The power of improv

It’s based just a stone’s throw away from St Paul’s Cathedral, in the heart of the City, and it looks for all intents and purposes, like the most traditional of accountancy and advisory firms. But 105-year old firm Buzzacott – London’s largest single-site firm of accountants – has something of a secret up its sleeve.

For the last few years it’s been enjoying the unlikely of partnerships – with stand-up comic Neil Mullarkey.

To anyone Gen Y or younger, Mullarkey might not be a household name, but amongst his peers, Mullarkey is eminently comedy royalty. He is the former Cambridge University Footlights president, was Tony Hawks comedy partner, has appeared on numerous TV programmes including Smith and Jones and QI, and was co-founder of The Comedy Store Players – Europe’s top improv troupe which he formed with non other than best pal Wayne’s World and Shrek actor, Mike Myers.

Catherine Walsh

---

HR partner at Buzzacott LLP

And anyone who has seen the first two Austin Powers films will have seen Mullarkey in full-on comic genius mode – most noteably in the first movie, where in his capacity as a quartermaster clerk, he famously returns Powers’ Swedish Penis Enlarger after Powers has been defrosted and finds himself in the 1990s instead of the swinging 60s.

It’s a partnership that doesn’t seem to make sense at first sight, but that’s because many may not know that Mullarkey [who recently wrote ‘In The Moment’, which was shortlisted for a 2024 Best Business Book award] has since carved out an interesting niche – by becoming a leadership coach/guru – most notably around the ‘power of improv’.

The power of improv

Improv has been a tool comedians have used for years (and which was popular on shows like ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’).

But it’s not what most people think it is – which is actually more about ‘listening’ to people rather than being able to come up with quick, witty quips. Mullarkey’s big idea is that people in organisations are their own worst enemies, and as such become blockers to new ideas or concepts or conversations. But, he argues, if they unleashed their improv skills, a whole new level of collaboration and creativity can be released.

And that’s where he and Catherine Walsh, HR partner at Buzzacott LLP comes in.

“We’re a traditional business, underpinned by traditional values and that often means being quietly understated,” she says of the 600 employees that sit in the same Square Mile building. “That said, as a business, we are constantly pitching for new business, and there had been a feeling for some time that we suffered from being a bit too ‘corporate’.” She continues: “What we wanted to do was work more on our executives’ ability story-tell, to engage with clients better. We also wanted them to have more confidence and gravitas, but whilst also being more approachable.”

It was when Walsh’s husband just happened to mention that he’d seen Mullarkey speak at an even he was that, that the idea came to Walsh get in touch with him. Initially he came and spoke at the company’s annual staff conference, but so impressed was Walsh that she said she felt there was an opportunity to take things further

What’s unfolded since, has been training that has taken people (gently) out of their comfort zone – by having them stand up (on The Comedy Store stage, no less), to learn and practice improv their skills. The tax team did was the first to take part, but since then, its charity team, executive team, and even the HR team (Walsh included) have also taken part in the training.