Why our workshops work
Our workshops are taught using active learning in a way that has everyone in play most of the time.
They are custom designed specifically for your team. We work with you to make sure they are fun and have the maximum impact for your team.
We break the sessions into four parts:
■ Purpose: Learning Objectives
■ Activity: Experiential learning exercises
■ Discussion: Explanation of how to implement the skills we just practiced
■ Next steps: Setting concrete goals to incorporate these skills
These four steps ensure that your time spent with ImprovThis will be more than just a fun afternoon. You’re not sitting in your chair just watching an improv show where other people having all the fun. You and your team are on your feet and experiencing what makes improv work everywhere in life. The proven methodology used in our workshops will have your team remembering this experience and the communication lessons we teach for years to come.
Here’s what it looks like
Effective Listening (Sample of a workshop)
Learning Objectives:
■ Listen to comprehend first then communicate to be understood
■ Better understand the two parts of communication: Sending and Receiving
Activities:
■ Yes circle: Receiving information and working as a team
■ Red Ball: Filter out communication noise and stay on target
■ Last Word to First Word: Practice effective listening and really hearing what your teammates are saying
Discussion:
■ What strategies did you use to make sure your messages were received?
■ How did you react when a message was lost?
■ What did you learn about listening first and then thinking of a response only after your partner had finished talking?
■ Etc.
There’s lots more that goes on in this discussion, and we’d love to talk with you about it. We just can’t put it all on the web because when we build a workshop for you, it’s custom designed to suit your specific needs.
Next Steps:
■ What is one SMART goal you can commit to doing over the next two weeks to better incorporate effective listening in your conversations?