- Corporate improv training is not comedy class — it builds workplace skills like communication, adaptability, and confidence under pressure.
- PowerProv applies improv principles to 10 specific business problems, from change management to public speaking.
- Workshops run for teams of 10 or more, in person and online, across Australia and APAC.
- Results are tracked through the Personal Power Index™, an ongoing longitudinal study, and backed by a money-back guarantee.
- Unlike improv comedy theatres offering corporate add-ons, PowerProv's facilitators are trained to build retained skills, not get laughs.
Corporate improv training is workplace skill development that uses improvisation exercises, not comedy performance, to build communication, adaptability, and confidence under pressure.
PowerProv applies this approach to specific business problems, from change management to public speaking, for teams of 10 or more across Australia and APAC. None of it involves getting on stage.
Is Improv Training the Same as Comedy?
No. That's a complete myth. Improv training is about staying present in the moment and operating at a high level of focus. It's about learning to think on your feet and pivot quickly when something unexpected happens. And it's about becoming a better communicator — someone who listens as well as they speak.
The confusion comes from the word itself. Improv comedy theatres use improvisation to get laughs on stage. Corporate improv training uses the same underlying skills — listening, adapting, building on other people's ideas — and points them at real workplace problems instead.
What Are the 5 Rules of Improv?
The five rules of improv, as PowerProv founder Eran Thomson teaches them, are: yes, and; don't block; celebrate mistakes; have each other's backs; and trust your gut. Eran admits no five improvisers would agree on the same list. These are the five PowerProv builds its workshops around.
- Yes, and. Use it whenever you can. It can mean "I agree with you and want to add something", or "I acknowledge you and want to add something". Either way, the other person feels heard.
- Don't block. When someone shares an idea, don't shut it down right away. Build on it and explore it. Keep developing ideas and judging ideas as two separate steps.
- Celebrate mistakes. Nobody should go looking for mistakes. When they happen, treat them as a chance to learn, not a reason for finger-pointing and blame.
- Have each other's backs. Make each other look good. Support each other's actions, choices and decisions, and trust that your teammates will do the same for you.
- Trust your gut. Lean into intuition and instinct. In PowerProv workshops, the thing people blurt out when they stop overthinking is often the perfect thing.
Which Improv Games Does PowerProv Use?
PowerProv uses improv games that come from long-form improv, not the short-form games most people have seen. The difference is small but it matters for a business team.
Short-form improv is the style behind Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Thank God You're Here and Theatresports. Eran loves those shows, but they're about trying to be the funniest, and Theatresports is competitive by design. Games like Zip Zap Zop come from that world. They're goofy and fun, and PowerProv doesn't really use them, because they don't build the "we, not me" way of working a team needs.
"Yes, and" is the exception. Eran calls it the cornerstone of all improvisation: "I've never seen two little words work harder."
PowerProv takes the long-form approach, which hinges on the ensemble mindset, and puts a business frame around it. As Eran points out, everyone already improvises. Ambulance drivers, sports teams and parents do it every day. PowerProv's improv games help a team get better at it together.
What Business Problems Does Corporate Improv Training Solve?
PowerProv has built workshops around ten specific situations that come up again and again inside businesses. Each one uses a different set of improv-based exercises, matched to the problem at hand.
Managing Change and Transition
When a business is going through internal change — new or outgoing management, a restructure, or a shift in how teams operate — PowerProv designs a program to make the transition smoother. The goal is to get everyone on board with what's changing, rather than letting people quietly resist it.
Working Across Bias and Difference
Differences in gender, status, or culture can get in the way of good ideas reaching the table. PowerProv workshops teach people how to use influence, with or without positional power, so teams can collaborate even where bias exists. The aim is to turn difference into an advantage instead of an obstacle.
Driving Innovation and New Ideas
Some teams have something new to say and need the confidence to say it. Others need help generating ideas in the first place. PowerProv training gives both groups practical tools they can put to use immediately against real business objectives, not abstract theory they'll forget by Friday.
Building Morale That Outlasts the Workshop
Laughter changes how a group works together. PowerProv workshops teach serious business skills, and they're also genuinely fun — both things are true at the same time. Team bonding built this way tends to last well beyond the day itself, not fade by the following Monday.
Keeping Conference and Event Audiences Engaged
Anyone who has run a conference knows the moment attention drops: people start checking out, eyes glaze over, energy dies. PowerProv keeps people on their feet and fully engaged during its part of the agenda, so that lull doesn't set in.
Reconnecting Teams After Hybrid Work
Hybrid work has its upsides, but it can leave teams out of practice at working together in person. PowerProv workshops help people reconnect, find a shared rhythm, and get comfortable collaborating and communicating face-to-face again.
Team Building Without the Trust Falls
PowerProv doesn't run trust falls. Workshops are designed so even introverts can join in fully, and most participants leave with a new sense of confidence, both as individuals and as part of the group.
“Genuinely uplifting and insightful. Absolutely no 'acting out' required. 100% suitable for introverts. Corporate training budget extremely well spent.”
