Empathic Leadership Through Improvisational Speaking

It was clear in 2021 that companies must innovate and change not only to survive but also for the sake of prosperity and development. Now that everything is questionable and the methods reused are ineffective, the concepts that were previously derided—they completely contradict the way in which they attracted the ambitious dreams that their followers sought to achieve—are beginning to make their way into conversations that take place within institutions.

With the onslaught of the COVID-19 crisis and the belated awareness that the foundation of organizational culture may be unfair, empathy is finally helping public relations return. Most industries, from the financial sector to technology, have begun to do new and unfamiliar things, believing that this will be an important part of change and prosperity in the global economy, which has been steadfast for a long time and achieves unsatisfactory results.

Employee burnout, mental health, and unfair and intolerable policies all require a way to face reality without feeling emasculated, ashamed, or overwhelmed. As author Ibram X. Kendi and writer Brené Brown point out: “shame does not lead to social justice,” or even any meaningful change for that matter; So empathy is a must.

Fortunately, new research and literature provide clues as to what empathy is and why it matters. The call now is to better understand how empathy is developed and incorporated into organizational culture, which was to some extent expected. To do this, most organizations implement resilience and mindfulness training because they note its positive benefits.

Garmin reports that this has led to fewer employees experiencing depression, and Unilever reports increased employee engagement and reduced absenteeism due to health improvements such as better sleep.

Empathy training witnesses an increase in interest, particularly with regard to alertness; Programs such as Stanford University's Evidence-Based Empathy Training, headed by Dr. Thupten Jinpa, one of the field's best-known researchers and practitioners, promote common humanity for the common good.

These programs allow the mind and the heart to have a role in corporate discussions, and one of the entry points for enhancing empathy in corporate ecosystems is a sense of humor. So, an important tool for promoting empathy is not meditation but a sense of humor.

Improvisation is one of the most well-known means of providing a sense of humor. It is an art form that works without a script and depends entirely on the ability to complete the speech with sarcastic phrases, and what distinguishes effective leaders is their ability to improvise intelligently. Improvement builds empathy and compassion, strategic thinking that focuses on the future, and environmental conditions in which joy in the workplace is possible.

The call here is for leaders who want their organizations to survive and thrive in a fragmented world without scenarios that make them feel uncomfortable,  to train themselves and their employees in improvisation techniques, to be aware of the work, and to feel joy.

What is improvisation?

Improvisation techniques have long been used in presentation and public speaking training. More and more companies are viewing improv skills as improving communication, innovation, and leadership.

Actress and trainer Kat Koppett talks about allowing people who improvise to be able to recognize and use their own innovative ideas, and by applying improvisation, leaders can increase their ability to motivate and clarify action.

However, when the scenario of executing tasks does not work as well as we have been implementing them, leaders must know how to improvise. In this case, leaders have no choice but to replace the old method, adapt, imagine, and focus fully on the moments of the present.

However, most leaders have been trained to rely solely on their own mental and cognitive intelligence, and that has worked for them. As most leaders know, our minds can fool us with our own self-limiting beliefs and distract us from focusing fully on the moments of the present.

If mindfulness is necessary for divergent thinking, as Danny Penman, author of Mindfulness for Creativity, asserts, our distracted minds may reduce our ability to think of new ideas.

One of the most sophisticated and effective processes of creativity, also known as design thinking, that is often forgotten is an important step which is teaching the non-cognitive skill of empathy. How can one empathize with the end user, the first step of design thinking, without knowing the method.”

In the words of one of the characters in one of her novels, the American novelist Harper Lee says: “You will never know what anyone is facing until you are in their shoes.” So we can't just think about empathy; we must experience it.

Strategic planning and creativity in times of uncertainty and upheaval require that leaders move from thinking in models to embodying real-world experiences. Psychology professor Jamil Zaki's research reminds us that empathy is an iterative process contextualized with the people and events that took place, and we can't understand what the other person is feeling or how we respond to them. In other words, we improvise when we empathize.

Improvisation and honest leadership:

Improvisation is inseparable from honest and comprehensive leadership that focuses on the future. Teaching improvisation skills helps leaders not only empathize well; it's also about improvisation, although Professor Robert Quinn had no improvisers in mind when he outlined the four principles that apply to the basic case of leadership. These principles are:

1. Focusing on results:

it means being open to possibilities that do not yet exist; Where improvisers create entire scenes and facts without scenarios.

2. Internal guidance:

It means having credibility and a willingness to accept constructive difference. Improvisers must have the self-awareness and the necessary qualities to make an attention-grabbing situation.

3. Focusing on others:

it means commitment to the public interest; The most effective improvisers know it's not about them; It's about making it look good to others.

4. External openness:

It means acquiring knowledge from the environment and moving away from routine. They build relationships and mention cases that have already been presented, and of course they rely on some predictable stories.

By applying these principles, leaders can lead from the ground up, have the courage to face all that is there, imagine what could happen, and focus on a larger goal. In other words, we improvise when we innovate.

Improvise and thrive:

Improvisation means that we take risks and face the possibility of failure. Since there is no skill to tell the audience when to laugh or not to laugh, improvisers must take risks, be open to whatever happens, and adapt accordingly. Being open without a script is scary and demands empathy, compassion, and a sense of humor.

“A gentle sense of humor coupled with empathy and communication can counteract shyness,” writes Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic. However, even the most successful leaders are sometimes the most self-critical. Some research indicates that CEOs are twice as likely to be depressed as the general population. The CEO's mental health has a trickle-down effect on senior leadership and the organization as a whole.

Effective leaders cannot solve problems when things are not going well. They must face reality as it is, researcher Kristin Neff asserts, and they must offer self-kindness so that they can deal with difficult emotions without weighing them down or holding them back.

This is why leaders who strive to thrive need to include improvisational techniques that include a sense of humor in their development and that of their teams. Humor - in all its forms and timing - allows us to make room, observe, and laugh rather than punish ourselves with guilt and shame.

While the research is still in its early stages, an emerging group links humor with positive leadership, action, and engagement. Employees who watch a comedy video have been shown to be 10% more productive afterwards because laughter releases dopamine, which improves mood and reduces stress. So happiness at work increases morale and motivation.

Think of the last time you had a real, full-body laugh; so that joy seeps into every part of it, and you cannot think of exceeding that joy; but you must live it and embody it; Author Alison Beard points out the sad fact that we laugh from 400 times a day when we're kids to 15 times a day when we're 35.

Improvisational techniques can help us find hope and joy even in the most difficult times, not to look at things unrealistically or to avoid them. Instead, a sense of humor allows us to confront everything we still have the courage to visualize the truth of which is not yet there. These skills help leaders develop empathy for others and for themselves. Improvisational leaders are skilled and willing to initiate, create, and innovate while being motivated and adding meaning.

As Professor Brad Bitterly and Dr. Alison Wood Brooks says about humor at the workplace: “A life without a sense of humor is not only less joyful, it is less productive and less creative, for you and the people around you. There are a lot of benefits for people who don't view humor as a secondary organizational behavior but rather as an essential path to being in a high status and thriving at work.”

The leaders who will succeed in the unknown future are people who are skilled in improvisational techniques of imagination and innovation and who are not afraid to embody joy.