How Improv Can Improve Learning and Development

The learning and development industry is having a reckoning. After decades of slide-deck-driven workshops and compliance-focused e-learning modules, the evidence is clear: most traditional corporate training doesn’t produce lasting behavior change. Studies consistently show that people forget the majority of lecture-based content within days. Engagement surveys reveal that employees rank most professional development programs as irrelevant to their actual work. L&D leaders are looking for approaches that actually move the needle — and many of them are finding their way to applied improv.

The reason is neurological as much as pedagogical. Experiential learning — where participants actively engage rather than passively receive — activates different parts of the brain than lecture-based instruction. When you physically practice a skill, when you experience an emotional response, when you interact with other people in real time, the learning encodes differently. It becomes procedural rather than declarative. It lives in your instincts rather than your notes. This is why someone can attend a communication skills seminar and forget everything within a week, but a single improv exercise about listening can change how they show up in meetings for months afterward.

Applied improv also addresses one of L&D’s most persistent challenges: participant engagement. The number one predictor of training effectiveness isn’t content quality — it’s participant engagement. And improv-based methods are inherently engaging because they’re interactive, unpredictable, and immediately relevant. There’s no checking your phone during an exercise that requires your full attention. There’s no zoning out when your colleague is counting on you to respond. The format itself creates the conditions for deep attention.

For L&D professionals considering this approach, the key is finding facilitators who understand the bridge between improv principles and workplace application. Not every improv practitioner can make that connection, and not every corporate trainer understands the nuances of experiential methodology. The best applied improv programs are designed by people who live in both worlds — who understand adult learning theory and improv pedagogy, and who can connect specific exercises to specific workplace outcomes.

At CSz Portland, our facilitators bring exactly that dual expertise, informed by decades of experience in both improv performance and corporate training. We work with L&D teams to design programs that align with their existing competency frameworks, organizational values, and development goals. The improv methodology is the engine, but the destination is always defined by the organization’s specific needs. That’s what makes this approach so adaptable — and so effective.