A recent article by CNNMoney writer Kathryn Vasel took on the topic of how the principles of improv and corporate improv classes can help leaders build stronger, happier, more productive teams.
Through our Team Building Workshops, we’re fortunate to work with leaders throughout the Dallas-area in the key areas of increasing collaboration and communication, building teams that support each other and creating working environments that allow innovation to flourish. We see the impact first-hand, as teams and their managers start applying the improv-based strategies and techniques we use in our sessions.
Vasel highlights the maladies of unproductive meetings, weak leadership and poor communication as specific issues organizations deal with that improv-based workshops address.
Lisa DeAngelis, who runs the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts and is a proponent of the power of improv in the corporate sector, said "So much about leadership isn't about the answer, but asking the right questions. The improv session really gets folks comfortable with not having all the answers and being able to think on the fly and also stop and start listening to better understand."
It’s amazing the progress a team can make when leadership embraces the principles of improv as another tool they use to communicate and collaborate. Committing to a "Yes, and" approach (accepting an idea and building on it) is jet fuel for brainstorming sessions, for producing meetings that energize your team, and creating a setting in which all team members feel confident contributing.
Ken Bazydola from the consumer robot maker iRobot, arranged for his product management team to do a half-day improv-based workshop. With a goal of bringing the team together and easing cultural barriers amongst the group (many of whom, as a team that works remotely, had never met in-person before this gathering),
Regarding the session, Ken was quoted in the article saying, "We got to know each other on a human level, which has helped us collaborate."
As noted by Kathryn, and we see every day through the Corporate Workshops we design, a broad range of industries, including the tech sector, finance, retail, health care, education and sales are turning to improv-focused classes to reach their goals.
You can check out the entire article - Why every boss should take an improv class
If you'd like to learn more about the workshops we offer, whether it's our Team Building Workshop for Dallas area companies, or any of our customized Corporate Workshops, reach out and we’ll be happy to provide more details.
(Alex at Alex@improvtoimprove.org, or Kayce at Kayce@improvtoimprove.org)