2.6
Building on the Ideas of Others
Submitted by Don Waisanen & Shannon Wheatley Hartman
Improvisational comedy has developed a rule of thinking which is called “Yes, and ….” The idea is that you accept what is said and then you add to it. The “yes” confirms the other speaker while the “and” builds on the idea. This process can create an environment of collaboration rather than competition.
Learning Goals
Develop the practice of listening and affirming what is heard rather than negating others.
Practice generous listening by identifying ideas or arguments that can be built upon.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Organize participants into pairs.
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Practice Negating Others (Yes, but…) (5 min)
Share the “yes, but…” prompt shown below with participants. Remind them to not overthink it and explain that this will be a very quick exchange of ideas.
Prompt:
Pretend that you are planning a vacation together. One person makes a suggestion and the other person responds with, “yes, but…” Continue with this process for 2 minutes.
Step Two: Practice Confirming Others (Yes, and…) (5 min)
Introduce the new prompt and invite the same pairs to practice. Prompt:
Try again to plan a vacation together, but this time practice saying “yes, and…” No matter what your partner says, figure out how to confirm it and build upon it. Continue this process for 2 minutes.
Step Three: Compare the Two Experiences (5 min)
As a full group, debrief the two experiences:
Are you excited for your vacation? How did planning this trip feel different from the previous effort?
How can we bring this energy and sense of fun into our more serious conversations?
Step Four: Practice Generative Discussion (20 min)
Anticipate that participants will think it is easy to build on ideas of others when nothing is at stake (i.e. it’s a hypothetical vacation). Explain how looking for small pieces of truth in more difficult discussions is key for creating a generative discussion environment.
Create a policy statement that is relevant for your group or choose one below:
Policy A: We need stronger regulations against disinformation.
Policy B: We need stronger policies to guarantee affordable housing for all residents in our community.
Policy C: We need to support all policies that prioritize environmental sustainability and acknowledge the urgency of climate change.
Policy D: We need a public policy that addresses political polarization in our communities.
In small groups (4-6 ppl), ask participants to discuss the topic while practicing the “yes, and…” technique.
Step Five: Debrief as a Full Group (5 min)
Does “yes, and…” mean that you have to agree? How can you use “yes, and…” to create space for constructive dissent or disagreement?
Share and discuss the “Yes, and…” slide.
How did “yes, and…” affect your listening skills? How did it impact the content, direction, and power dynamics within the discussion?
TIME
40
min
MODULE
Creative Collaboration
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity might be considered high energy or more playful than other activities.
This activity is focused on developing or supporting listening skills. See Sample Listening Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
Have any helpful suggestions or modifications for this activity?
Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
Don Waisanen
July 26, 2023 at 10:48:23 PM
An essential tool for the development of collaborative, inclusive, and informed communication strategies!
July 26, 2023 at 6:24:34 PM
July 26, 2023 at 6:22:30 PM
Sovi Herring
July 24, 2023 at 7:32:57 PM
I really enjoyed watching students collaborate with this activity. In hindsight, I think adding more personal/every day examples for them to engage with would have produced more results (and despite some of the slides they wanted to work as one large group) and it worked out well. If we had more time they were willing to keep discussing potential positive and negative outcomes, especially after recalling the stakeholder activity. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SPUtoRMDZ0Zkv32ShmDxt1QKNnH9gwox?usp=sharing
Sovi Herring
July 24, 2023 at 7:24:46 PM
I adapted this toward skills students can bring to their next group project to learn about themselves and appropriately accommodate others. This complements our course texts "Crucial Conversations" and "Thanks for the Feedback" as well! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rbVXIQkViuqmg4nnZdKyGsroHQn-_xsn/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=113770591818162655510&rtpof=true&sd=true
July 10, 2023 at 2:15:53 AM
Sovi
July 7, 2023 at 4:01:49 PM
I think this one went really well, especially when adding in premade roles. I didn't have access to a color printer, so I handmade character cards. I had to modify this activity a bit, but it was a blast. We paired this activity with some of the skills from the book "Crucial Conversations". Some also had to be bad/uncooperative communicators in the scenarios we had. Here's a Google Drive link to the materials I used for this activity. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nK0F0JxxTLJvBJYgOSJVFGdwPmGjYzYb/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=113770591818162655510&rtpof=true&sd=true
June 28, 2023 at 1:28:26 AM
June 27, 2023 at 3:21:16 PM
June 27, 2023 at 3:07:43 PM