Creative & collaborative teams
Is your team as effective as you’d like? Do you thrive on creativity and collaboration? Do you laugh and have a good time together?
I work with leaders and teams who want to be more creative and collaborative, and I run workshops that help them answer these questions with an emphatic ‘Yes!’.
Over the last 15 years I’ve helped to build effective and influential teams at AstraZeneca, Adnams, Theatre Royal, Mind and the NHS.
If you’d like to chat about professional development where you can laugh AND learn, drop me a line.
Learning by doing
Reading a book about ninjas won’t turn you into one.
Any complex skill or craft can only be learned by getting involved and tracking results, and the same applies to teamwork.
So I ditch the slides, push the tables back and get people learning from each other. Here’s what happens in my training sessions:
We’ll use simple, playful activities that build core skills and increase trust.
You’ll practice what matters and get better results (without trying harder).
You’ll connect deeply with other people and apply what you learn to everyday life.
"A rare mix of insight, creativity and humour."
“Alex was a delight to work with and provided a rare mix of insight, creativity and humour.”
“The result was a stronger sense of team identity, purpose and values and the sessions were challenging and fun in equal measure which helped us shift up a gear.”
Julian Munson
Head of Enterprise Zones & Innovation, New Anglia
Improv is the gym
One of the most powerful things any team can learn is the Improv Mindset, and it’s one of my favourite things to share with teams.
The language and skills of improvisation are incredibly useful offstage, and they help you to connect with what’s happening and use it to move forward.
Org charts and job profiles provide the appearance of security, but it’s our relationships and conversations that make all the difference – and these are always improvised in real time.
I run an improv community in my home town and perform in the UK and Europe and I’d love to share this practice with you in a team building workshop, leadership programme, conferences or event.
Delivery options
1
One hour
In an hour I can run a lunch & learn session to engage and inspire, or bring people together after work session to play and unwind. Either way it will feel light and playful, and your group will connect and collaborate in a laughter-filled session.
2
90 minutes
This session lets everyone connect and have fun in ways that build trust and confidence for creative team work. We’ll explore the power of collaborative thinking and take time to reflect on how the activities apply to everyday life. This is an ideal session as part of an away day, conference or annual gathering.
3
Half day
With more time we can go deeper into skills for co-creation or explore a theme like presence and impact or thinking styles for teamwork. We’ll unpack the learning and apply it to everyday life and work. This length of session is ideal for a team that wants to build more trust and get better results, or as part of a wider learning or CPD programme.
4
Full day
A full day lets us dive deeper into leadership, communication and collaboration skills. There’ll be plenty of time for participants to connect and create in more advanced ways, and reflect on how the learning applies to team work, culture and real world results. This depth of learning is ideal for away days, retreats or as part of a change initiative.
"Improvisation is one of the cardinal skills for the future."
What people say...
Fast, powerful learning guaranteed.
Learning by doing. No boring waffle.
Discover the potential in yourself and others.
Anti-conventional
training
Sessions with me don’t look or sound like regular training.
I create practice spaces where people can learn by doing in a happy state of flow.
I also coach groups to distil the learning and turn playful games into rich opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Working with different learning styles, measuring impact and providing learning materials are all really important to me.
What can we do together?
I’m an experienced trainer with a focus on elevating leadership, team work, creativity and learning. Here are some things we could do together:
Improv for leaders
We can extend the range and impact of the performance choices you make through conscious habits for listening, presence and self-expression.
Improv for teamwork
Improvisation is all about cooperation so it’s perfect for building cohesive, high-performing and influential teams.
Creative confidence
I’ll help you take your groups creative confidence to the next level so you can excel at putting imagination to work.
Status & power
Using applied theatre techniques we’ll work on adapting our nonverbal behaviours to shift and equalise status & power.
Complexity & uncertainty
Improv offers a playful way to get comfortable with ‘not knowing’ and work on the skills and mindset for personal flexibility.
Facilitation as a practice
I offer training on facilitation as a practice and a performance, and how to use creative processes and applied improvisation.
