Leadership assessments like the Hogan Assessment provide powerful insights into your strengths, potential derailers, and core motivations. Having this knowledge is only the beginning. The real challenge is putting those insights into actionable changes that enhance your leadership effectiveness.

That’s where improvisation comes in.

Improv is not just about performing on stage—it’s about developing the skills to adapt, respond, and build on ideas in real-time. For leaders, these skills are essential when applying what they’ve learned from assessments to their day-to-day work.

Let’s explore how improvisation bridges the gap between self-awareness and effective leadership behaviors.

1. Turning Self-Awareness into Adaptable Leadership

Leadership assessments like Hogan give you a detailed picture of who you are:

• Your strengths (Hogan Personality Inventory – HPI).
• Your potential derailers under stress (Hogan Development Survey – HDS).
• Your values and motivators (Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory – MVPI).

Recognizing these traits isn’t enough. Leaders need to apply their insights to become more agile and effective in their roles. Improvisation offers techniques to adapt behaviors in real-time and respond effectively to changing circumstances.

How Improv Helps:

• Building Presence: Improv emphasizes being fully present and responsive in the moment. Leaders learn to notice their own patterns and actively choose how to respond, rather than falling back on habitual derailers.
• Practicing Flexibility: Through improv exercises, leaders practice pivoting from one idea to another without hesitation. This skill is critical when addressing weaknesses or navigating high-pressure situations where derailers may emerge. 

For example, a leader whose Hogan results indicate a tendency toward Boldness (overconfidence) can use improvisational techniques to practice active listening and collaborative decision-making, reducing the risk of appearing dismissive or overly dominant.

2. Enhancing Communication and Connection

Self-awareness from Hogan Assessments often highlights areas where communication can break down—whether due to derailers like Skepticism (mistrust) or challenges with Sociability (reserved nature).

Improvisation provides a framework for effective communication and relationship-building:

How Improv Helps:

• Yes, And… Mindset: The foundational rule of improv, “Yes, And…,” teaches leaders to build on others’ ideas rather than shutting them down. This mindset fosters collaboration and encourages openness, which can be especially valuable for those with high Skeptical scores.
• Active Listening: Effective communication starts with listening. Improv exercises encourage leaders to be fully present, responding to others’ ideas instead of pre-planning their responses. This improves their ability to connect, influence, and inspire.
• Adapting Communication Styles: Improvisation teaches leaders to recognize and adapt to different personalities and communication preferences, enhancing their ability to connect with diverse teams. 

By practicing these techniques, a leader who struggles with Interpersonal Sensitivity (reserved or detached approach) can enhance their ability to engage and motivate others.

3. Building Resilience and Managing Derailers

Hogan’s HDS report highlights how certain personality traits can derail leadership performance under stress. Improvisation is an excellent tool for developing resilience and managing these derailers.

How Improv Helps:

• Embracing Failure: In improv, mistakes are seen as opportunities rather than setbacks. This perspective helps leaders become more resilient, accepting feedback and learning from their experiences without getting stuck in defensive behaviors.
• Practicing Emotional Agility: Improvisation teaches leaders to regulate their emotional responses and shift from automatic reactions to thoughtful responses. This agility helps mitigate the negative impact of derailers during stressful situations.
• Applying Insights in Real-Time: Improvisational exercises simulate high-pressure scenarios, allowing leaders to practice recognizing and addressing their derailers before they show up in real-world interactions.

For example, a leader whose HDS report reveals a tendency toward Cautiousness (risk aversion) can use improv to practice making decisions more quickly and confidently.

4. Advocating for Personal Growth Through Action

Improv doesn’t just support self-awareness—it encourages leaders to actively advocate for their growth by embracing new behaviors and taking calculated risks. When combined with Hogan’s assessment insights, improv helps leaders turn intention into action.

How Improv Helps:

• Practicing Self-Advocacy: Through role-playing and scenario-based exercises, leaders learn to articulate their strengths and areas for development with clarity and confidence.
• Creating Psychological Safety: The playful, low-stakes nature of improv allows leaders to experiment with new ways of interacting and communicating without fear of judgment.
• Applying Growth Strategies: Leaders can actively test and refine strategies for improving their derailers, building confidence, and enhancing their leadership impact.

5. Putting It All Together: Turning Insights Into Action

The key to successfully implementing insights from the Hogan Assessment lies in building a bridge from self-awareness to practical application. Improvisation provides leaders with the tools to:

• Adapt their communication styles to fit the needs of their teams and stakeholders.
• Manage potential derailers by developing greater emotional agility.
• Strengthen self-advocacy by practicing authentic, assertive communication.
• Turn learning into action through ongoing practice and refinement.

Improv as the Missing Link in Leadership Development

The Hogan Assessment offers a powerful framework for understanding one’s leadership strengths and challenges. Without practical application, those insights can remain theoretical.

Through improvisation, leaders can actively engage with their Hogan results and make real changes to their leadership approach. By enhancing their ability to adapt, communicate, and advocate for themselves, leaders become more effective, resilient, and impactful—turning insights into transformative action.