3 ways to lift your team’s spirits in tough times

Great…well done – you are definitely professional.

The thing is…are you too professional?

Is that a thing?

We think so.

Why?

Because we often see well intended ‘professionalism’ getting in the way of creativity and freedom.

‘Looking good’ can get in our own way and restrict our potential – we end up filtering our potential through a lens of professionalism.

We use a lot of ‘improvisation’ skills when we work with teams – it takes people way out of their comfort zones – because being good at improv is definitely not about looking good or ‘being professional’.

Improv releases energy, ideas and creativity.

In other words it enables agility.

Being more agile is an essential for everyone these days.

And being more agile can be a lot of fun – once you let go of looking good!

Improvising well is a skill we all need to get better at – every day our worlds become more and more unpredictable and uncertain – we have to learn to ‘dance in the moment’ and create from the emerging future…as it emerges!

And that might mean we have to have to rethink what it means to be ‘professional’.

Here’s are some of the principles of improvisation that we use to engender more collaboration and agility in the teams we work with.

• Accept everything as an offer – that means “yes and” not “yes but”
• Make your partner look good – that means getting over yourself and your ego
• Let go of control – if nothing else world events have surely taught us we were never really in control anyway!
• Be willing to be changed – an addiction to being ‘right’ is a dangerous one
• Leap before you look – yes really – just jump in and see what happens
• Be obvious – this is particularly hard if you hang on to wanting to look good

And playing with these principles is always a lot of fun – play and fun lifts your spirits – try it.

If you want to learn more about introducing improv skills to your teams – give us a call.

It was a lovely surprise to receive such images and the photos certainly brought a smile and a chuckle.  It must have triggered something in Andy and I, as within a few minutes there were more nostalgic photos being pinged back on the WhatsApp group. I shared a photo of me competing my horse many years ago and Andy shared some photos of him with his daughters when they were much younger. What we soon discovered was that we had unknowingly shared photos from around the same time period – 17 years ago!

What was so special about this team exchange?

Yes, it was a welcome distraction from a busy day and a picture most certainly paints a thousand words! Yet it was more than that. It was a connection between team mates that revealed more about ourselves, which enabled us to learn about each other. It brought laughter and amusement and overall it made us appreciate each other that little bit more.

Happy Attacks are now part of our culture at Living Teams.

It doesn’t have to be old photos, it can be a photo of a stunning view, an image of a well-deserved glass of wine at the end of a busy day, or maybe a 30 second sound clip of the early morning birdsong.

It can be anything that in that moment makes us feel happy.

We have discovered that Happy Attacks are not only wonderful to share and receive, but they have also strengthened the bond between us.

What are you waiting for…. share your Happy Attack today!  We would hear about them!