Please note - the following blog is from our archives and has been republished here to share it with a broader audience.
About a year ago, I was looking ahead at my last year in university, and I wanted to try something different. The three years prior had been filled with optimization problems, discussions about the economics of rice and rhino horns, and accounting classes that — while interesting enough — did not feel like the complete arsenal I needed to take on the real world.
I stumbled across the UBC Improv Club’s booth and was offered a spot after a few auditions. I eventually realized how passionate the other members were and in many ways, it guilted me into wanting to learn how I can better contribute to my team’s performances. Soon enough, I was learning more business lessons from improv than my lectures. Here’s what I got:
Every team needs a Robot, a Ninja, and a Pirate
This was one of the first things I learned, and it remained my favourite throughout. In improv, a Robot is a person that’s great at following the patterns and beats of a performance. They know when to jump in, when to pull another performer in, and when to leave and cut a scene. Every scrum has a Scrum Master, and they help navigate the team’s structure and improve its productivity. Even at a wider scope, I have never worked at an organization without a structure, a plan, or a mission statement that they referred to and were grounded by. Improv really showed me the value of having a Robot when everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong, or when everyone is excited by a scene and it turns into chaos.
There’s also Ninjas. I was especially bad at being a Ninja. These are team members that do the little things that make you shine. They recognize that a scene at a barbershop needs a few people mime-cutting hair in the background, and that a water that spills will eventually cause someone to slip. No matter what you are creating or doing, there are little things that could be optimized in the background, and the Ninja on your team will find them. Empower them to come forward to make note of these inefficiencies, and you have your employee of the year. Don’t, and they may never shine a light on them.
Finally, my favourite (at least to be when I am in scenes), is the Pirate. Pirates are loud and brash and can often claim centre stage. Yes — that does sounds annoying as hell. But at the same time, they can be the force that pushes your team forward and give the rest something to play off of. The key to a Pirate is to embrace it in doses. Of course, everyone is a mixture of the three, and figuring out what part of your skillset is needed at each point is the way to always contribute your most. Same goes for managing people and steering them towards their strengths.