Photo by Jeff Salmore for Washington Improv Theater
Team-Building Workshops
Nick Martinez first started doing improv comedy in Hollywood in 2008 and now performs regularly in Washington, D.C. Over the past nine years, he has learned many valuable lessons from improv that are applicable in both the workplace and in life more generally. Nick currently offers workshops to help teams understand and take advantage of improv’s guiding principles, providing energy and excitement to team members and giving them a fresh way to approach their work.
Workshop Format
Introduction: Nick introduces himself, improv comedy generally, and improv’s overarching principles more specifically.
Exercises: He then leads the group in about five improv exercises, identifying and discussing lessons from each exercise before moving on to the next.
Discussion: After the exercises, Nick goes into more detail on key takeaways from the workshop and leads a discussion where attendees can relate the lessons to their own experiences.
Guiding Principles
Below are the three main tenets of improv that can be applied to the workplace.
Actively listening to your team and your client will help you get on the same page more quickly. Reacting to what was just said will help you pay attention to details, understand what is important to others, and plan accordingly.
Yes, And is an improv concept that underscores agreement (“Yes”) and building off your teammates’ ideas (“And”). This doesn’t mean that we don’t disagree with each other from time to time, but we should work to affirm that we have the same goals, while exploring ideas, discovering new truths, and creating new products.
Teamwork allows us to reach heights that we could not reach individually. Because everyone shares responsibility on a team, it is important to establish and build trust with your teammates. Each person adds something unique and necessary, so if you or someone else seems like the star on your team, then that means the team isn’t functioning properly.
Scheduling a workshop
To schedule a workshop, please reach to Nick through the Contact page on this website.