Have you ever thought of using improvisational techniques (explained below) to improve the communication, the engagement and culture of your company? Vistage Speaker Chris Nielson brought them to my groups this week with great enthusiasm and success. Once engaged it is easy to connect, but how to engage?
Chris used the analogy of cleaning the floor. If you madly vacuum away but haven’t plugged the vacuum into the wall there is no electricity. Without the connection, there is no power to achieve the goal of cleaning the floor. How often do we do this with our team? We jump into the tactics before we connect with the team and we don’t have the power we need to achieve the results.
Surely, if we connect the team to the mission and the vision, they will be empowered to achieve goals even if they are not connected with the leadership team. How much more powerful is it, if they are connected with a leadership team that works to make them successful? Chris suggests they need to be connected to the small whys, the medium whys, and the big whys.
So how to do that? Here is where improv techniques can be used in team meetings to increase the positivity and the psychological safety of the team. He has several, but one of the most well known is “yes, and”. You might start with an idea, and the next person must say yes, and add something to it. This continues around the room until everyone has added something. In addition to connecting the team and creating some laughs, it opens new channels through the grey matter in the brain and links to more creativity in the following discussion.
And it is important for YOU to engage with the group. When someone comes to you with a new idea, don’t shoot them down with why that won’t work. Do you think they will bother bringing you another? Take a look at how you and your leadership team can encourage more creativity and risk taking within your organization using a few improv exercises beginning with “yes, and.”
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Image courtesy of KQED.org.