No Joke, Improv Helps This Planner Build Better Communities

Green is an improv performer and coach, as well as a transportation and long-range planner for Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Photo courtesy of American Planning Association Illinois Chapter.

GREEN: Active listening is one of the key skills that you'll learn from week one in improv. It's shifting that mindset from listening to responding into listening as an end in and of itself.

When we feel this immense amount of pressure to respond, our brain is writing the script before the other person has even finished speaking. In improv, that doesn't work because you're up there and you're co-creating something together. It's the same in planning, too. When I'm actively listening, the only goal I have in the conversation is to understand what you're saying.

STROMBERG: What does that look like?

GREEN: In improv, we do an exercise called, "So, what you're saying is ..." where we're trying to paraphrase and translate what your partner has just said. In real life or on stage, there is such a validating feeling of having been heard — that someone is listening to you and putting value on what you say. When I can repeat back to you the thing you've just said, I'm making a connection.

If I'm at a public hearing and I've just heard myriad public testimony, I might start with a quick summation of what we just heard. We're not going to be able to address everything, but let's go on record and make it very clear that we've listened. Another improv takeaway for planners is stage confidence. It's having the confidence to take up space, to make statements, to move things along, to bring something to the conversation, and I think there's a huge benefit to having that confidence.

One of my favorite thinkers in the improv space is Kelly Leonard at Second City. I have something he said written on a note at my desk: "Bring a brick, not a building."

STROMBERG: What does that mean?

GREEN: It means that I just have to bring my piece. If I bring my brick and you bring yours, by the end of it, we're going to have a building, so I don't have this innate pressure on myself to have every answer. The more bricks we have from a lot of different people means the best idea is going to win. We're going to be so much more open to discovering new things that way. And, if we're trying to make each other look good, we're going to have a much better scene.

In the planning sphere, we're asked to be the expert in so many things — things we might not be the expert in. I had a situation where we were in crisis mode and needed to deliver training in an hour. What if I bring the improv mindset and recognize it's not all on me, I'm bringing my brick — the knowledge I have about this thing — but I'm relying just as much on the attendees to bring me the questions and respond to what I'm giving them, so in that moment, we are discovering.

STROMBERG: How do these skills come into play in tense or politically fraught situations?

GREEN: One of the most valuable tools in both improv and planning is framing, which is also called bridging. Sometimes, people say something that raises the tension, even if they don't realize it. I can verbally draw a frame around that thing and repeat it back to them: "What I just heard you say was this. Is that really what you wanted to say in this moment?"

In improv, that gives us two paths to go down: Play with that silly idea or say no to it. That technique works in real life and planning, too, when you need to de-escalate a situation.

"It's not about avoiding bombing, it's what you can learn from that, and do you have the tenacity to keep going anyway? You have to be willing to take risks and fail early and often."

STROMBERG: Have you ever bombed on stage? Is there anything planners can learn from that?

GREEN: I have died on stage so many times, so here's another skill that comes to mind: self-awareness. I've learned over the years that no one is paying as much attention to you as you are. You'll go away with all this internalized shame, regret, or fear, but you'll go up and do it again next week.

It's not about avoiding bombing, it's what you can learn from that, and do you have the tenacity to keep going anyway? You have to be willing to take risks and fail early and often. Now, I'm not advocating that people go out and make intentional errors in staff reports. Please don't tell your boss, "Phil said it's OK." But it is OK to stumble over your words at a public hearing or try one approach to solving a problem and then pivot if it doesn't work. Improv teaches us to celebrate those failures, because there are opportunities.

STROMBERG: It sounds like you're talking about vulnerability and authenticity.

GREEN: 100 percent. To me, there's nothing more freeing and fulfilling than knowing that you have the space to be your fully authentic self in the workplace. But that's not easy for everyone, and especially not right now. There may be policy-level decisions that make that hard for some folks to be their authentic selves in the workplace. But can you still let your personality shine? Can you still find those opportunities to relate to people that we seem to disagree with on a lot of levels?

Absolutely. A lot of times, I'm in situations with people who assume we're coming at an issue from two completely different places, including folks with a well-earned distrust of government. Nine times out of 10, if I'm really listening to what those concerns are, we're probably in agreement on more things than we're not.

STROMBERG: Where have you had a more difficult audience — on stage or in a planning situation?

GREEN: I'm usually less concerned about an improv show ending in a lawsuit than I am about a public hearing. I'll say that much for sure. In either situation, I find that the nerves don't go away. People will see a very confident speaker or a confident improviser up there taking risks. But I'll tell you, it's powered by nerves. The difference is you learn to harness that energy as opposed to letting it be preventive.

Planning is always going to be harder, because it has real world consequences. And also, there typically isn't an open bar at a public hearing like there is at an improv show.

STROMBERG: Talk about out-of-the-box thinking. Can we do something about this?

GREEN: You know, planners who are listening to this: If you have that, please let me know. I will come and work for you.