Influence
Influence exercises in applied improv practice develop the capacity to move others through authentic means -- listening, genuine connection, the clarity of one's own conviction, and the quality of one's presence -- rather than through manipulation, pressure, or strategic positioning. The exercises draw on improv principles of agreement and offer-building to develop influence as a relational skill, grounded in the other person's reality rather than in the influencer's agenda alone.
Structure
Setup
Participants identify a specific influence context from their professional life: a situation in which they need to shift someone's position, gain commitment, or move a decision in a particular direction. The facilitator establishes the applied improv approach: influence through listening and collaborative building rather than through argument and advocacy alone.
The Influence Conversation Practice
In pairs, one participant plays themselves attempting to influence and the other plays the person they are trying to move. The conversation begins with the influencer listening: understanding the other person's current position, the concerns underneath it, and the values it is protecting.
Finding the Yes
The influencer practices finding and building from the yes already present in the other person's position -- what they agree on, what the other person already wants, what outcome would satisfy both positions -- before introducing their own direction.
Debrief and Iteration
Pairs debrief: what did the influencer miss? What did the listener (playing the resistant party) actually need before they were ready to move?
Conclusion
Participants identify a specific shift in their approach to influence based on the practice conversation.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Influence exercises develop influence as a relational and ethical practice: grounded in the other person's reality, built on genuine listening, and moved by the quality of the influencer's connection and conviction rather than by the quantity of their arguments.
How to Explain It
"Influence starts with understanding -- not with your argument. Your goal is to find what the other person actually needs and what they already agree with, before you start moving in your direction. The best influence conversations feel like collaboration, not persuasion."
Scaffolding
Introduce active listening skills before the influence practice. Participants should have the listening discipline established before they attempt to use it in a conversation where they also have an agenda.
Common Pitfalls
Participants frequently begin with their argument rather than with the other person's position, treating influence as a one-directional communication task. The coaching note is that the first move in any influence conversation is to understand what is actually in the room -- what the other person values, fears, and wants -- before making any move in one's own direction.
In Applied Settings
Learning Objectives
In applied settings, Influence exercises develop ethical influence as a professional competency: the ability to move others through genuine understanding, authentic connection, and the clear communication of one's own conviction. The exercises address the common professional failure of substituting more arguments for better listening.
Workplace Transfer
The exercises transfer to every professional context in which alignment matters: leading without authority, selling without manipulation, advocating for a position, gaining commitment on a collaborative project, or navigating disagreement without damaging the relationship. Participants who develop influence through authentic means report greater success in high-stakes conversations and fewer damaged relationships from failed influence attempts.
Facilitation Context
Influence exercises are used in leadership development, sales training, communication skills programs, negotiation workshops, and organizational development. They are most effective in formats that include real professional scenarios from participants' actual work, where the learning is immediately applicable.
Debrief Framing
Ask participants: "What did you discover about the other person's position that you did not know before you listened? How did finding the existing yes change your approach? What would you do differently in your next influence conversation?"
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Related Exercises
Persuade
Exercises developing ethical persuasion skills through authenticity, empathy, and compelling communication.
Diversity
Diversity is a category of applied improvisation activities that build awareness and appreciation of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and communication styles through direct improvisational interaction. The activities use role-play, perspective-taking, and collaborative exercises to give participants embodied experience of different viewpoints and communication norms, making diversity concepts concrete and personally felt rather than abstract.
Ethics
Ethics is a category of applied improv exercises that use improvised scenario work to explore ethical dilemmas and practice principled decision-making under pressure. The exercises place participants in situations where competing values, interests, or obligations create genuine tension, requiring real-time choices without the luxury of extended analysis. The improv frame makes abstract ethical reasoning concrete and behavioral.
Radical Relationality
An exercise exploring deep interconnection between participants through physical and verbal practices rooted in relational ethics and mutual care.
Performing Curiosity
Participants practice embodying curiosity through physical and verbal exploration, cultivating a mindset of genuine interest in others and the environment.
That Scene Was About
That Scene Was About is a reflective exercise in which, after each scene, performers or observers articulate what the scene was really about beneath its surface content. The exercise builds the skill of identifying themes, relationship dynamics, and emotional cores that drive compelling improvisation. It teaches players to recognize what matters most in their work.
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Influence. Retrieved March 17, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/influence
The Improv Archive. "Influence." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/influence.
The Improv Archive. "Influence." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/influence. Accessed March 17, 2026.
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