Episode 131: Tired of the Same Old Resolutions? How Improv Can Help Your Team Vision-Set and Prioritize Goals for 2023
Are youโฆ
๐ง Tired of the same old resolutions?
Todayโs ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐! ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ episode is for YOU. Learn how to set priorities and visions in a way that harnesses all thoughts and ideas, then makes the people within your organization feel seen, heard, and valued. Erin shares her 5-step strategy for prioritizing and visualizing for 2023 using the power of improv.
๐ฌ Donโt miss this convo โ grab your pen and paper to prep for the next year!
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Email Erin: info@learntoimproveit.com
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief โYes, Andโ officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. Sheโs a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, โget comfortable with the uncomfortable.โ Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We canโt wait to connect with you online!
โI love this podcast and I love Erin!!โ
If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people โ just like you โ move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select โWrite a Review.โ Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you havenโt done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you wonโt miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Peeps :)
Episode 131 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Are you a leader searching for new and innovative ways to drive employee engagement and team morale through the roof? Do you wanna create a company culture where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued? Hi, I'm Erin Diehl, Business improv edutainer, failfluencer, and professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve your it, your it being the thing that makes you, you think of me as your keeping it real professional development bestie who is here to help you learn from your failures. Stand tall in your power and improve yourself so you can improve the lives of others. Oh, and did I mention that we are improving your IT through play? That's right. I am an improvisational comedy expert who uses experiential learning to help you have your aha haha moments. Those are the moments when the light bulb goes off and you're laughing at the same time. So grab your chicken hat, your notebook, and your inner child because I'm gonna take you on a journey that is both fun and transformative. Welcome to the Improve It Podcast.
Erin (01:23):
Improve it peeps. Welcome to today's show. Get your pen and paper ready. I got some tangibles. I've got some things that I'm gonna have you put into motion immediately. So if you don't have a notebook, if you don't have a pen, open the note section of your phone because today we are getting tan-gib-le and I want us to use this time to talk about the upcoming year. This show is coming out in November. We have about a month and a half left until the end of 2022. How in the world did we get here? Two months left until 2022 is over. We start a brand new year. I don't know about you, but 2020 to 2022 has been a real decade for all of us. Am I right or am I right? And 2022 is the year for me personally, where I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, the world coming back together in person events happening, and our business really starting to bounce back after two years of really struggling to survive.
Erin (02:35):
So if you've been a longtime listener of this show, you know, we started this podcast actually, what was the failed podcast? In the heartbeat of the pandemic and finally improve. It has come back to where I knew we would be this place where we help people and teams and leaders connect and be their best selves, professionally, in person, and now virtually. So when I think to 23, I start really getting crazy with all of the ideas swarming around in my head. I am an innovator for sure, and I love coming up with ideas. I surround myself with integrators. So if you're like me and you lead a team of people and you're thinking about 2023, or if you're listening to this and years later that future and you're thinking about the upcoming year ahead, I want to use this opportunity to help you really prioritize and visualize your priorities for the upcoming year.
Erin (03:43):
So think of this. I'm sure if you are sitting down putting pen to paper, all the things that are swirling through your head, it could look something like, do I need to do a team off site? What about that new product launch? Oh, I need a new employee manual. Let's promote this service. Let's hire, hire, hire. Let's execute this project. Let's do some team development. Let's make sure our onboarding is ready to go. That's the inside of my brain. What did I miss? What's inside of yours? When you think of all these swirling priorities, we think about the things that we need to do to execute them, but we also might think about the challenges that come up for us along the way. So think of this, we have differences in opinion. If we're doing a team offsite, where do we host it? What's our travel budget?
Erin (04:33):
There's so many variables when it comes to planning events and doing things. Now as a team, especially when it's offsite, when we think about launching new products, we have to think of the timing, the people, the vendors that we wanna use. We have to think of cross-functionally working with people within our organization to onboard, to hire, to train new people. We have to think about the recruitment strategy, how to help with recruitment, how to make sure that recruitment doesn't take too long. How do we overcome challenges with leadership if they aren't buying into our ideas? How do we make our leaders and senior leaders within our organization see team development as a priority? How do we make sure all of the stakeholders in our organization have a say? How do we navigate company politics? How do we make sure there are enough diverse opinions in the room?
