people are not ‘singing’, how can you bring them in? The whole team looks so much better when everyone looks good.
8. Communicate what you want from your team
At the end of the song the chorus leader had free reign to play with the chorus and end the piece in any way they wanted. How do you let your team know when you want to speed things up, slow things down? Are you clear about who you need for which task? Or do you wave your arms around and expect people to get it? Be super clear about what you’re asking from your team, and don’t be afraid to repeat messages until you’re sure everyone gets it.
9. SIMPLE language is best
People get lost in lots of words and long explanations — have a few clear ideas that help people set the space. This goes for your advertising but also your internal comms.
10. I couldn’t think of a 10th.
Think that’s enough learning for today, folks.
Keep it simple.
And I’m now going to post this without overthinking it!
