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On The Job Improvising - IT departments use improv techniques to improve communication skills

Improvising is being able to act and respond to change in creative and effective ways – something IT professionals do on a daily basis. If IT professionals took improvisational skills and used them with their co-workers, it could translate into more employees responding to urgent matters, in a more effective way. But there is just one small problem: communication has to improve in the workplace and that is one skill IT professionals are not always known for.

"A lot of companies are saying we've got really exciting, dynamic people who have done a great job but we need them to come together and learn to share information and pass ideas on to each other," said Deborah Kimmett, facilitator with Toronto-based improv troop The Second City, which, when not entertaining the masses, conduct corporate training sessions.

While any organization can benefit from improv skills, according Andy Burnham, director of Toronto-based Improv at Work, those skills are especially critical in IT departments.

"The specific fast pace and change of technology and the industries involved in technology and communications requires IT staff and companies to create teams that can (build ideas and options through saying yes instead of what if)," he said. "If those teams and companies are unable to think under pressure, build ideas and challenge assumptions and think creatively, their survival will be hampered."

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