Ideas in Use
Our work is practical, drawing on Applied Improvisation, Solutions Focus, Design Thinking, performance craft and years of work with leaders, teams, trainers and consultants. Here are talks, articles and other resources that show the ideas in action.
Talks & Videos
The power of Yes…And
In organisational life, “Yes…And” goes beyond a slogan to offer a disciplined approach to appreciating what’s on offer and how to add something useful.
This is a direct gateway to:
- Collaboration
- Team adaptability
- Leadership conversations
- Innovation
- Client relationships
Why Applied Improvisation matters
This introduces you to the wider field behind PJA’s work. It explains why improvisation belongs in organisational settings: not as entertainment, but for developing attention, judgement, response, collaboration and confidence under changing conditions.
AI, judgement and human skills
Artificial Intelligence is already part of daily work. People use it to draft, summarise, research, plan, test ideas and prepare for difficult conversations.
Alongside its practical uses, AI generates awe, excitement, pressure, doubt and overwhelm.
The question for organisations is no longer whether to engage with AI. It is how.
Our work helps people develop AI literacy in practical, human terms: what to use AI for, what to question, what to trust, what to leave alone, and where human judgement matters most.
Applied Improvisation – the other AI – develops the live skills that become more important in this context: presence, listening, judgement, response, experimentation and working with uncertainty.
How to be AI-literate
Understanding what AI can do, what it can’t and how to use it effectively in everyday life and work.
AI-era human skills
A practical, participative session for organisations facing AI confusion, uneven use, overwhelm or uncertainty.
Articles & resources
Leadership in uncertainty
Articles on presence, judgement, influence and working when the plan changes.
Applied improvisation at work
Ideas on using improvisational principles in organisations, teams, meetings and everyday work.
Facilitation design
Practical thinking on workshops, meetings, participation, learning design and useful group process.
Presenting and storytelling
Ideas on presenting, storytelling, presence and live response.
Learning and training design
Free Resource
The Training Design Health Check
Download The Training Design Health Check: nine questions to help you spot where your learning design could work harder.
It helps you look at:
- How learning starts before the session begins
- Whether the environment supports learning
- How you use what participants already know
- How you keep people engaged
- How you build memory and transfer
- Whether people rehearse and apply what they learn
Sign up for occasional notes from Paul Z Jackson on applied improvisation, facilitation, leadership and working with uncertainty.
Books & Longer Resources
The Solutions Focus
A practical book on building change from what works, used worldwide by coaches, leaders and consultants.
Easy
Paul Z Jackson’s book on making life and work easier through practical improvisational and solution-focused ideas.
Impro Learning
A book for trainers and facilitators using improvisation to create livelier, more effective learning.
58½ Ways to Improvise in Training
A practical activity book for trainers, facilitators and workshop leaders.
Let’s Improv!
A practical guide for people learning, teaching or performing improvisation.
LIFEPASS
A practical model for working with uncertainty
LIFEPASS offers leaders, teams and facilitators a framework for dealing with complexity, emergence and collaboration.
Let Go
Inhabit the Moment
Freedom Within Structure
Embrace Uncertainty
Play to Play
Accept and Build
Short Turn-Taking
Spot Successes
Want to use these ideas in your organisation?
Tell us what you are planning and what would count as useful progress.