(Creating a Collaborative Culture with your Team)
How to collaborate better? It's an essential question that entrepreneurs and team leaders are asking more and more these days.
Everyone in the workplace, regardless of where you are in your career, or on the organizational chart, understands the critical role that effective communication, and the subsequent action of collaboration, plays in creating a culture of support, inspiration and productivity.
Navigating your way in the current corporate environment requires agility, creativity, innovation and the ability to organize tasks along the way - and to do all of this quickly. Gone are the days when organizations would (and could) roll out that slow (dare we say plodding) execution plan.
The marketplace requires quicker decisions, staff that adapt on the fly - workforces that are capable of improvising on a daily basis. That's the current landscape.
This is where companies like ours, and other improv-based corporate training organizations around North America, connect with organizations to focus on creating environments that excel at communicating and collaborating.
The results are a workplace that is engaged, happier, more accountable and more productive.
Above we mentioned other improv-based corporate training organizations in North America that do what we do, and those include Dad’s Garage in Atlanta (Team Building in Atlanta), Vancouver TheatreSports up in Canada (Team Building in Vancouver) and SAK Comedy in Orlando, Florida (Team Building in Orlando).
And with us ( Team Building in Dallas) , while we customize each session specifically to our clients, we’re often focused on creating a template that adjusts the way they collaborate, communicate and support each other.
Tip for How to Collaborate Better
With the above in mind, here’s a tip from the world of improv that leaders can start applying today to help teams collaborate better:
Yes, And
The foundational rule to improv. It's also likely the most misunderstood concept, particularly when applied in a corporate setting.
“Yes, And…” is not about saying yes to everything regardless of content or value. It's about the acceptance of an idea or suggestion, and then building upon it – and it can be incredibly powerful when applied correctly.
Imagine an environment in which every team member knew when they offered up an idea, that idea would be accepted, valued, respected and built upon...without critical comments (e.g. when a team member says, "hey we could try this (fill in the blank), and the first response is another teammate saying, "we tried that two years ago and it didn't work"). How deflating.
But what if the response was "yes, and when we tried that two years ago we gathered some invaluable data that could be helpful if we did decide to try again".
It doesn't mean you have to pursue every suggestion. But it does mean each suggestion is accepted and respected.
It can be a game-changer for a group’s ability to brainstorm, create and innovate within a supportive culture that inspires team members to contribute, knowing they in turn will be supported.
Add this one tip and you should start to see immediate results.
If you’re looking for more information about our improv-based corporate training sessions (including Team Building in Dallas), we’d be happy to connect to discuss.
(Alex at Alex@improvtoimprove.org, or Kayce at Kayce@improvtoimprove.org)