Improv in our DNA

How can a company whose success has engendered sky-high expectations for every release embrace the risk of failure inherent in improv?

“Failure is just the first step toward success”

At Pixar, there are no good ideas, just bad ideas they make better.  The process of constructive revision, rather than straight criticism, is built into the DNA of movie development at the animation company.  Not surprisingly, this concept was borne out of improv.

One of the early executives at Pixar had studied improvisation, and made sure that improv was one of the first offerings at Pixar University.  The first rule of improv, “Say ‘yes! and . . .’ “, is the foundation of Pixar’s constructive revision process.  When a person says ‘yes,’ they accept another’s idea as valid.  When they say, ‘yes! and’, they not only accept another’s idea, they build upon it by adding another component.  Now the idea is better than it was before.

Imagine that you were charged with writing the story for the next Pixar movie.  You could write it out, perfect as can be, all in one sitting, right?

Didn’t think so.

The truth is that creation is always a process.  We have an idea, we revise it (often in our head), and eventually it feels complete.  In organizations, many teams try to create a product as a group without laying the proper groundwork for co-creation.  A team enters the brainstorming process, and team members throw out a few ideas.  Often, coworkers offer their feedback on these initial ideas in the form of criticism — “well, that won’t work because Marketing will never go for it . . .”.  Those who have had the courage to share unrefined ideas feel judged and shut down.  Eventually, the brainstorming process shuts down, and the group is left with a list of bad ideas, and nothing to take to the rest of the organization.

Now, imagine that instead of offering criticism, team members said “yes! and . . .”.  Rather than listing the ways in which the idea wouldn’t work, team members offered ways to make the first idea better.  Imagine that they keep building on each other’s ideas, making it better and more complete each time they share a thought.  At the end of this brainstorming session, instead of a list of bad ideas, you’d have one solidly developed idea — something wonderful to share with the rest of the organization.

Try this in your own organization.  Next time a colleague shares an idea, start your response with “Yes! And . . .” and watch their response.  Do they share more ideas with you?  Does the initial idea get better and better?  Share your experience with us here.