Erin (05:31):
So many challenges come to mind. You probably have your own set of challenges. These are just a few that came to mind when I thought about our own priorities for the year ahead. And I'm sure as I'm saying these things, your head is swirling and you're like, Erin, stop. I'm stressed. I need a very strong C, b, D, gummy. I get it. I get it. When you set priorities and visualize for your team, for your company, for your organization, there are many things at play and there are many things at stake. You wanna make sure company and employee engagement is high. You wanna keep team morale in check. You wanna make sure everyone is on board with the timing. You wanna make sure you have people to execute the plan. And with that said, you wanna make sure it's the right people to execute the plan.
Erin (06:29):
So how do you set priorities and visions in a way that harnesses all thoughts and ideas and then makes the people within your organization feel seen, heard, and valued? You've heard this theme come up so much on this show, this idea of making people feel seen, heard, and valued. In my opinion, it is the single most way to retain and attract talent. Making people feel seen, heard and valued is a way to see your priorities through. Making people feel seen, heard, and valued is a way to brainstorm. It's a philosophy. It is a intentional effort as a leader. There's so many things at play here, but I have one answer for you. How do you do that successfully? Improv. You're like this improv lady. Again, it's telling me all of these unicorns and rainbows ideas that are not gonna go in my organization. My organization is super tangible.
Erin (07:46):
My organization is super introverted. My organization doesn't take bs. Well, guess what? We have worked with Fortune 500, Fortune 100. We've worked with construction companies, engineers, accountants, sales teams, development teams. We have worked with hospital healthcare workers. We have worked in any industry, you name it. And we've worked with the most challenging dynamics within teams. And this is where I have always seen results using improv as the training tool. So because we at improve it, really enjoy creating visions and goals for our future, we created very specifically a workshop to help other people do the same. Our vision setting workshop was developed about five years ago, and we use the tips and the tricks within it within our own team to develop our priorities and set goals for the future. But we've done it with so many teams, and I wanted to share part of that philosophy with you today. It is great for internal teams within organizations. This workshop is great for companies at large to take part in. It's great for small businesses who want to empower their people while impacting the bottom line. Let me say that again. It's not only for the small business, but it is great for people who want to empower their people while impacting the bottom line.
Erin (09:34):
So all of this to say this vision setting workshop is so powerful. It can be done with small teams, small businesses, companies at large, leaders, associations, you name it, it works. So being a small business myself and a small business owner, there are at times mostly five, six people in our internal team who help with this brainstorming session at the end of every year. This vision setting, what I'm gonna tell you in just a minute, however, I have been a part of associations and volunteered my time for many things, one of which I was very passionate about, and I helped create curriculum and content to educate the members. So it was a very awesome organization. Still love and know a lot of the people. But I will tell you this, coming from this world of yes and this improv world, this small business leadership seat planning and executing and setting goals within this association were extremely tedious and very hard.
Erin (10:49):
Nothing ever got done. We were a group of volunteers who volunteered our time. And let's just say this, when we sat to brainstorm and come up with ideas to plan content and conferences and meetings, when people shared ideas, they weren't met with a let's keep going attitude. Everyone always looked to the leader in the room to make decisions, to continue the conversation and to say what's right and what's wrong. So it was very tough to create programming for the year ahead in this mindset, in this what I will call scarcity mindset. We were scared to share ideas because they wouldn't be met with a, Hey, that's Oak a great idea, let's build off of that. They were met with a wow, we've done that in the past. It didn't work. Or a, that's not the way we've done it before. Okay? You know that person <laugh>, you do.
Erin (11:57):
I do too. And just saying it like this just brings back memories. It was tough. I would leave those meetings feeling defeated, deflated. My ego would be checked at the door. I would not be motivated to return. And again, this was a volunteer position. I was giving my time, my effort and energy. I was not getting paid to do this. So the next brainstorming session we had, after walking away one day feeling extremely disheartened, I came to the table with an idea and I said, We are gonna brainstorm content for next year's programming, but we are going to use the methodology that I use within my business. I use it internally, I used it with all of my clients. And it is called yes. And it is going to leave us with an empowered, unified vision and a collective empowered group of individuals. And more importantly, it's going to be fun.
