AND BEYOND IMPROV
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MINDFUL IMPROV ​MANIFESTO

This page is just as much for me as it is for you. I want you to know what I care about, so you know who you’re doing business with.

But I need it too! In any given week there are new opportunities, application deadlines, partnerships to forge, meetings to get to, and fancy, important people such as yourself to impress. All of those things are important to me.

YOU are important to me.

This page is here to keep me, my business partners and current & potential clients from losing sight of WHY any of this matters. Mindful improv is impactful for effective leadership, employer branding, employee engagement and many other culture-related topics relevant to today.

But Mindful Improv has even bigger implications.

Really, everything I do here is about equipping peacemakers. The founding mantra of this company is:

Love is the source. Improv is the method. Peace is the outcome.

You see, Mindful Improv is about choosing curiosity instead of judgement; perhaps the single most important and transferrable improv skill for life and leadership. Mindful improv is about choosing this kind of curiosity for yourself, for your family, for your team, for your community, and for the rest of the world too.

The goal of this work is nothing short of WORLD PEACE.

That lofty statement is based in the reality that peace is achieved one salvaged relationship at a time. One conscious choice to understand another’s perspective. One conscious choice to listen beyond your comfort zone. One conscious choice to prioritize connection over establishing dominance. Mindful Improv equips us to do all of those things.

My intention for every retreat, keynote address, youtube video and weekly note of encouragement is that it contributes to this greater vision for establishing peace.

I decided to focus my peace work in corporate environments for 3 reasons:

  1. Employers have a huge impact on their employees’ sense of joy, freedom and security, but they don’t always know how to be good stewards of that opportunity. It's quite common that the understanding of HOW to be good stewards of the opportunity dilutes as the company grows.
  2. I know what it feels like to be miserable at the hands of a leader who was likely unintentional in their misery-inducing behavior. You probably know what that feels like too. It bleeds into the rest of your life, and makes it really hard to be the parent, partner, professional or peacemaker you intend to be. Therefore, helping leaders and team members work together to prevent these experiences by taking ownership of their own behavior is an ideal way to create more peace in the world.
  3. We spend MUCH of our adult lives at work… that means work culture has an incredible opportunity to be a training ground for peacemaking behavior. If work is a place where folks can learn and practice how to confront one another honorably, advocate for themselves effectively and respectfully, identify their own biases in service of inclusive collaboration, give and receive feedback graciously, and forgive themselves and each other for the times their actions didn’t match their intentions, then we’re well on our way to enabling a more empathetic, productive and peaceful society.

​As a leader or culture stakeholder, you have an incredible opportunity. That  opportunity is bigger than the product you’re building at work. It’s bigger than the bottom line, although not exclusive of it.

~ You have the opportunity to be a peacemaker — to truly make the world a better place — in the way you lead. It’s our intention to equip you to do that.

~ You have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of your employees for the duration of their employment with you and beyond. It’s my intention to equip you to do that.

~ You have the opportunity to help your employees embrace their differences, and build something they’re proud of together. It’s my intention to equip you to do that.

~ You have the opportunity to speak into your employees lives at times when they’re vulnerable, and navigating uncertainty in their personal lives — you have the opportunity to provide the resources that could ultimately improve or even save their lives. It’s my intention to equip you to do that.

~ You have the opportunity to give people the feedback and coaching that can help them get out of their own way and succeed at a higher caliber than they ever imagined. It’s my intention to equip you to do that.

This is what Mindful Improv is about: true human connection. Mindful Improv doesn’t just inspire us towards a vague, nice-sounding professional utopia. It is also instructive on how to reach our culture goals. It teaches us:
  • Proactive curiosity
  • Attentive listening
  • Sacrificial support of your scene partner
  • Present focus
  • Unconditional optimism
  • Inclusive collaboration
  • Self efficacy
  • Forgiveness and resilience

While all of this will most certainly equip your team to navigate change together, collaborate more effectively, and stay with your company longer… the extended impact is that it also equips YOU and your team to actively contribute to a more peaceful world.

It is my desire that every touch point you have with me or anyone affiliated with my company honor these intentions. It is my deepest intention to well-love, well-serve and well-equip all who partner with me.
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Andrea Flack-Wetherald owns and operates 
Improvising the Office, LLC
© Improvising the Office, LLC 2022
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