A client organization graciously invited me to their semi-annual Leadership conference last week. There were lots of laughs as hundreds of organizational leaders watched The Second City hosts perform the comedic improvisations that they are well known for.

There was also some seriousness and attention to the importance of leadership too. We did plent of group interactive exercises. One exercise, a long time favorite, created a lot of buzz. I had forgotten about the energy that can be generated with the “yes….and” exercise until that day.

How “Yes….and” works

This is a great exercise to facilitate with your team if you want to generate some new ideas, or to simply emphasize the importance of supporting new ideas. Its also a great follow-on to last week’s post, “Ten Things That Will Foster Great Conversations”.  It shows what happens to the energy in a conversation when new ideas are shot down – and then shows what happens when they are supported. It goes like this:

Each person in the room pairs up with a partner. In each partner-pair, and in each round, person A describes a new idea. This can be set up by the facilitator as a real situation that needs fresh ideas   (in this case, the “pretend” scenario was, “What should our team do for our annual off-site?”). Each person in the room can find a new partner for each round.

Round 1: Person B responds to Person A’s idea(s) with “No….but/because (a reason why it won’t work)”.

Round 2: Person B responds to Person A’s idea(s) with “Yes….but (a reason why it won’t work or another idea that person B feels is more viable)”.

Round 3: Person B responds to Person A’s idea(s) with “Yes….and (support and build on A’s idea)”.

In the third round at last week’s conference, we could hardly hear our partners talk. Several hundred people supporting a partner built up to a clear crescendo, demonstrating the positive energy of building, teamwork, partnership, and support.

Try it at your next meeting. After the demonstration of “shooting down” ideas in rounds 1 and 2, your team will understand the importance of support and collaboration with round 3.

(P.S. This works well demonstrated in small and 1:1 meetings too!).