Erin (12:58):
So we started in using this idea, and here's how it works. I'm gonna give you four simple steps. It's actually five, there's five steps here that you can use to implore this methodology within your teams, your organization, within any association that you, me might be a part of it, is going to help you brainstorm, come up with ideas, and leave a unified front. It's going to help you take your ideas, put them into action, and have every single person feel bought in and more importantly, seen, heard, and valued. So here's how it goes. Number one, and this is before number one. Actually, I want you to decide what you're going to prioritize. All right? Are you setting goals for the following year? Are you setting goals for the following quarter? So decide the timeframe, and then number one, before you do any brainstorming, you're going to pick a chief Yes, and officer and a scribe.
Erin (14:06):
Let me define what that means. So before you start, you pick a chief Yes. And officer whose sole job is to make sure that every single person is sharing ideas. And that if somebody is sharing idea that they have said yes and to the person's ideas before them, so it can look like this is me. And then I'll use another voice to pretend I'm somebody else. I am so excited that we're planning next year's conference. Let's have an amazing speaker. Come maybe Beyonce. Here comes Bob. Yes. And we'll have Beyonce. And then we'll ask another member of the the group that she was in before. Now I'm blanking on the name. Oh yeah. Destiny's Child to come. And so then somebody, Yes, a's Bob. And then they keep going. What a great bob voice. I now, thank you so much. So here's what I want you to do.
Erin (15:08):
That chief Yes. And officer's job is to, number one, make sure every single person is sharing ideas. And number two, making sure that they are yes, Anding what was said before them. The scribe's job is to take down every single idea and preferably it is in a place where everyone can see it. So whether it's projected from a computer word doc onto a big screen, it's written on a marker board or I don't know, a chalkboard, whatever. You pick a chief Yes. And officer and a scribe. That is number one. Number two, everyone. And I mean, everyone starts throwing out ideas. So if you're brainstorming the year ahead, your priorities, your goals, you shout out an idea, but you must yes. And the person in front of you, these ideas after time will get wild. They will go pie in the sky as I like to say, because they're going real big, real big.
Erin (16:13):
Because you're yes, anding, there's energy boat. There is such a volume in the room that is making you want to contribute. And that's the point. Let them get big, let them get crazy. Let them get audacious. Let them get big, hairy, stinky, whatever. Go nuts. But that's number two. Yes. And for the people listening who are like, That is not how we do things or that doesn't seem very practical, keep listening. I've got you. I know what you're thinking. I know you keep listening. Number three, now that you've got all these pie in the sky ideas, you're going to narrow it down. So you can do this in a variety of ways. You know, do the old fashioned style. Heads up seven up vote on the most pressing topic. So if you're brainstorming ideas for next year, you're setting priorities. We're gonna have a company conference.
Erin (17:13):
Yes. And that conference is gonna be in Vegas. Yes. And at Vegas, we are gonna have an an entire club to ourselves. Yes. And we're all gonna play the slot machines and be given money to do that. Yes. So you hit to see the, you wanna have a company offsite, perhaps it's in Vegas. Perhaps you don't do all these things, but you narrow down the ideas. All right? So once you start narrowing them down, you then vote on the most pressing. And, and let's say a tangible ones, we wanna have a company offsite. All in favor? Raise your hand. Okay, Count those votes. We want to have it in Vegas. Raise your hand down. So if there's not enough votes for Vegas, perhaps you do another brainstorm on where you could have it. You narrow down these pie in the sky ideas to find themes to find common ground.
Erin (18:15):
Then you vote. So you have your most pressing topics that you want to start prioritizing. Once you've done step three, you move on to step four. You assign the timing to this priority. So if you're gonna have a conference, you're gonna sign, Okay, we want this to be in q2. Let's do it in April, q2, April. Who's in charge of this conference? Susan. Okay, Susan, you're leading the charge on this priority. It's in April. We're gonna back out of it from there. You do this for every single priority that you collectively come up with. Let me give you a free, really awesome tool that you can do or that you can input this information into a sauna. After you have all of your brainstorm, you've narrowed down the timing and the person who is going to make that task come to life, or that priority come to life.
Erin (19:17):
You can put it in this project timeline. And I guess software is, for lack of a better word, asana. And what Asana does, it just keeps you accountable. Everybody can see who's in charge of what, and it assigns the timing to it. So you can very quickly go back and see, here's the priority we're working towards. Here's the person in charge and here's the date that we want it to happen. To. Free software, you can get the paid version and get a lot more access. But we have been using the free version for years and have absolutely loved it. So now you've assigned your timing. You have a person in charge of this priority or somebody who's gonna hold the team accountable. Step five is to meet monthly, the following month and every month thereafter in 2023 to make sure that these larger tasks are broken down into smaller ones.
