What do companies want out of team building? Better relationships? Clearer communication? Communication and active listening are the 'bread and butter' of improv. If you think of theatre or comedy when the word 'improv' is mentioned that's fair enough, but digging a little deeper, using improvisation effectively can reveal a great way to skill up, and have fun doing it.

Applied improvisation a term that refers to learning the skills to think on your feet, and then applying them to a particular industry, situation or relationship.

Along with the troupe I perform with regularly CSz UK, I've been a passionate advocator of improv and improving my own listening and communication skills for many years now. Particularly in the digital space where there are oh so many ways to communicate. Technology, software, apps and their developers work in a space where change is the only constant.

This week I delivered a workshop for a team of web developers. A great forward-thinking gang who'd heard enough about improv training to know it was a tool to get in their collective belt. Here's their testimonial;

"Collaboration and creative thinking are crucial to our day to day business, and we're always looking to improve and develop these skills. John taught us various improv techniques and concepts that we could use to work better together.
John was a great teacher, and created a space where everybody felt comfortable to come out of their shell. The improv games we played were fun and engaging, and John encouraged everyone to put themselves out there and get involved. After learning about what our business did in advance, John made sure to explain the relevance of each game to our specific work, which went a long way to get buy-in from the team and senior management. Overall we found the workshop enjoyable, eye opening and motivating - our team were already discussing how we could incorporate the learnings into our day to day work. "

Tom Parson, Manchester Technology Centre.

Could your digital team benefit from improv? If you want to know more, please get in touch here or email info@johncooper.org.uk

Further Reading;

• Improving Agile teams - Paul Goddard
• Humour that works - Drew Tarvin
• To Sell is Human - Dan Pink