The power of Yes...And
A few weeks ago I started a coaching programme (yes, coaches also need support now and then!) with a coach who happens to be also a comedian.
In fact, I chose her especially for this.
I want to get out of my head and more in my body to address my challenges, and I thought her mini improv sessions could support my self-development wonderfully.
It's really fun to just go with the flow when she asks me what's behind me on the wall and I have to reply: "sausages", but from this process, I also learned an important lesson that I want to share with you. I'm sure it will change the way you communicate sustainability.
The power of yes...and.
This is a classic "rule" of comedy improv: you should never say "no" to what the other person is saying, as you'd kill the flow of the scene and end up in a rut. To generate more innovative ideas, you need to accept the other person's idea and build upon it.
This is how comedy scenes get more and more absurd and funny. In business, applying the same concept can generate really innovative ideas and lead to genuine co-creation.
So I decided to integrate this technique into my sustainability communication toolbox. The following text is an abstract from my forthcoming book The Good Communicator:
Imagine you are in a marketing meeting with a colleague:
Colleague: “How about starting a plastic-free campaign with the local community?”
You: “Yes, and we could involve the schools as well.”
Colleague: “Yes, and we could focus on sustainable alternatives to packaged snacks, and offer awareness sessions to the children.”
You: “Great idea! We could even get sponsorship from the local bakery.”
From a community marketing campaign idea, using yes…and quickly generates great opportunities for partnerships, visibility and support to local schools.
Sometimes ideas just need to flow to become innovative, even if the first few are absurd or unviable. Presenting objections at the start stops this creative co-creation process.
This doesn’t mean that you have to say “yes” to everything: but I invite you to switch from a default “no” to the potential hidden in a “yes…and”.
Author Bob Kulhan suggests that leaders often think too analytically, focusing on problems instead of seeing opportunities. Improvisation and the "yes…and" approach - accepting ideas and building on them - encourage creativity and adaptability. This fosters a positive, fearless environment where ideas can flourish because of the basic understanding that it is okay for ideas to fail and it is okay for people to take chances.
But how can you practically implement the “yes…and” technique?
- By listening attentively
- By being flexible and open to possibilities
- By separating idea collection (divergent thinking) from idea evaluation (convergent thinking). Only when you have a collection of ideas, can you progress to evaluating and editing them for effective innovation.
Why not add this technique to the ground rules of your meetings and workshops?
This article was originally written for the Green Gorilla weekly newsletter. If you liked it, subscribe to receive more articles like this and learn how to communicate sustainability better, how to be more productive without selling your soul to the work devil, and how to make an impact in the world. Here is the link: https://newsletter.thegreengorilla.co.uk/