Yes, And: Turning Business Roadblocks Into Opportunities

When I talk about “Yes, and” (the idea of accepting others’ ideas and building on them to spark creativity and collaboration), people get excited about the concept and want to bring it into their business.

But here’s the thing: after the excitement of my keynote fades, many struggle to put it into practice.

In an improv game, it’s easy to go along with even the wildest stories. A French pug riding a unicycle to the market to buy a Boyz II Men CD? Sure, why not!

But when faced with real-world challenges like scheduling conflicts, budget constraints, or location issues, many leaders hesitate. They get stuck at the first roadblock even though roadblocks are the best opportunities for “Yes, and” thinking!

I’ve helped clients overcome roadblocks by: - Looping in other departments (or even other companies) to join a session and share the budget - Transitioning events to a virtual format to make participation more accessible and cost-effective - Offering to repeat a workshop multiple times in one day so everyone gets a chance to attend - Securing a sponsor to cover costs and provide a special lunch for participants - Creating a payment plan to ease budget concerns - Delivering a free community workshop in addition to a corporate event to amplify impact and support outreach goals

Next time you’re faced with a challenge, ask yourself: am I making a list of excuses or solutions? With “Yes, and” thinking, the choice is yours.

Remember, the power of “Yes, and” isn’t just in saying it, it’s in living it. And there are countless opportunities to do that every day! Embrace your challenges, turn them into opportunities, and have fun seeing where it takes you.

10 Improv Team Building Activities Your Team Will Actually Enjoy

Most “team building activities” have a problem: half the room dreads them. Introverts especially.

Trust falls feel forced. Escape rooms often turn into two people solving the whole thing while everyone else stands around watching. And anything competitive, bowling, go-karts, a trivia tournament, ends up pitting people against each other instead of putting them on the same team. You leave with a winner and a loser, not a group that feels closer.

Improv-based team building solves a different problem: it’s built so everyone plays, not just the extroverts in the front row, and nobody’s trying to beat anybody. Below are ten activities I actually use with corporate teams, what each one builds, and how to run it, whether you’re planning this yourself or bringing in a facilitator.

Why Improv Works for Team Building

Before the list, it’s worth understanding why this format works when so many others don’t.

Improv is built on a single rule: “Yes, and.” You accept what your partner gives you, then build on it. That single habit, practiced in a low-stakes game, quietly trains real workplace skills: listening instead of waiting to talk, building on a colleague’s idea instead of shutting it down, and getting comfortable enough to speak up in the first place.

The research backs up why this matters. Companies with a strong sense of belonging see meaningfully better performance, lower turnover, and fewer sick days, according to Harvard Business Review. And two-thirds of employees say they’d leave a job where they didn’t feel valued. Improv games are a fast, low-cost way to practice the exact behaviors, listening, building, including everyone, that create that sense of belonging in the first place.

1. Yes, And Circle

What it builds: collaboration, idea-building

How to run it: Stand in a circle. One person starts a sentence (“We should plan the company picnic…”), and the next person continues it with “yes, and…” adding to the idea rather than redirecting it. Keep going around until the story gets delightfully out of hand.

This is the simplest entry point to the whole philosophy, and it’s often the moment people realize how much they normally block ideas without meaning to.

2. Mind Meld

What it builds: listening, nonverbal connection

How to run it: Pair people up. Both think of a random word, make eye contact, count to three, and say their word out loud at the same time. Then each person thinks of a word the two words made them think of, and repeats until both land on the same word simultaneously.

It sounds impossible the first time. It isn’t. Pairs usually land on a match within 3-5 rounds, and the moment it happens, the room genuinely lights up.

3. One Word at a Time Story

What it builds: letting go of control, trusting the group

How to run it: In a small group, tell a story one word at a time, each person adding a single word before passing to the next. No planning ahead, no fixing someone else’s word.

This one is a great equalizer, since nobody can dominate the story, and it forces genuine, real-time listening rather than waiting for your turn.

4. Changing Hats

What it builds: perspective-taking, communication flexibility

How to run it: Give participants a few “characters” (a customer, a new hire, a skeptical executive). In pairs, act out a short workplace scenario, then swap characters and run it again.

This one translates directly to real meetings: asking “what would this look like from their seat?” becomes a habit, not a slogan on a poster.

5. Word Association Warm-Up

What it builds: quick thinking, group energy

How to run it: Standing in a circle, one person says a word. The next person says the first word that comes to mind, no overthinking. Keep the pace fast.

Best used as a 2-minute opener before a bigger session, this loosens people up without asking for anything vulnerable yet.

