Collaboration Over Competition — How Improv Builds Team Flow
Freestyle Love Supreme was a Broadway show created by Anthony Veneziale, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Tommy Kail — a 90-minute, completely improvised hip-hop musical performed live every night. No script. No music charts. No safety net. Each show was built entirely from audience stories and would only be seen once — then it was gone forever.
In 2019, my best friend Aneesa Folds and I became the newest members of the cast (and the only women). The rest of the guys had been performing together for nearly 20 years. They had Tony nominations, Broadway legacies, and résumés as long as a CVS receipt. All I had were butterflies in my stomach and a hope that I hadn’t somehow stumbled into this by accident. We had three days of rehearsal before they kicked Aneesa and me onto the stage with an incredible cast, including Lin-Manuel Miranda and Wayne Brady. (No pressure, right?) Before every show, we’d all look at each other and say, “I got your back.”
I quickly realized that wasn’t just a cute slogan — it was the only way our show would succeed.
One of my first performances taught me more about collaboration and trust than any leadership seminar ever could. That night, I was onstage with Christopher Jackson — yes, the Christopher Jackson, who played George Washington in Hamilton. The scene we were building was about a woman visiting New York City who had just seen Hamilton. Christopher turned to me mid-scene and whispered, “You’re going to be Hamilton.”
The problem?
I had never seen Hamilton. Not even a clip….
I didn’t know the songs, the characters — nothing…. and now… I was supposed to be Alexander Hamilton?! Next to the original George Washington? In front of hundreds of die-hard Broadway fans?!?!?!?!? My stomach dropped. My brain screamed. But I stepped forward, grinning, and exclaimed, “It’s me, y’all — Hamilton!”
It was very clear I had no idea what I was doing. That’s when the magic happened. My teammates — total pros — instantly had my back. They tossed me clever setups, redirected the narrative, and turned what could’ve been a flop into one of the funniest scenes of the night. They didn’t save me by taking over — they made space for me to succeed.
That’s the power of a good team: knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and doing your best to make one another look good — even when the moment is unpredictable. Feeling the relief of that moment changed me. It taught me what it really means to have each other’s backs — not just to say it, but to live it. From then on, I promised myself that if anyone else was ever in that position, I’d go above and beyond to make sure they felt like a rockstar, too.
What Improv Teams and Work Teams Have in Common
Like any good business team, the foundation of improv is collaboration and trust.
Every performance means:
Making high-pressure choices that affect everyone else onstage
Trusting in others’ visions, even when you don’t see the full picture
Throwing out ideas without fear of judgment
Navigating the unknown together, moment by moment
Sound familiar? That’s every leadership meeting. Every product launch. Every company pivots. The best improv teams — and the best work teams — thrive because they practice the same skills: shared awareness, real-time adaptability, and the ability to support rather than compete.
When competition creeps into teams, it doesn’t just slow progress — it erodes trust. People start protecting their ideas instead of sharing them, speaking less in meetings, and playing it safe instead of taking creative risks. That’s when innovation dies quietly — not because people stopped caring, but because they started competing.
Competition vs. Collaboration
Competition and collaboration can both drive performance — but they create completely different cultures.
Competition says, “You should have prepared.”
Collaboration says, “Let me carry a little more of the weight this time.”
Competition says, “I hope I stand out.”
Collaboration says, “I hope we all shine.”
Competition says, “Don’t mess this up.”
Collaboration says, “If you stumble, I’ll catch you.”
Competition isolates. Collaboration amplifies. When teams move from competing to co-creating, the pressure doesn’t disappear — it transforms into trust. And that trust fuels creativity, flow, and connection that no amount of individual achievement can match.
The Research:
Psychologist R. Keith Sawyer (Washington University) has spent more than two decades studying “group flow” — the peak collaborative state where teams perform at their creative best. His research spans jazz musicians, improv troupes, and business teams.
What did they find?
Teams reach group flow when:
Shared, meaningful goal: The team has a clear objective that everyone connects to, which guides joint efforts.
Deep listening & responsiveness: Team members listen to each other in real time, adapt to what’s emerging, and don’t lock into fixed scripts.
Full concentration & presence: The group is mentally immersed in the task, with distractions minimized and focus aligned.
Balanced control & autonomy: Members feel a sense of control and ownership, yet remain flexible and open to others’ contributions.
Ego‐blending: Individuals set aside personal agendas in favour of the group’s coherence; ideas are built on, not bargained over.
Equal participation: No one dominates; everyone contributes in a way that matters. If someone is too dominant or too passive, flow is harder to attain.
Familiarity + challenge: Teams benefit from knowing each other to a degree (communication, trust), yet need enough novelty or challenge so the interaction remains dynamic.
Element of risk & forward momentum: There is a sense of moving forward together, and some risk or unpredictability, which stimulates the group’s collective energy.
Why this matters:
When people feel safe and supported, their creativity skyrockets. The best teams — onstage or in the boardroom — don’t compete for credit; they collaborate for impact.
5 Takeaways for Leaders
Make your goal to elevate, not dominate. When leaders focus on helping others succeed, everyone wins.
Design for flow, not control. Give your team a clear direction, then let them discover the route together.
Build safety before strategy. People can’t create freely if they’re protecting themselves from judgment.
Turn mistakes into momentum. When failure is safe, innovation becomes natural.
Practice “I got your back” leadership. Say it. Mean it. Model it. Your culture will echo it.
Ready for the next level?
If your team is full of talent but running on tension — if great ideas die in competition instead of thriving in collaboration — it’s time to create a new rhythm.
Through my improv-based leadership workshops, I help teams experience group flow firsthand: the trust, creativity, and energy that happen when everyone truly has each other’s back.