The Best Improv Classes In Gainesville

A Gainesville client once came to me with a surprising problem. Evidently their staff at what was a pretty small office would get into fights because people made assumptions about each other. My client wanted me to address this concern using an improv game, because they felt that it was a very sensitive issue and that if they addressed it head on it might lead to more problems.

I'm not sure if that was the best way to handle te issue, but I did develop an assumption game that the employees of this company could play during an improv based workshop. It was a it!

Here is how it worked:

Everyone pairs up to perform a simple exchange. Pairs will be asked to simultaneously negotiate a plan of action (ex: how will the pair prepare to go on a vacation, clean up their apartment after a big party or make a large dinner). The twist will be that each pair will be wearing on their forehead one of the assumptions they sent to me during the event's pre-work, without knowing what that assumption is. Their partners will be instructed to treat that assumption as if they believe it to be very true about the person they are working with in these scenes.

What an impact! Suddenly when the assumptions employees made about others were applied to them it all felt very, very unfair.

We went through some questions after running the exercise a few times:

Did assumptions make agreeing to a plan easier or harder? How did it feel to work with someone making untrue assumptions about you? What if the assumption was true? How did that feel? What can we do to avoid these problems when working with new partners?

The conversations were electric and you could feel the company culture shifting. I'd love to run this exercise at your firm! Let me know when you need it!