6. Emotional Orchestra

What it builds: commitment, letting go of the fear of judgment

How to run it: Assign small groups an emotion (frustration, excitement, calm). Each group has to convey that emotion as a sound and a movement, together, without words. A “conductor” points to different groups to bring their sound up or down.

This one isn’t really about reading a room, it’s about everyone committing together. The moment one group commits fully, it becomes much easier for the next group to do the same. That’s the real lesson: commitment is contagious, and so is hesitation.

7. Party Quirks

What it builds: creativity, staying present under pressure

How to run it: One person plays a “host.” A few others are given secret quirks (they think they’re a superhero, they can’t stop apologizing) and play party guests. The host has to figure out each guest’s quirk through conversation.

If you’d rather nobody feel like they’re “on stage,” break the whole room into groups of four and run several versions at once, no audience, just each small group playing together. Everyone gets the same experience without anyone watching anyone else.

8. The Expert

What it builds: confidence, thinking on your feet

How to run it: One person is declared “the world’s leading expert” on a random, made-up topic (competitive lawn ornament racing) and has to answer audience questions on the spot, with total confidence, even though they’re making it all up.

This is a favorite for teams working on presentation skills specifically, since it removes the fear of “getting it right” and replaces it with permission to just commit.

9. Freeze Tag Scenes

What it builds: adaptability, quick decision-making

How to run it: Two people start a scene. At any point, someone from the group yells “freeze,” taps one performer out, and starts a brand new scene from that exact physical position.

This one’s a workout for adaptability. You never know what scene you’re about to be dropped into, which mirrors real workplace curveballs more closely than almost any other exercise on this list.

10. Gratitude Circle

What it builds: appreciation, closing on a high note

How to run it: End the session by going around the circle. Each person names one thing they appreciated about someone else in the room during the session, no rehearsing, just quick and genuine.

Simple, but it’s the exercise people remember weeks later. It also reinforces the exact “make people feel valued” research mentioned earlier, in the most direct way possible.

How to Bring This to Your Team

You don’t need to run all ten at once. Start with just one, and pick whichever feels most comfortable for you to lead. When you commit fully as the person running the activity, everyone else is far more likely to follow your lead. Hesitation from the front of the room spreads just as fast as commitment does.

If you want to see exactly how these are run before trying them yourself, I’ve put together video walkthroughs of each game, plus talking points for the conversation afterward, inside the Colby Leadership Institute. Right now you can try it free for 30 days.

Get 30 Days Free at ColbyLeadership.com

With code FREETRIAL at Colbyleadership.com

And if you’d rather have someone else run the whole thing, that’s what my “Yes, And” keynote and workshop are built for, getting the entire room participating, not just a volunteer or two.

See the full keynote and workshop details → Programs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need any acting experience? No. None of these require performance skill, they require willingness, which is a very different thing. Most groups are more nervous going in than they need to be.

How long should a session run? A focused session covering 6-8 of these activities runs comfortably in 45-90 minutes. A full workshop with debriefs and discussion typically runs half a day.

Will this work for a remote or hybrid team? Several of these (Mind Meld, Word Association, One Word at a Time) adapt well to video calls. Others (Freeze Tag, Emotional Orchestra) genuinely need a shared physical space to land.

What size group works best? Larger groups work just as well as smaller ones, because you’re not running one big activity in front of everyone, you’re breaking the room into small groups so everyone plays at once. It’s easier for people to commit when it doesn’t feel like there’s an audience watching.

If you’ve got questions about any of these, or just want a little encouragement before trying them out with your team, reach out. I’m happy to help.

Are you happy now?

As we navigate a constantly changing work, I have one question for you: Are you happy?

If you have found yourself struggling lately, there are a lot of things you can do to boost your positivity. University of California-Riverside psychology professor Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky explains that 50% of our happiness is genetic and 10% is dependent on life circumstances, but the final 40% can be influenced by factors under our control.

While there are a variety of choices that we can make to increase our positivity, Shawn Achor, author of "The Happiness Advantage", lists 5 simple things that you can do everyday to help rewire your brain to focus on the positive:

• 3 Gratitudes - Listing 3 things each day that made you happy trains your brain to look for the positive instead of the negative.

• Journaling - Writing about a positive experience allows your brain to relive it.

• Exercise - Teaches your brain that your behavior matters.

• Meditation - Allows us to process the things that happened during the day.

• Random Acts of Kindness - Inspires others to be more positive which can have a powerful "pay-it-forward" effect.

