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Improve your Communication Skills through Theatre Improvisation
Improvisation Theatre is a relatively new form of theatre performance where actors step onto the stage with no prior preparations and script, and is thrown a scenario where they have to "improvise" on the spot. The thought of this creates a lot of anxiety to many people. They often think:
But I am not funny!
Improv is hard!
But I don't have the personality for that!
The above are all myths. First of all, Improvisation is very much part of our lives. Since we were toddlers, we find out about our surroundings and develop a way to survive in the world through improvisation. Have you ever seen a baby play with and manipulate a toy in many different ways? That’s improvisation. As we grow up and find our own ways in our lives, for example, our first days of school, job interviews, first dates, first trip abroad, we also have to rely on improvisation skills. Moreover, we do not need to be funny to be improvisers. This reputation of improv is probably as a result of our usual introductions to improv being in comedy clubs. The bottom-line is that regardless of skill levels, personalities or cultural background, we are natural improvisers.
Communication is, in many ways, just like Improv. Unless we are giving a prepared speech, we do not have a script for communications. We may walk into a meeting with an agenda, or an ideas of what to say, but we will have to respond to questions and comments made by others, and that cannot be scripted. That, in essence, is improvisation. Your ability to communicate with composure, confidence and clarity in high stakes, uncertain situations can diffuse tension and even rally your employees, your bosses, your adversaries on your side. The failure to do so, however, can have dire consequences for your company, and more importantly your career.
In this workshop, Coen Tan will call upon his experiences in Improv Theatre to bring you through common communication situations, help you understand your communication styles and how you can adjust your communications to become more impactful every time you speak. The Training is designed to be experiential. Participants engage in a series of individual, paired and group exercises that encourage them to interact and learn from the experience. After each exercise, facilitators take time to discuss what happened and note discoveries, challenges and real-world applications that participants map to specific situations and behaviours. The tone is conversational, playful and light.
But I am not funny!
Improv is hard!
But I don't have the personality for that!
The above are all myths. First of all, Improvisation is very much part of our lives. Since we were toddlers, we find out about our surroundings and develop a way to survive in the world through improvisation. Have you ever seen a baby play with and manipulate a toy in many different ways? That’s improvisation. As we grow up and find our own ways in our lives, for example, our first days of school, job interviews, first dates, first trip abroad, we also have to rely on improvisation skills. Moreover, we do not need to be funny to be improvisers. This reputation of improv is probably as a result of our usual introductions to improv being in comedy clubs. The bottom-line is that regardless of skill levels, personalities or cultural background, we are natural improvisers.
Communication is, in many ways, just like Improv. Unless we are giving a prepared speech, we do not have a script for communications. We may walk into a meeting with an agenda, or an ideas of what to say, but we will have to respond to questions and comments made by others, and that cannot be scripted. That, in essence, is improvisation. Your ability to communicate with composure, confidence and clarity in high stakes, uncertain situations can diffuse tension and even rally your employees, your bosses, your adversaries on your side. The failure to do so, however, can have dire consequences for your company, and more importantly your career.
In this workshop, Coen Tan will call upon his experiences in Improv Theatre to bring you through common communication situations, help you understand your communication styles and how you can adjust your communications to become more impactful every time you speak. The Training is designed to be experiential. Participants engage in a series of individual, paired and group exercises that encourage them to interact and learn from the experience. After each exercise, facilitators take time to discuss what happened and note discoveries, challenges and real-world applications that participants map to specific situations and behaviours. The tone is conversational, playful and light.
Objective
In this program, you will learn how to:
- Overcome personal beliefs that might be holding you back from becoming a more influential and engaging communicator
- Communicate effectively and efficiently so that you get your point understood clearly each time
- Develop your quick-thinking skills so that you can speak on your feet confidently, fluently and knowledgeably
- Enhance your conflict management and communication skills so that you can clear these important road blocks to performance and success in the workplace
- Learn the art of assertive communications and to support your points of views with powerful supporting materials
- How to deconstruct hostile verbal statements and stay on point, and on purpose in difficult situations
- Develop conversational agility so that you can track others in conversations and be able to "react off-script" instead of canned speeches
Outline
Learn the Basics of Improvisation
Why People Don’t Communicate Clearly
Master the Art of Verbal Jiu-jitsu
Being a Compelling Communicator
Develop Assertive Communications Skills
- Bust the common myths of improvisation and overcome your fears and barriers to improvisation
- Be able to use improvisation techniques to craft your responses on the fly, and to have meaningful conversations
- Gives participants a tool for acknowledging and building on another’s point of view for true collaboration
Why People Don’t Communicate Clearly
- Challenges people face when having to communicate under pressure, stress, or when they are busy
- Personal fright-fight-flight patterns and natural defences that cause people to "clamp up" when communicating
- 4 sins communicators made because of "trying too hard"
Master the Art of Verbal Jiu-jitsu
- Learn how to decoding hostile communications
- Understanding pre-suppositions that are implied in conversations, so that you do not fall into the trap of addressing the "bait" rather than the issue at hand
- Being able to make clear distinctions between concepts and ideas, so that you can remain on track and on point with your communications
Being a Compelling Communicator
- Communication "follow through" - how to communicate so others listen
- Apply voice quality, enunciation, accents, pitch, vocal variety, body language, eye contact and energy in your communications
- Open-hearted listening - listening not just for understanding content, but also for underlying emotions and motivations
- Mirror, matching and leading in your communications so that you are able to empathize, match, and change the way you make people feel
- Learn how to be able to use the power of analogies and associations to create new ideas and land different perspectives
Develop Assertive Communications Skills
- Learn the art of assertive communications and to support your points of views with powerful supporting materials
- Learn the power of setting effective and healthy boundaries so that you can manage your own communications with multiple stakeholders and get them to know your stand
- Communicate difficult messages in a way that will encourage and motivate change
Profile of Coen Tan, CSP
Leadership & Communication Facilitator | Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)
Coen Tan helps people-centred leaders, the thoughtful, relational, quietly capable ones whose strengths are often mistaken for a lack of presence, turn that very trait into how they lead, influence, and hold a room. Rather than coaching leaders to perform a louder, borrowed version of leadership, he helps them make their authentic style legible and persuasive, so they lead as themselves, with structure behind them.
He does this through curated learning experiences, real stories, and safe spaces where leaders experiment, practise, and receive targeted feedback, the deliberate practice that turns insight into changed behavior.
In May 2024, Coen was conferred the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, held by the top 12% of speakers globally.
PERSPECTIVE & APPROACH
A lifelong student of human psychology, Coen brings a rare ability to see people accurately, to recognise the strength beneath the surface and name what others overlook. This depth of empathy and perception is the core of how he works with leaders.
Having spoken in 12 countries and travelled to more than 150 cities across over 30, he reads and adapts to leaders across very different cultural contexts – ability especially suited to developing leadership talent across diverse Asian markets. His background in improv, method acting, and languages makes his facilitation engaging, adaptive, and safe, so leaders open up, take risks, and stay with the discomfort where real growth happens.
EXPERIENCE
Over 17 years, Coen has designed and facilitated learning for more than 50,000 professionals across industries – from fintech and financial advisory to pharmaceuticals and FMCG, as both curriculum designer and facilitator, grounded in a deep understanding of adult learning psychology.
He is certified in the MBTI, Gallup CliftonStrengths, and the Enneagram, and is an Appreciative Inquiry practitioner – instruments he draws on selectively in service of each leader's growth.
