

“There are three major moments that made you who you are today, and three people behind those moments who really cared for you.”

Team Building Activity | Length of Time: Varies | Facilitation Skills: Advanced

Participants: Up to 10 | Style: Improv | Location: San Diego

According to the Google Aristotle Project, the greatest performing teams are vulnerable and self-express. The question is, can you create those moments and build that trust quickly AND develop each person’s ability to self express? Yes, and we have done it with many great teams.



Have you heard? In the leadership industry, Improv is “in.” Improv teaches leaders critical skills in a fun environment. Also, it’s two topics that we geek out on. In this workshop, we help your team laugh, learn and connect as you all perform a short improv scene.

The Game

Today, most of us are walking around at work playing a weak game, a game of fear, competition, and frustration. We go to work, collect a paycheck, live for the weekend and purposely avoid living into our full potential. (Yikes, even saying that sounds scary.)



However, what if we shed light on your team about playing a new game? A new game where you CARE deeply about each other and about helping each other reach their true potential? A game where you get 100% of each team member’s creativity, energy, and effort?



In this workshop, your team opens up about people that changed their lives in a fun and light-hearted way through improv. Our lives have been positively impacted because, people in our lives at one point (or many) deeply cared about us. You experience what it feels like to think, act and speak like the people who cared so much.



Afterward, your team gains a powerful connection, as everyone discovers key characteristics that they can take on at work.

Everyone on your team has a level of untapped potential. We see this potential in them, but they don’t see it in themselves. In the workshop all participants observe their team members taking on a new personality with their most expressed and uninhibited characteristics. As a result, the workshop not only instantly identifies leadership gaps, it has the participants practice the gaps they are missing.

The Rules

To practice improv requires that you follow three rules while you are “on stage.”

Make your partner look good

Each interaction is designed to put your team members in motion to transform the other.

Embrace imperfection

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

Have fun

I don’t think this one requires explaining.

The Steps:

1. Set The Context: Who has really cared about you?

Generally speaking, great leaders leave you knowing that they really cared for you. Think back to the major moments in your life that made you who you are today; who was there?

For example, for some of us, it was a coach, a teacher or possibly a colleague or close friend. When you think about that person, you can remember how they acted when they interacted with you. They were able to show you what caring really looks like.



After you’ve identified your “person”, set the context for your team:



(1) Share the moment in your life that you’re about to act out and



(2) the person who cared about you.



2. Act Out that Moment That Changed Your Life As the Person Who Cared for you

After sharing the context, you get the opportunity to act out that moment in front of your team. When you act it out, you go on stage as that person who changed your life. Given that, we have someone else act like you (Mitch, a fellow teammate, or experienced improv actor).



At the same time, the audience (your team) can begin to identify characteristics that you displayed, (as you were acting as the person who changed your life,) that your team thinks you should display more of. Additionally, when you act like another leader you’ve had in your life, you can begin to feel what it’s like to take on that characteristic.

3. Be That Person

Afterward, you get the opportunity to be more like that person in the future. Consequently, you find the strength in being someone who’s not you. For example, perhaps that person is more outgoing, holds people more accountable, searches for more context, etc.



As a result, after your scene is over, you discover characteristics your team thinks you should consider taking on.

Afterward, you get the opportunity to be more like that person in the future. Consequently, you find the strength in being someone who’s not you. For example, perhaps that person is more outgoing, holds people more accountable, searches for more context, etc.



As a result, after your scene is over, you discover characteristics your team thinks you should consider taking on.



Finally, the homework is that everyone who witnessed your great performance will hold you accountable to play those characteristics at work.



Watch A Preview

For example, here is a preview of this workshop with one team:

Ready to play?

For help facilitating this team building activity, contact us for your free consultation. Mitch Simon is a Forbes Coach and improv comedian who specializes in high-performance teams. Or preview our other team building workshops.