Public Speaking and Presenting With Confidence
Picturing the audience naked has never worked as a public speaking trick. PowerProv instead teaches people to feel confident and comfortable presenting themselves and their message, without the formality of a program like Toastmasters.
Breaking Down Silos Between Teams
When departments compete instead of collaborate, or there's a communication breakdown between management and staff, PowerProv workshops break down those barriers and bring disparate teams together around a shared way of working.
Staff Training Across Every Level
From graduate hires to senior leaders, PowerProv workshops help people recognise each other's strengths, build new soft skills for success, and identify areas for improvement at every level of an organisation.
What Makes PowerProv Different From an Improv Comedy Theatre?
Plenty of improv theatres and comedy schools now offer corporate workshops on the side. They can be genuinely entertaining. The problem is that they're entertainment businesses first, not training businesses, and their facilitators are trained to get laughs rather than build skills that stick.
PowerProv is built the other way around. It's a corporate training company that happens to use improv as its method, backed by 4.9-star ratings, more than 13 years in business, and work with hundreds of companies including Google, Westpac, PwC, Bain & Co, Canva, and Toyota.
PowerProv Personal Power Index™, ongoing study since 2023
These figures come from the Personal Power Index™, PowerProv's ongoing longitudinal study tracking skill change before and after workshops since 2023. It's the kind of outcomes data improv comedy theatres running corporate add-ons don't have. Real participants back it up too, in client reviews collected across hundreds of workshops. For organisations evaluating training options for business leaders specifically, that combination of measured outcomes and genuine engagement is the differentiator.
According to Harvard Business School research summarised by behavioural scientist Francesca Gino, teams that practise improv-style listening and idea-building communicate and collaborate more effectively than teams that don't (HBR research). Separately, Google's internal study into what makes teams effective found psychological safety, the sense that it's safe to speak up, make mistakes, and offer new ideas, was the strongest predictor of how well a team worked together (Google's team research). Improv-based training builds exactly that kind of environment by design.
How Much Does Corporate Improv Training Cost, and How Do You Choose a Provider?
Cost varies by participant numbers, number of facilitators, any customisation, and travel, so reputable providers give indicative investment ranges rather than a fixed price list. Treat any provider quoting a flat rate without asking about group size as a red flag — it usually means a generic, unadapted session.
Before booking, ask three things: Are the facilitators trained business professionals, or performers running corporate workshops as a side offering? Can the provider show measured outcomes, not just testimonials? And is the format built for introverts, or does it lean on put-on-the-spot performance? PowerProv's facilitators work from corporate backgrounds, and the Personal Power Index™ is the kind of before-and-after data most improv theatres and comedy schools running corporate add-ons simply don't track.
- Corporate improv training is not a comedy show with a business name on it. It's a method for building the skills teams need — communication, adaptability, confidence under pressure — applied to ten specific problems businesses face, from change management to public speaking.
- PowerProv backs that claim with a longitudinal study, not just a good time on the day. The Personal Power Index™ tracks measurable skill change before and after every workshop, which improv comedy theatres running corporate add-ons don't have.
Ready to see which of these problems PowerProv can help your team with? Book a call for a discovery conversation.
Read the full video transcript
When it comes to improv, improv games or improv exercises, most of you have probably heard of "yes, and" and maybe Zip Zap Zop, or even asked, what are the five rules of improv? I'm Eran Thomson, founder of PowerProv, Australia's most loved team training provider, and I want to share with you a little bit about improv games and the five rules of improv.
First of all, yes, and is the cornerstone of all improvisation, and it is an incredibly powerful tool for two little words. I've never seen two little words work harder. This video is really not trying to unpick what yes, and is. We've got lots of other content you can watch just about yes, and. But in a nutshell, yes, and can be used two ways. The first is, yes, I agree with you and I want to add new information. Or it can be, yes, I acknowledge you, I may not agree, and I want to add new information. Either way, yes, and is super powerful. It makes people who are in conversations with you feel great, because you're saying yes every time they finish speaking. You'll be surprised at how powerful it is, and how quickly just using these two little words at the start of every sentence can change how you communicate with everyone.
The other exercise that people have heard of is Zip Zap Zop. We don't really use that exercise at PowerProv, and here's why. Zip Zap Zop and a lot of games that you may have heard of usually come from short-form improvisational training. Short-form improv is the kind of improv you've probably seen before: Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Thank God You're Here, Theatresports. Those things are great. I love them. But they're all about trying to be the funniest. Theatresports is competitive by design. Someone wins. And the type of activity is often jokey and quirky and goofy and silly. As you can imagine, it's kind of hard to think about how that transplants from a comedy stage into a corporate context.
At PowerProv, what we use and teach comes from the long-form style of improv. It's a subtle but important difference, and it hinges on what we call the ensemble mindset, or a "we, not me" way of working. Zip Zap Zop is goofy and silly and fun and playful, but it doesn't really build that "we, not me" mindset. It doesn't really dial in any meaningful skills the way our version of it does.
