Blog
Creativity
Why you are losing out by irrational risk-aversion
We all love behavioural economics, right? Take for instance risk-aversion. The key insight in several of the books I’ve been perusing is that we tend to be risk-averse for gains..
Your problem with group brainstorming isn’t creativity…
How many of us have been part of a bad brainstorm?
But what if it’s not about the group but about how ‘bursty’ it is? And how can improvisation create burstiness? Creativity comes in bursts. Well, that’s according to the Adam Grant podcast ‘WorkLife’, in which he visited Trevor Noah and ‘The Daily Show’…
Three tips to increase beautiful layering in meetings, workshops and conferences
Layering is the idea of having more than one thing going on at one time in a meeting, workshop or conference. For example, displaying posters on the wall is an example of a layer beyond people simply talking to each other. Each extra layer added to a meeting, workshop or conference also provides an opportunity for the layers to be combined in new activities.
Why you don’t have to pretend to be a wardrobe
We are seeing a lot more articles about the use of improvisation in organisations. Much of the action is on the West Coast of the USA, especially centred on Silicon Valley. Although we are seeing more applied improvisation coming from the UK.
The Power of ‘I’
There is a power in telling a story in the first person. It’s only you who can share this story from this perspective, which gives the appearance of authenticity and means the story cannot easily be challenged. You also know enough about yourself to guarantee plenty of supporting detail.
Transports of Delight
My colleague was inspired to invent a new introductory game for our London improvisation group session the other night. She saw a new electric scooter hire service and fancied giving it a try. So, at the beginning of the workshop, she asked everyone to describe to a partner how they had got to the session that evening and what way they would have liked to have arrived.
What if communication goes right?
A fellow facilitator described how he had worked with a high-performing team and tested the team with an activity with which some of you may be familiar.
It’s called ‘Telephone’ and it involves each player in the team passing a mimed
Your storytelling is more than just the story
Your storytelling is more than just the story "The art of storytelling is centred on the storyteller's involvement with character and plot. He cannot, in James Joyce's words, sit back godlike and pare his fingernails. He must have an attitude towards the contents of...
Changing the innovation agenda
When developing an agenda for a government-backed think-tank event on innovation, in climate risk insurance practices, we were wondering what would make for stimulating activities between facilitating heavy rounds of technical discussions.
Breaking up proceedings with a ‘two-minute chat-to-your-neighbour’ break seemed ideal, but we had to make a careful choice of topics.
Getting beyond the fear when we drop our scripts
I’m always glad to see new books about applying improvisation. From a random dip, there’s a lot to like in Jeff Katzman and Dan O’Connor’s ‘Life Unscripted’. I was particularly looking forward to this one as I’ve enjoyed watching Dan perform and was glad to see he might be combining an improviser’s insight with those of his psychotherapist co-author.
Why it’s important to celebrate risk-taking rather than mistakes or failure
Why it’s important to celebrate risk-taking rather than mistakes or failure It’s in our nature to make mistakes, notably in everyday life. We pour the wrong drink, utter an incorrect word and leave the house without an umbrella. We get unintentionally overcharged, on...
Playing to play – on and off the sports field
Playing to play - on and off the sports field One of my favourite tenets of Applied Improvisation (AI) is 'Play to Play'. It reminds us that most people play most games to win - which, to be fair, is inherent in the nature of many games. Take for example the Cricket...
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