Skilled improvisers are necessary

When you deal with a crisis, you need managers and employees that can think on their feet and act fast without first looking for an instruction manual. It means that you need skilled improvisers.

Capable improvisers will steer their companies through crises, paradigm shifts, technological breakthroughs and environmental disasters. But employee training programs seldom focus on becoming better improvisers, and hiring teams don't often screen for improvisation skills.

A key factor in determining how improvisation skills develop is the extent to which an individual was competitively vs collaboratively oriented.

• Competitive individuals generally develop reactive improvisation faster since t...