I think that's true for everything we do at PowerProv. We take the philosophies of improvisation, not from the comedy stage as you know it, but as a set of skills and tools and techniques that anyone can use in any situation. And then we put a business frame around it for your team.
So, for example, who are some people that improvise? Ambulance drivers, sports teams, yes. Kenny G, yes. Comedians. But think about parents, for example. How often do your kids do the thing you asked them to, told them to, expected them to? Never, right? So parents are constantly improvising. All of us are constantly improvising. We just don't label ourselves that way. If you begin to pay attention to the way you're thinking on your feet in your daily routine and responding in the moment to things that are happening, that's improvisation. We're just going to help you get even better at it.
So I invite you to check out what we do. In the meantime, I'm going to share my five rules of improv. I don't know that any five improvisers would agree on all five, but mine are these.
First, yes, and. Use yes, and whenever you can. That's one.
Number two, don't block. What that means is, if someone's trying to share an idea or has a suggestion or a thought starter, don't shut it down right away. Build on it. Explore it. Give yourselves permission. Use divergent and convergent thinking processes to separate the idea development and the idea judgement, and see where it leads.
Number three, celebrate mistakes. Everyone feels bad when they screw up. But if we screwed up and we knew everyone was going to celebrate that, it changes how you feel. I'm not saying we should all go around making mistakes. I'm saying that when they happen, we should look at them as opportunities for growth and learning rather than finger-pointing and blame. And if you can put a joyful frame around them, even better.
The fourth rule of improv, I think, is have each other's backs. I spoke about it earlier when I was talking about the ensemble mindset, the "we, not me" way of working. Make each other look good. Support each other's actions, choices and decisions. It's a winning way to work, and it feels awesome. So have each other's backs, and then trust that the people around you will also have yours.
And then my fifth rule, my personal favourite, is trust your gut. Lean into your intuition. Lean into your instinct. There are so many times in our workshops where people get stuck and caught up and they don't know what to say, or they're afraid they're going to say the wrong thing or a stupid thing or look silly. We always say, don't think, get out of your head. And often what they blurt out next is the perfect thing. We're all so much more capable than we give ourselves credit for. If we can tap into our intuition and instinct and trust our gut, we're going to be operating with a whole new level of proficiency we didn't even know we had.
So, my five rules of improv, just to recap. Number one, yes, and. Number two, don't block. Number three, celebrate mistakes. Number four, have each other's backs. And number five, trust your gut. If any of this sounds interesting to you, or you'd like to learn more or train with us, I invite you to visit our website or get in touch. We love what we do, and I cannot wait to share it with you and your team. Thanks for watching.
Sources
- Using Improv to Unite Your Team · Harvard Business Review
- Understand Team Effectiveness (Project Aristotle) · Google re:Work
- Personal Power Index™ · PowerProv
Frequently asked questions
Is corporate improv training the same as comedy?
No. Corporate improv training uses improvisation exercises to build workplace skills like communication, adaptability, and confidence. Participants aren't trained to be funny or perform on stage. The methodology draws on improv principles, but the outcome is professional skill development, not comedy.
How many people can do a corporate improv workshop?
PowerProv workshops are designed for teams of 10 or more, with no fixed upper limit. Group sizes range from intimate teams of around 15 people to large conference sessions of 50 to 100 or more, depending on the format and venue.
Is improv training good for introverted employees?
Yes. PowerProv workshops are introvert-friendly by design. There are no trust falls and no forced performances. Participants build confidence at their own pace, in a structure that lets quieter team members contribute without feeling put on the spot.
What skills does corporate improv training build?
Corporate improv training builds communication, active listening, adaptability, collaboration, and the ability to think on your feet under pressure. According to PowerProv's Personal Power Index™, participants report measurable improvement in confidence, collaboration, and related skills after attending workshops.
Does corporate improv training work?
PowerProv tracks outcomes through its Personal Power Index™, an ongoing longitudinal study launched in 2023. Participants report improvement in skills including self-confidence, collaboration, and thinking on your feet, with statistically significant gains in areas like public speaking and negotiation.
Is corporate improv training available online?
Yes. PowerProv runs both in-person and online workshops across Australia and APAC, including Singapore and Hong Kong. The exercises are adapted for video conferencing without losing the on-your-feet, interactive format that makes the training work.
What's the difference between an improv theatre and a corporate improv training provider?
Improv theatres and comedy schools often add corporate workshops as a side offering. Their facilitators are trained to get laughs, not to build lasting workplace skills. PowerProv is a training business first, with a proprietary study measuring real outcomes.
How much does corporate improv training cost?
Cost depends on participant numbers, number of facilitators, any customisation, and travel, so PowerProv doesn't publish fixed pricing. The investment ranges page gives indicative figures for budgeting before a call. Most providers price similarly, by group size and session length rather than a flat rate.
How do you choose a corporate improv training provider?
Ask whether the facilitators are trained business professionals or performers running workshops as a side offering, whether the provider can show measured outcomes rather than just good reviews, and whether the format suits introverts. PowerProv's facilitators come from corporate backgrounds, and the Personal Power Index™ tracks results most providers can't show.