If you have never tried doing these things, I challenge you to take a 21-day challenge. Harvard research says that at the end of the 21 days, you'll be more positive and your mind will subconsciously continue to do them even if you don't make it part of your daily plan.

Now if you answered the question at the top of this blog with a resounding, “Yes! I’m happy,” my follow up question is this: Are the people in your life happy? If you’re a boss, a parent, or spouse, I encourage you to check in to see how you support the efforts of the people in your life is find happiness.

Growing and growing...

Are you and those around you continuing to grow?

With the challenges of the past year, I've certainly watched my waistline grow. With a newborn and toddler in my house, I am constantly reminded of how fast and amazing growth is. However, as we get older, it's easy to lose sight of the importance of consistent growth in our lives.

My goal for 2021 is to keep a growth mindset versus a fixed one. A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can continue to be developed. Conversely, a fixed mindset is the thought that you can't learn or solve something, that you are only capable of so much. Studies show that students with a growth mindset do better in school, both on projects and tests, so we know it works.

The bad news is that BELIEVING you can do something isn't enough. The belief then drives you to set goals, work hard, and overcome obstacles. That is really the key to success.

So, where do you want to grow?

This isn't a hypothetical question. I'm really asking you. I read an article on LinkedIn that says simply sharing your goals increases the likeliness that you will complete them, so please take a second to respond. In fact, for every person that replies, I'll donate $3 to the charity of my choice.

I'll go first.

That growth mindset led me somewhere unexpected — I'm now certified in TriMetrix® EQ, an assessment that combines behavioral style, motivators, and emotional intelligence into one report. I pair it with live, improv-based exercises so the results become something a team actually practices, not just reads. [Learn more about TriMetrix EQ here.]

I've got a lot of work to do, but I know I can do it, because I have a growth mindset!

New Year, New Attempt?

Did you make a New Year's Resolution this year?

Bad news: most resolutions don't last.

Strava, a social media app for athletes, studied over 31 million people in 2020 and determined that most resolutions started falling apart by January 12. Several other studies show another large drop in commitment to these resolutions at the beginning of February.

The old quote states, "It takes 21 days to build a habit," but the European Journal of Social Psychology found that it takes, on average, 66 days to form a habit. "On average" is important in that sentence, because the individuals in the study actually took anywhere from 18 to 254 days to make it stick.

Those numbers can be really disheartening, but what can we do about it?

The answer lies with the 2006 Indianapolis Colts.

That NFL team coached by Hall of Famer, Tony Dungy, and lead on the field by soon-to-be Hall of Famer Peyton Manning started off the season 9-0, but then things changed. They lost 4 of their next 6 games. In one game, they gave up 375 rushing yards. (If you don't know much about football, that was the second most ever allowed in the modern NFL.)

At this point, some teams might have cumbled and focused on their mistakes, but not this team. They stayed committed to their goal and to each other. They won their last regular season game, before starting their playoff run which culminated in winning Super Bowl 41 in Miami on February 7, 2007.

So let me ask, how are you doing with your resolution? Are you undefeated so far? Have you had any losses? The game isn't over unless you quit.

University of Scranton psychology professor John C. Norcross study people who successfully kept their resolutions for at least 2 years. 53% slipped up at least once with the average number of "losses" being 14.

No team in the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL has ever gone undefeated on their way to winning a championship. There are always going to be bumps in the road, but keep driving.

"It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."
-Rocky Balboa

What's The Deal With Improv for Business?

Over the past five years, countless articles have been published praising the benefits of improv in the business world. Reputable sources such as Forbes and Harvard are touting the benefits of the artform and its principles for all industries. During a time of uncertainty, change, and disruption, these improv skills are more important than ever.

Here are 5 reasons that your team needs improv:

1. Flexibility

The number one rule in improv is “Yes, and.” Starting with “Yes” means that conversations should begin from a place of agreement. Too often, people see obstacles and think, “I can’t do my job until something changes.” They start with “No.” That is simply not an acceptable answer. Successful businesses find creative solutions to these problems instead of blaming them for their lack of forward momentum.

2. Team Building

This is where the “and” part of “Yes, and” comes into play. Everyone within a given organization should be empowered to share ideas. When a new employee is hired or an existing employee is promoted, there is, of course, a learning curve. They need to listen to their bosses to learn how to be equipped to succeed in the position. As they gain experience over time, however, those employees may develop insights and ideas that are unique from their superiors. If your leadership team is willing to listen to these ideas, the entire company is more likely to improve.

