The Improv Mindset Master Class
Proctor & Gamble
This work experentialized, applied, and dove deeper into the ideas we explored in our TEDx talk.
The Goal
Help P&G designers broadly improve their mastery of collaboration, communication, and creativity
The Improv Mindset was used to help participants
Let go of what’s not important
Notice more about others and opportunities
Use everything, including others’ ideas and goals
What They Said
“Improv is a powerful tool in the workplace to help you balance the compulsion for perfection and preparedness with the need to be flexible and expect the unexpected.”
Claudia Kohlman, Senior Director of Design Capability, Procter and Gamble What Was Asked
Create a master class to help P&G designers adopt the Improv Mindset.
Claudia Kohlman, P&G’s Senior Director of Design Capability, had worked with On Your Feet on building many capabilities for the designers at the company, including collaboration skills for new employees and master classes on behavioral science and empathy.
She saw a unique value that the Improv Mindset could bring to designers at P&G who have a “compulsion for perfection” and find being flexible challenging.
What We Did
We created and delivered a two-part highly interactive virtual master class for small groups of designers.
The master class was a completely applied experience, situating the improv learning directly in the context of designers’ everyday work, such as meetings, collaborations, timeliness, and creative sessions.
An important lesson for this class was how to “let go” but also still have a plan and point of view.
What Happened
Designers saw and embraced the many values of the Improv Mindset, with a special fondness for the idea of “letting go.”
While all the lessons were useful for the designers, the self-described “perfectionist” designers really saw the need to let go. The exercises and experiences in letting go led to some truly emotional personal sharing and group bonding.
The designers left with powerful experiences, practices, and an applied understanding of how to use the Improv Mindset in their work.
Today, On Your Feet continues to deliver the Improv Mindset to P&G designers as part of their master class series.
