In 1994, Bob Kulhan was in his early twenties and on his way to becoming a marketing manager at a top advertising agency. The financial stability of his blossoming career comforted his parents.
That year he also began taking improvisational comedy classes at Second City, a renowned comedy institution based in Chicago. There learned Mr. Kulhan of stars such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Del Close.
“Improv is what I should be doing with my life,” he said he realized after taking the classes for a year. At the age of 24, he quit his cushy job to pursue a career in improvisational comedy.
To supplement the small income he earned doing comedy, he found gigs pulling Sheetrock, filled in as a substitute teacher and worked as a bartender at Wrigley Field. He also found a job as Mr. Monopoly to promote a local casino.
However, these odd jobs weren't enough to make ends meet, and by the late 1990s, Mr. Kulhan couldn't cover his $800 monthly mortgage.
He then discovered a more lucrative side of comedy, which was growing rapidly in Chicago: Corporate Improv, which teaches the techniques of improvisation in workplaces to help employers develop employees' so-called soft skills like effective communication. It turns out that many companies were happy to pay comedians hundreds or thousands of dollars to conduct team-building workshops.
Corporate Improv is an offshoot of applied improvisation, a field that explores the benefits of improvisation outside the theater. Research has shown that improvisation can improve communication, trust, creativity, listening, empathy and the ability to handle uncertainty.
“We noticed 30 years ago that people were taking classes not because they wanted to be the next star on 'Saturday Night Live' But because they wanted to use improvisation skills at work,” said Tyler Dean Kempf, creative director at Second City Works.
As an example, Mr. Kempf, 44, said his team has worked with rookies in the National Hockey League to help them prepare for unexpected questions during news conferences.
In 1999, Mr. Kulhan found the opportunity to become a leader in corporate improvisation. Professors on sabbatical from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business took an improv class in Chicago. As they left the classroom, Mr. Kulhan overheard their conversation about Duke and used the opportunity to pitch them the first academic, improvisation-based program for business students.
The professors liked his pitch and introduced him to Douglas Breeden, at the time the dean of Duke's Business School -dean, and the program began in 2000. After the program's early success, Mr. Kulhan founded Business Improv in 2001 to offer its services directly to employers.
A US Navy captain who trained Mr. Kulhan at Duke, became Business Improv's first customer. His goal was to generate creativity and energy ahead of a two-day strategic planning session.
The Captain, Mr Kulhan said, praised the impact of the program on the planning session. He told Mr Kulhan that the team usually produces seven or eight ideas for basic improvements, and one of them may be workable. After the improvisation workshop, the group produced 52 recommendations and 12 of them were approved on the spot.
Few improv comedians can make a living through comedy alone, but today, careers in corporate improv are making that more possible. Those who start their own businesses, like Mr. Kulhan, have additional money-making potential. Team building sessions can cost from $500 to $3,000 each. These sessions are often compared to Escape Room games, bowling outings or team dinners. Long-term commitments that help executives improve skills can come with five-figure price tags and often compete with traditional sales or leadership training. Large events or speaking engagements with experienced improv professionals can start at $10,000.
For improv facilitators who run the sessions, house wages vary. Part-time trainers can make $60 an hour, but they often need other income streams, such as comedy classes. There are a limited number of full-time late positions.
Today, business improvisers across the country offer virtual and in-person sessions designed to improve soft skills for a wide range of companies. Johnny Meeks, a senior academic director at UPRight Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles, recalled being hired by a group of ministers.
“They were just as crazy as other customers,” Mr. Meeks, 53, said. “One of the pastors changed the way she preached as a result of the workshop. Feeling more confident, she wrote less intense notes and made her sermons more conversational. ”
Mr. Meeks said he had worked with eyewear vendors and major fashion design companies. “The application of improvisation is broad,” he said.
Mr. Kempf agreed, adding that his client list is long and wide. “Second City Works has worked with more than half the fortune 1,000 companies,” he said.
John Windmueller formerly taught conflict negotiation and resolution at George Mason University and the University of Baltimore. He tried improv in 2005, looking for community and laughs. During his freshman year of class, Dr. Windmueller, he realized that Improv honed his conflict resolution skills.
Dr. Windmueller brought his insights back to the classroom to engage his graduate students in improvisation exercises. He had them play an improv game, Switch, where each person plays a character, but when the word “Switch” is shouted, they switch to playing their scene partner's character, mimicking their partner's mannerisms and intent. He found that this exercise improved empathy and noted that Improv was a strong learning tool.
Like Mr. Kulhan, Dr. Windmueller the corporate improvisation. In 2014, he left academia to lead a program called Wit@Work at the Washington Improv Theater, which provides governments, corporations and nonprofits with improvisation-based business training.
Although Dr. Windmueller has a diverse range of clients, he emphasized Improv's usefulness in conflict resolution, an appropriate focus for a theater based in the District of Columbia. He has trained the FBI's Crisis Negotiations Unit in improvisation techniques, he said. When it comes to difficult situations where people are unwilling to cooperate, the FBI uses active listening and tactical empathy – skills strengthened by improvisation training.
In an exercise known as “first word, last word,” FBI agents created a story and started each sentence with the last word from the previous sentence, forcing them to listen to every word shared, said Dr. Windmueller.
“We often get into the habit of listening to respond versus listening to understand,” he said.
One challenge for corporate improvisers is that employees are often nervous about trying improvisation in front of their colleagues. Mr. Meeks said an employee once told him, “they would rather have explosive diarrhea than an improv workshop.”
Karen Gray, the Chief Administrative Officer at A&E Networks in New York, attended a business training session led by Business Improv. “I had performance experience, but was a notoriously bad actress, so I dreaded this session.”
During Ms. Gray's session with Mr. Kulhan, he had the executives sell him a robot.
“It was completely crazy, but in just a few short hours we had built enough confidence to let ideas flow and not worry about practicing a robot field like grown adults,” Ms Gray said. “The session showed how to let the creativity flow.”
Erin Diehl, founder and chief executive of Implement It in Charleston, SC, came to business improv after a successful career in Human Resources.
During her workshops, she uses a hat shaped like a chicken that keeps people's attention and reminds them that learning comes from taking risks and getting uncomfortable, Ms. Diehl, 41, said.
Arturo Corominas Tortolero, a global culture and diversity manager at Bimbo in Mexico City, recalled a training where senior executives in the company laughed as they roared to each other and made “T.-Rex Arms.”
“It allowed everyone to be more themselves and create meaningful long-term relationships,” Mr. Tortolero, 36, said.