3. Staff Retention

In addition to fostering innovative ideas, embracing a “Yes, and” mentality helps companies reduce turnover. The number one reason people leave their job isn’t money, a chance of upward mobility, benefits, or vacation time; it’s because they don’t feel valued. In fact, 66% percent of employees say they would quit if they didn’t feel appreciated*. We can only offer so many raises, recognition awards, and donuts in the break room, so it’s imperative that all employees feel that they contribute to the success of the organization in a way that is truly appreciated.

4. Customer Satisfaction

Like employees, customers need to feel valued. In fact, a recent survey** determined that 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. Too often sales people focus on what they are going to say instead of listening to their client’s needs. “Yes, and” is more about listening than it is about talking. Sales people who embrace that mentality are able to listen attentively to their clients and be responsive to their needs in a way that makes clients feel that they matter to the organization.

5. ROI

Improv teaches people how to speak up and how to listen which makes everyone involved feel important. This is fantastic, but it’s simply a byproduct of the process. The biggest result is a higher ROI. If you build a team that feels valued and happy, and is full of great communicators, you’ll enjoy the following:

• Raise sales by 37%***

• Increase productivity by 31%***

• Strengthen accuracy of task completion by 19%***

• Improve customer satisfaction ratings by 50%****

• Escalate returns to investors by up to 47%*****

Improv isn’t just an opportunity to provide something for your staff. It’s a powerful tool that can be utilized to take your team to the next level.

Sources:
*Forbes
**Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand
***Harvard Business Review
****The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor
*****Willis Tower Watson

The Value in a Gift

You know how in movies, the drug dealer starts out offering free drugs to innocent people? The logic is that once they get a taste of those sweet, sweet drugs, they’ll keep coming back for more. Of course, the drugs are no longer free. In fact, they are quite expensive, but now that we know how good the drugs are, we will pay anything for more!

Well, it turns out that drug dealers are really good at sales!

Let’s go back.

I have been speaking professionally since 2003, but it’s only been my full-time job since June 2019. I’d made a lot of connections, had plenty of clients, and was speaking regularly.

Then, the world changed.

Right before the world shut down, I attended the National Speakers Association’s Winter Conference called “The Sales Playbook.” I got insider sales advice from a list of successful speakers, such as Jill Konrath, Mark Hunter, Laurie Guest, Sam Richter, Ross Bernstein, Jennifer Darling, Meridith Elliott Powell, Crystal Washington, John Register, Simon T. Bailey, and a few others.

They shared a wealth of knowledge with everything from introductory emails to signing the contract, but the thing that resonated with me most was the phrase “provide value”.

Even once we were all quarantined, Sam Richter shared an email with some advice which also included the suggestion of providing value.

I thought I had been doing that. I had been sharing articles or videos with certain clients. I didn’t just blast a URL to a whole list of people. I sent specific content aimed at the industry or even the specific company that I was connecting with.

Sometimes I would get a quick thank you email, but more often than not, I didn’t receive a reply.

In late April, I had an epiphany.

Some of the people that I’m reaching out to aren’t working right now. Some are working from home and are overwhelmed with their workload. Some are trying to figure out how to pivot their whole business model. On top of all of this, many of these people are trying to navigate these situations while also watching after their own kids because school and childcare are no longer an option.

So what do all these people really NEED right now?

They need to smile, to laugh with their co-workers and have a little fun. They need to unlock their own creativity and find new ideas. They need permission to fail. They need encouragement that they can not just weather this storm, but that they can come out on the other side with new skills that will help them be even more successful in the future.

THEY NEED IMPROV.

I don’t care if they can’t pay for it. I want to help give people the one thing that the world so desperately needs right now:

Hope.

So at the beginning of May, I started offering free 30-minute improv Zoom meetings for groups ranging from 10-100 people. I’ve worked with just about every industry imaginable; business, financial, health care, hospitality, education, manufacturing, construction, nonprofits, associations.

My goal was to provide each team with all of the needs I listed above. At the end of the 30-minutes, my only request was to share my contact with anyone else who might want a free workshop.

The feedback has been phenomenal! (You can see some client’s opinions at the bottom of this post.)

I didn’t try to sell myself. I didn’t beg people to email or call me back. I just put out the offer and then provided something that I thought would help. I figured I might hear back from someone months from now.

Instead, I’ve been contacted by a plethora of people wanting to hire me. I keep hearing the same basic thing, “We are cutting budget costs where we can, but this is something that we desperately need right now.”

There are no words to describe how happy this makes me. Obviously, I am glad to be working, both for monetary reasons and because it’s truly what I love to do, but what truly delights me is that business leaders are recognizing the true power of improv in these uncertain times.

