Earning your team a standing ovation
The last two blogs have hailed the unique benefits of improv comedy skills as an essential part of anyone’s work toolkit. Highlights include:
Accelerating trust: woo woo before you do do (Part I)
When I lead our Being a Trusted Advisor and Trust-Based Selling programs, I ask participants early on what’s the “one big thing” they want to get out of their participation. Invariably, at least a quarter of people in the room will say something along the lines of “tools for accelerating trust-building.” And those who don’t say it usually vigorously nod their heads in agreement.
Leaping from the Live to the Virtual Classroom: Facilitation Tips that Engage and Energize Virtual Audiences
This post was written by Susan Silver Levy, Executive Consultant.
It’s now 30 minutes into your web-based seminar. . . Do you know where your participants are?I suspect some are checking email, others are finishing important client work, and yet others are surfing social networks.
Online participants can be notorious multi-taskers. However, good virtual facilitators can create a learning atmosphere—one so engaging—that participants will forget about Outlook, client memos, and LinkedIn.
Are you tuned in or tuned out?
In our August blog, I made some bold statements about the transformational nature of impov comedy.
Here’s a recap of what I said:
“In the nearly 20 years I’ve been working with groups, it is, without a doubt, most transformational team building experience I’ve ever witnessed. It’s much easier than ropes courses. It’s more immediately impactful than personality typing. It gets you out of your head and into the more creative parts of your brain—in an instant. Plus it just plain feels good to just plain laugh with your co-workers. And what could be better than laughing while advancing your business goals?”I also offered a simple exercise you can start using with your team today called “Yes, but …” or “Yes, and …”?.
“In the nearly 20 years I’ve been working with groups, it is, without a doubt, most transformational team building experience I’ve ever witnessed. It’s much easier than ropes courses. It’s more immediately impactful than personality typing. It gets you out of your head and into the more creative parts of your brain—in an instant. Plus it just plain feels good to just plain laugh with your co-workers. And what could be better than laughing while advancing your business goals?”I also offered a simple exercise you can start using with your team today called “Yes, but …” or “Yes, and …”?.
Are you as credible as you think? Probably not.
There are lots of ways to build trust with others (four, by our count) and Credibility is a big one. In our Trust Quotient research, Credibility shows up as second only to Reliability as the most favored way to build trust. (‘Most favored’ doesn’t mean ‘most effective,’ but that’s another blog, another day.)
This makes sense, given the emphasis that most business people naturally place on increasing trustworthiness by demonstrating credentials, experience, and know-how.