Improv for Wellbeing

Humans at Work with Michael Glazer

Can improv help us unlock workplace success? In this episode, we explore the positive impact of improvisation on well-being, communication, and the nuances of our daily interactions. Patricia Ryan Madson, Stanford University Emerita and author of “Improv Wisdom,” provides insights on how improv maxims can enhance the way we connect, create, and engage at work – and in life.

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Episode Highlights

• Learn how simple acts of noticing and acknowledging others can have outsized effects on their well-being and yours.
• Find out how the maxim of "Yes, And" can enhance teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving.
• Uncover strategies for tackling common fears and anxieties in the workplace through the lens of improv.
• Explore how the practices of improv can sharpen your mindfulness and presence.
• Hear advice for applying improv principles in many aspects of daily life.
• Learn how to cultivate gratitude for the often-overlooked contributions of others.
• Discover how improvisation can be a powerful tool for navigating change and uncertainty.
• Use improv to improve your communication skills, making you a better listener and collaborator.
• Hear how the ethos of improv can help build a work environment where every voice is heard and valued.

Patricia’s view on the greatest unmet wellbeing need at work today “I think that the greatest need is to discover the concept of ‘enough’. I think the workplace and the mania for pushing forward for more and greater, this need in our consumer world, that in order to keep going, everything has to grow and grow. I think we need to say enough. And to find space, and to slow down, and to do less.

I think our world would be a lot better, certainly businesses would be, if instead of just looking at the bottom line as the measure of success, more companies would see that the health of the world depends upon all of us being able to slow down a little more, respect each other, maybe not consume as much.

I just turned 81. And so, I am looking at trying to notice how my world has so many things that I’ve been collecting over the years, and realizing that it’s hard to get off that ‘let’s get some more stuff’ wagon. But I’m a proponent now of every day trying to find something that I can rehome or give away, or find a different home for, rather than just adding more. So, the concept of enough and slowing down would be what I would wish for our workplaces.”

What "working with humans" means to Patricia “‘Working with humans’ is a reminder somehow that we’re all in this together. And that there’s no way that I can really thrive and succeed if I’m trying to do it on my own. So working with humans means shifting that in fact, as I was thinking about that, my eyes kind of rolled back in my head and I felt myself sort of go into me, but it’s I need to shift the attention so that I’m working with humans meaning never forget all of the others and my place in that to be helpful to them, to try to cause them less trouble and to make it work by doing my part.”

Resources Read: Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up

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