Are we going to get through this eventually?

Yes, and!

Below are quotes pulled from Zoom chat comments after free workshops:

-So much fun!  Thank you!  Loved it!  And I loved the application back to the business world.

-I like that you make us open our minds and to look at things more openly. I will be applying these lessons to our current situation.

-Fun! I wish it would have been longer.  You lifted my spirits. 

-This was a fun and helpful way to end our Friday. I appreciate how engaging (and non-intimidating) the activities were! So many points you made today relate to the way I am at work and home. Very beneficial for us all to hear!

-Learned more in this session than any other session I've attended in my 26 year career!  Thank you!!!

If you know of any company, nonprofit, association, or any other organization that could use a boost, feel free to reach out at jon@joncolby.com to learn more.

Ready for Anything: A Lesson in Not Actually Being Ready

I’m embarrassed to say this: The coronavirus taught me an improv lesson.

I’ve been performing improv comedy professionally for almost 22 years. I’ve been leading corporate workshops and delivering keynotes sharing the power of improv for about 15 of those years. 

When people ask me what the benefits of improv are, I practically run out of breath listing off things: creativity, leadership, better listening, nonverbal communication, empathy, team building, decision making, confidence building, adapting to change…

Adapting to change.

If I am onstage with a partner, I’ve got to be willing to adapt. For example, if the suggestion is lawn care, I might start mowing a lawn.

(For those of you unfamiliar with improv, when I say that I “start mowing the lawn”, there certainly isn’t actual time for me to procure an actual lawn mower to use as a prop. I don’t try to build a fake lawn mower like a community theatre production might do. And I’m NOT going to push around a chair pretending it’s a lawn mower, because now I just look like an idiot pushing a chair around the stage. Instead, I just start pantomiming that I’m mowing the lawn.)

As I start my action, my scene partner may say, “Oh, honey! Before we checkout, we should also grab a couple more bags of mulch,” because even though I feel I am clearly pushing a lawn mower, they see me pushing a shopping cart.

Now I have a choice to make. If I say, “I’m mowing the lawn,” in this scene, I look like a crazy person. No one in the history of the world has been mowing an actual lawn and looked at someone 5 feet away and said, “I’m mowing the lawn.” It’s never been done, because it’s obvious. 

I would also be denying my scene partner’s reality. This breaks the number one rule of improv which is simply, “Yes, and…” That means try to find agreement. So, I reply with something like, “Good call, dear. There’s nothing more I want to do with my Sunday afternoon than lay more mulch.” Then, the scene can continue. I never acknowledge that in my mind the lawn mower transformed into a shopping cart.

For an experienced improviser, this is pretty basic. You drop your reality to make things work with your partners.

Early in 2020, I signed a contract to deliver a 2-hour workshop to a company’s leadership team as part of their upcoming annual retreat on March 22. However, in case you hadn’t heard, on March 11 the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. The CEO reaches out to me almost immediately.

“Can you make this work remotely?”

So I took a deep breath to consider what all of my years of improv have taught me and I answered honestly and bravely:

“No, I don’t think so.”

He said he didn’t think so, but he wanted to see if I had any ideas. He continued by saying he’d need some time to figure out how to move forward and would be in touch about possibly offering the workshop once we could meet in person again.

After that phone call, my head was spinning. What was going to happen to a business that relied on in-person interaction? 

I took a few days to feel sorry for myself and then I got to work. Another speaker reached out to me to see how I was doing. He suggested a partnership to offer virtual content during these uncertain times. He had seen me lead a workshop in person and seemed to believe it could be done remotely. Now, it was just up to me to figure out how.

The next several days looked like a montage from an 80’s movie. It was me learning everything I could about Zoom, talking with other improvisors about how these games could theoretically be done, and actually trying some of these games with muggles, a Harry Potter reference we used to describe non-improvisors.

After some trial and delightful failures, we did it. With the help of a lot of people, I figured out a way to deliver an impactful, highly interactive, virtual workshop where people left with the same takeaways and enthusiasm that they would have received in person.

I reached out to that CEO and explained what I’d come up with. He agreed to have me present at his virtual leadership which, fortunately for me, had been postponed long enough for me to prepare for it.

The virtual engagement was very well-received. Since that first workshop, I have delivered, on my own or with a colleague, 11 more times. Each time, the feedback includes something about how much joy they had playing games and learning with their peers as if they were face-to-face.

It’s the same joy that I get performing improv. 

It’s not the way I’m used to doing things, but if I can remember to “Yes, and…” the moment, I can still achieve some pretty fantastic things.