Business class uses improvisation to teach team building and other workplace skills

Sasha Salguero Gomez (left) and UIC Business Lecturer Morgan Lord demonstrate a class improv activity. (Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC)

On a recent morning, students shuffled into Morgan Lord's Business Administration 420 class at the historic Jane Addams Hull-House, still sleepy-eyed and mostly quiet. 

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But within minutes, Lord had the students up on their feet and filling the room with laughter, clapping and shouts of encouragement as they participated in improvisational games created decades earlier within the same walls. 

The Professional Presence class, also known as Business Administration 420, is part of UIC's professional development program, which uses improvisation to help students build confidence, strengthen leadership skills and learn team building - all skills that can serve them in future careers in business. 

In the class, Lord shows the students how UIC's Jane Addams Hull-House Museumfosters creativity, inclusion and social connections. This morning, she used improvisation games on the site where improvisational theater was developed by Viola Spolin and Neva Boyd, instructors at Hull-House in the 1920s.

"UIC Business is unique because few business programs incorporate improvisation, and we're doing it right here in Chicago, the birthplace of improv," Lordsaid. "I see real value in how these skills apply to the workplace. Students can sometimes feel anxious or hesitant to speak up, but in our classes of 18 students, you can't really stay on the sidelines. And when you're playing games, you don't want to."

A lecturer at the Institute for Leadership Excellence and Developmentin the college, Lord emphasizes self-reflection, relationship-building and public speaking, with a strong focus on experiential learning through improv games and group activities. The class is required for transfer students and helps them make connections with new classmates on campus. It's also part of the leadership minor, which is open to all UIC undergrads.

"We all want to work together," Lord said. "Each game focuses on building a skill, even something as small as speaking up. Some students can feel a little reserved, so a game might help them find their voice and use it with confidence."

Students Alexander Wright (left) and Nicole Fuentes take part in a class improv game. Mark Gnatyuk (right) plays an improv game in the Business Administration 420 class.

Photos: Jenny Fontaine/UIC

Games as learning tools

The games Lord and the students played were created at Hull-House. In the Name Game, the students stood in a circle. Going around, they called out their name and an alliteration related to it, and paired it with a unique movement.

Student Sasha Salguero Gomez puckered her face and gave herself the name "Sour Sasha." The person after her had to repeat her name and copy her face pucker before saying their own name and adding their action, then move to the next student. The room filled with laughter, and it quickly became apparent that the game flowed more smoothly when participants maintained eye contact with the person whose turn it was. By the second round, names, alliterations and actions seemed to be memorized. The objective: to develop teamwork, memory and active listening skills and to genuinely see and support one another.

In Play Ball, another game, the group again stood in a circle and tossed an agreed-upon imaginary ball or object to each other (a red foam ball, a baseball, a white feather, etc.). The person throwing the object made eye contact and threw the object to the recipient, and they caught it in accordance with the imagined size and weight of the object.

The idea behind Play Ball, Lord said, is to shake up familiar habits and ways of thinking, inspiring people to pay attention, adapt and create something out of nothing.

In Three Changes, students paired off and examined each other's clothing, hair and accessories before turning around to make three changes in their appearance. When they turned back to their partner, each had to identify the changes in the other person's appearance, like a missing earring or shoe on the opposite foot.

"We've hit on something important," Lord said. "How to think creatively with what you've got. I can see that being valuable in professional life."

How could the experience of these games be applied in the workplace? Lord asked students.

Several said games could teach them to make connections because they require making eye contact, reading body language and picking up on nonverbal cues.

"It also has a lot to do with taking care of your inner child. It helps with mental health, and in hard times, you want to feel like a child again," another student said.

Improv history books referenced in the Professional Presence class. Sasha Salguero Gomez (left) and UIC Business lecturer Morgan Lord demonstrate an improv game.

Photos: Jenny Fontaine/UIC

Learning from play

"Sour Sasha" Salguero Gomez, a second-year student, said she feels the lessons taught by improvisation will be important when she enters the workforce.

In particular, she said, the class has helped her be more comfortable and break out of her shell, which is particularly relevant as a marketing major in the College of Business Administration.

"It's arguably one of the best classes I've taken this semester. It's something that might seem silly at first, but you'll finish the class as a different person," said Gomez.

When she signed up for Lord's class, she was intrigued by the premise but wondered how improvisation would relate to business, she added. She's learned it helps business students be open to "new ideas."

"I think these skills are essential for the future because a huge part of going into business is innovation," she said.

Alexander Wright, a fourth-year business administration major, said he was initially skeptical about the connection between improvisation and business. But he has come to realize it's a way to meaningfully connect with classmates.

"I believe the skills I'm learning through improv will help me in future workplace situations because it teaches awareness and reading body language," said Wright. "Both can help you understand your team and how to connect better to help everyone grow."

When you can be vulnerable with classmates, in a curriculum that encourages honest feedback, it is great for growth, he said.

"There are certain skills in life a textbook can't teach," Wright said. "When it comes to building skills that'll directly correlate to the workplace environment, Professional Presence is the class specifically for that."

Mark Gnatyuk, a third-year finance major, said he feels the class helps students grow the social skills they may have missed out on developing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Something had to be done, especially for business students, since establishing and keeping relationships is what business is all about," said Gnatyuk. "If you can't keep eye contact or actively listen, you can't work with others in any field."

Morgan Lord (center) leads the class in improv activities. Students participate in improv activities.

Photos: Jenny Fontaine/UIC