Improv Leadership: How to Lead Well in Every Moment

by Stan Endicott, David A. Miller, Cory Hartman

There's no script for effective leadership. But you don't need one.


Anyone who's learned the basics of an instrument can follow a chord chart or play from sheet music, but only musicians who have carefully developed their talent can improvise. Instead of being limited to the notes on the page, great improvisers draw on the theory and techniques they've learned in the past to create something original in the present.


The same is true of great leaders. Anyone can read a few books and apply the lessons, but only the best leaders can bring out the best in any person, in any situation. These improvisational leaders understand the key principles of connecting, coaching, and communicating and use these ideas to build strong teams.


In Improv Leadership, Stan L. Endicott and David A. Miller share five leadership competencies:



Story Mining--uncovering a person's story and letting it shape the way you lead them
Precision Praising--crafting praise to inspire, motivate, and even course-correct your team
Metaphor Cementing--using concrete illustrations to "cement" an idea in someone's mind
Lobbing Forward--challenging people to look beyond today to what might be in the future
Going North--using indirect influence to redirect a person's perspective

IMPROV leaders apply these five competencies to initiate powerful conversations, create memorable moments, and craft personal coaching strategies that help people grow. Improv Leadership cultivates teams of people who love their work (and each other), who perform at a high level, and who stop the disruptive carousel of staff turnover.


Stan L. Endicott and David A. Miller have worked together to identify the overarching competencies of effective leadership and develop concrete tools to help every reader become a leader who understands how to grow teams one moment and one relationship at a time. The five competencies of IMPROV Leadership are not rigid sequential steps, nor do they apply only to specific industries or fields. Instead, this book will meet the felt need for leadership growth with "evergreen" principles that can be successfully introduced into any situation.


You can't predict every challenge you'll face. There's no playbook that covers every decision. But with practice in Improv Leadership you can lead well in every situation.

Genres: Leadership

Audio CD

First published June 9, 2020

Reviews

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at effective leadership, one that goes beyond the self and focuses on connections with other people and bringing out the best in them. It's an interesting read no doubt, and I learned something new "story mining," which I feel is a more interactive and gentle way of probing so you truly get to know a person.
The authors also highlight different tactics, skills and exercises you can build upon to become the best version of a leader you can.
This is a practical book that'd be even easier to read and enjoy if only the writing excluded the need to butt in and clarify who was sharing an experience. In this case I mean the constant references to either I (Stan) or I (David) these threw me off my concentration and I feel that any reader would pick this book knowing it's co-authored so harmonizing a point of view would be best.
Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

[Rich Kirkpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read quite a few books on leadership and ones specifically written for those in the church and non-profit space. Endicott and Miller promote an undervalued skill in leadership–coaching. What they do with coaching is to make mastering it approachable to even the least relational pastor or leader out there. Getting things done is one thing, leading a team to enjoy the ride is another. And, they are right when they say, "Yet when you slow down enough to ask good questions of the people around you, as a skilled coach would–questions that show you really care about their past, present, and future–you get better results." (pg. 44) The call for leaders to become coaches is a needed and timely invitation–especially in a world of fractured relationships. You can read a book on coaching, but you won't find in many books such a clear, reproducible system in executing it.

[Divyesh Sheth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book highlighting the human side of leadership. It identifies five key areas of leadership that allows one to lead teams effectively. These principles are good, however majority of examples author provides are in the Church (which is the main area of consulting for the authors). It would have been more effective if author had more diverse examples. Besides that, I could relate to the book and some of the tools/strategies provided by the authors do resonate with me and they will be very effective in real life.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique leadership resource a bit off the beaten path of most leadership books. This one is all about leadership as built through relationships. It's not about how to be more decisive or creative. It's about how to be someone other people want to work for. Enjoyed the layout and the stories. These are good guys and it sounds like they've created a cool work environment. Here are some steps for how to do the same.

[Dawid Stronczak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not about improv or improv acting. And the concept of “Improv Leadership” discussed in this book is… not that much related to improv per se.
Still, this is a pretty good leadership book, talking about some new perspectives and leader can get, and discussing some useful skills which are not common to mention in leadership books. It’s a good and useful read.

[Cassandra Naka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Improv Leadership explores five competencies that leaders can practice to develop better teams. Rather than providing advice on how to "manage" a team, this book focuses on different ways leaders can build relationships with those on their team.

I liked that this book was told from a Christian perspective. The authors provided examples from interactions with church leaders, but the book in no way ostracizes those who don't work in a church. I also like how the success stories from the authors were relevant and not braggadocious.

This book was easy to read and very practical. Though I'm not currently in a leadership position, I feel that I can still incorporate lessons learned from this book. The chapters on data-mining and lobbing forward were my favorites, and I'm excited to practice these among my coworkers. The five competencies are very people-affirming and they are skills we can all use in our daily interactions with others. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.