Bringing the 'Yes, and...' Principle to the Workplace

Aug 13, 2019 · Comments CareerDevRelImprov

I’ve been having lots of fun taking Improv comedy classes lately. It’s been a unique way to grow my communication skills, public speaking confidence, and dynamic presentation abilities. It’s personally satisfying while also feeding back into my DevRel work at Ionic.

One of the fundamental principles we’ve learned is “Yes, and…”

When interacting with a peer on stage, the idea is always to respond to them in a way that helps move the scene forward. 

Jim: “Quick! Climb this ladder to rescue that cat!”
Mary: Climbing motion “OK, I got the cat - but now I’m stuck!”
Jim: “No, worries, I’ll get you down using this firehose.”

Typically this means avoiding negative statements because they torpedo the current conversation, giving the original person little to build off. Hence “yes, and” versus “no, and.” For example:

Mary: “No! I’m scared of heights!”
Jim: “…please? It’s about to fall!”

Using the “Yes, and…” approach, Mary should try to play along by attempting to climb the invisible ladder. Her response could work, if she followed it up with a reason that Jim could play off of, such as: 

Mary: “I’m too scared - you’ll never get me up there without carrying me!”
Jim starts chasing her around the stage… hilarity ensues.

In Improv, an adverse reaction isn’t the end of the world - Jim can pivot to another topic or try to continue with the current scene. However, in the business world, the impact can be much more harmful and long-lasting as it hurts team morale.

This typically occurs when you bring up an issue or ask for help from a coworker, but they respond in a manner that at best leaves you stuck, and at worst is downright dismissive.

“The Shutdown”:

You: “I’m thinking of highlighting Joe Customer in a new retail industry case study.”
Them: “I don’t think they’re a good choice.”
Silence
You: “…”
Them: “…”

There are many reasons why these types of responses happen, but in my experience, it arises due to general busyness. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your work and thus naturally feel the urge to prioritize it over others’. However, spending a few moments to help out can go a long way:

The “Yes, and…”:

Them: “Sounds good. They’ve been thrilled with our recent product releases. Let me put you in touch with their champion, Steven.”

Here, the coworker confirms your customer choice and offers to connect you with the person most likely to respond positively to the case study request.

Using the “Yes, and…” method in the workplace doesn’t mean that responses are always purely positive, though. Faking positivity doesn’t help anyone, of course. Here, the person critiques the customer choice with valid reasoning, and then offers up a different option:

“The Helpful Critique”:

Them: “I don’t think they’re a good choice. I just learned from our Sales team that Joe is unlikely to renew his contract with us. How about ABC Company instead? They just renewed for three years, were a recent webinar guest, and tweet positive comments about us all the time.”
You: “Great! I’ll speak to them instead. Thanks.”

The next time a coworker reaches out for help, pause a moment if you feel the urge to give a rushed response. It could make all the difference in your working relationship and shared business success.