Messaging for Leaders: What Improv Teaches About Clear Communication
Many leaders have a hard time communicating clearly. This leads to disengaged teams and missed opportunities. This post breaks down how improv principles fix that, so your ideas actually land and drive action.
Why Leaders Struggle to Communicate ClearlyWhat Happens When Leaders Don't Have a Clear Message 4 Improv Principles That Improv Your CommunicationWhat Clear Messaging for Leaders Looks LikeWhy Smart Leaders Struggle to Communicate Clearly in Meetings
You’ve probably been in a meeting where someone is talking and you’re trying to follow it… but you can’t quite get what they’re saying.
It’s not that the idea is bad or that the person isn’t smart.
It’s just that somewhere along the way, the message got muddy.
I was talking about this very topic with Brett Hoogeveen from BetterCulture, on a recent episode of the BetterCulture podcast.
Before I worked in content and messaging for B2B, I performed improv in New York City for fifteen years. And one of the things you learn very quickly is that if the bit or the game isn’t clear, the scene falls apart.
Business conversations aren’t that different.
If people can’t follow you, they can’t act on what you’re saying. And if they can’t act on it, the idea goes nowhere.
Why a Clear Brand Message is Key to Growing Your Business (And How You Can Master It)What Happens When Leaders Don’t Have a Clear Message
Annie Figenshu joins Brett Hoogeveen on The Better Culture Podcast to talk about clear communication, improv, and messaging for leaders.
As a leader, when the message you’re trying to convey isn’t clear, people can’t follow it. When they can’t follow it, they can’t really act on it.
They hear parts of it. They may agree with it. But there’s no clear next step.
So then there’s this disconnect. And that’s when people just start to … guess what you want them to do. And they may or may not get it right. Most of the time they don’t.
Good ideas get left on the table because no one knows how to move them forward. Teams spend time circling the same conversations instead of making progress. You repeat yourself, add more context, try again in a different way, and still don’t get traction.
Over time, people just write you off.
They’ve heard versions of this before and haven’t seen anything come from it.
And once that negative turning point occurs, rebuilding momentum takes a lot more effort than getting it right the first time.
Signs the Messaging is Unclear in Your Business4 Improv Principles That Improve Your Communication
Let’s focus four simple tactics you can act on right away.
1. Shift from “I” to “You”
This is a simple change you can make for a big payoff.
Most people communicate like this:
I want to share
I’m going to teach
I think
But your audience is not thinking about you.
They’re thinking:
What does this mean for me?
Why should I care?
How does this help me?
So instead, use phrases like:
You’ll walk away with…
Here’s what this means for you…
You’re going to learn…
All of a sudden it shifts the way that you think about your audience, and it shifts how they hear what you’re saying.
2. Make Your Ideas Actionable
In an improv show, when the actors are riffing onstage, it’s called a “talking heads scenes.” And those are fine. But it becomes more exciting for the audience when there is more action.
In business, it’s often we do a lot of talking. We figure that the people in the meeting will draw their own conclusions and take action in their own way.
That may or may not happen.
Instead, you can make your message actionable.
You’ve got to ask yourself, “Are those words hitting the audience in a way that they are able to know what action to take and how it's going to make their lives better?”
Instead of:
“This is an important concept…”
Try:
“Here’s what to do by the next time we meet…”
If your audience can’t apply it right away, odds are they won’t remember it.
3. React in the Moment
Improv teaches you to listen first, then respond. This is mostly because in an improv scene we have pretty much nothing to go on. At least in the shows that I did, we never had sets, lights, or scripts. So what your scene partner says is vital. It’s information that you absolutely need.
If you’re trying to think of something funny to say, you’re most likely going to miss a key piece of information.
So active listening is vital.
In business, this shows up everywhere:
sales calls
team meetings
content creation
You’ve got to practice listening to what the person just said, internalizing it, and responding. All within in seconds. As Malcolm Gladwell said in his book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
“[Improvisation comedy] involves make very sophisticated decisions on the spur of the moment without the benefit of any kind of script or plot. That’s what makes it so compelling and – to be frank – terrifying.”
— Malcolm Gladwell
But whether you're on a stage or in a Zoom room, navigating those spur-of-the-moment decisions requires digesting what the other person just gave you so you can respond with exactly what they need to hear.
4. Keep it Simple Enough To Repeat
Improv scenes fall apart when they get too complicated. We used to call this “going to crazy town.”
So does communication.
If your idea needs five minutes of explanation, it’s not ready yet.
In the podcast episode, Brett and I talked about how specific we needed the words to be for a client’s Shark Tank pitch. We took out any filler words that would make the pitch unclear.
I talked about how “we really worked through literally every single word and figured out which ones were the words that were going to help land and what words were filler.”
As a leader, nailing your messaging helps you avoid those filler words and concepts that will muddy the waters.
What It Takes to Clarify Your Message for a Shark Tank-Sized MomentWhat Clear Messaging for Leaders Looks Like in Practice
When this starts to click, you notice it pretty quickly.
Your message gets received right from the start.
People know what to do next without a lot of follow-up or double checking.
You’re not “circling back” to explain the same thing again.
People aren’t just hearing what you’re saying.
They understand it well enough to do something with it.
Get Your Ideas to Land
If your message isn’t landing the way they should when you’re talking to your team, there may need to be a few tweaks to make in how you’re delivering them.
Not necessarily that the message itself is flawed.
Schedule a Call
Let’s turn what you’re already saying into messages that connect.
Annie Figenshu
Annie Figenshu is keenly aware that many companies are pressed for time, and every minute counts. She helps brands make the most of their content marketing so that their hard work is shared with the world. Annie is certified in both StoryBrand and Mailchimp, has two kids with Beatles-themed names, and is afraid to think what a day without coffee would look like.