Erin (20:16):
All right? You're gonna then put on your calendar a monthly meeting for the team, for the leaders of the team, whoever is driving home these priorities to make it happen. So you're taking a look at these large goals that you wanna achieve and breaking them down into timing. And then at the beginning of every single month, you're looking at your project timeline. It could be a sauna, it could be a Google Doc or a Google spreadsheet that you're all working against. And you're really giving out those very large tests and chunking them down into smaller ones to make sure that those priorities are coming to life. We take you through this journey in a very creative way during our vision setting workshop. So first, we're gonna help you create a safe space, which is a very big precursor to this work. You have to have psychological safety and a feeling where you can share ideas in order for this Yes.
Erin (21:19):
And activity in brainstorm to actually work. So in the workshop, we set that safe space for you. Then we use this yes and perspective to help you flush out your priorities for the upcoming year. And then we present those and give a very fun and creative way to convey these goals to the collective group so that every single person knows the priorities. They are showcased very creatively. I'm not gonna spoil it here for you, but it actually allows people to retain the information. Because when you add laughter, when you add levity and some positivity behind it, magic happens. You can take this philosophy that we just shared with you, and by we, I mean me, but this is my team who helps execute and help build this content. You can take this yes and methodology, and you can use it personally. You can do this exact same thing with yourself.
Erin (22:20):
So you're the chief, yes. And officer, you're scribing down your own ideas. You yes, and yourself. You narrow it down, you vote, and then you assign the timing and the, and whoever you might need to help you achieve these goals. And then give yourself a monthly meeting. Or you can do this with your family and do the exact steps one through five. But more importantly, I want you to take this fundamental and do it professionally. There is so much power and yes, and there is so much power when every single person feels like they can share an idea. Okay? That chief yes. And officer is there making sure everyone is sharing, making sure everyone is yes. And their ideas are written down. They feel seen. They feel heard. When people feel seen, heard and valued. I've said it before and I'll say it 700 times.
Erin (23:27):
They wanna show up when people wanna show up at work, productivity rises. And when productivity rises, that's when the individual and the organization thrives. The power of yes. And is so strong. It's so simple. I want you to think back to the last meeting you had today, the last meeting you had this week. I'm sure there were people who were negating ideas, cutting down ideas, speaking more than everybody else, and the people in that room didn't share ideas because they didn't think that their idea mattered. And you know what's gonna happen to those people? They're gonna stop wanting to come to those meetings. They're gonna turn their camera off. They're not gonna engage in the chat. Or if they're sitting in the room, they're gonna look at their phone or they're gonna disengage in a way that allows them to not feel a part of the team.
Erin (24:33):
And then when that happens, there you go. You've just lost a person that you have trained, onboarded, and put time and energy into. So that's what happens when you don't. Yes. And that's the worst case scenario. When you Yes, and when people feel like they matter and they've shared these ideas, they've been voted on, they've been narrowed down, they have been prioritized, they have been assigned, they have a timeline to them and they are executed against. And then guess what? The goal is met. What happens? The people who are a part of that process are energized. The people who are a part of that project feel empowered. The people who are a part of that project say, Give me more of that. When you celebrate that success, we have to celebrate that success in that moment too. Oh my god, it feels so good. Because they put their time, effort, and energy into it because you as the leader, took the time to listen.
Erin (25:43):
So they feel ownership of these goals and therefore they can celebrate. And that celebration has to be big. We celebrate every win. Big, small. It's a win. They're gonna go back and they're gonna do it again. And they're gonna do it with gumption and they're gonna do it with flare. And they're gonna do it because they care about the work. They care about the impact, They care about the mission because they were along for the ride the entire time. It's like when you go to a theme park and your family goes on the loop, Tolo ride, it's six flags, but you're standing at the bottom of the ride waiting for them to get off. They come off all excited and energized and you're like, Oh, how was it? Can I see the picture that you took going down the big loop? And then they show you the picture and you're like, That seems cool.
Erin (26:35):
Wish I would've gone with you and you're mad at yourself because you didn't interject and get on the ride. That's what that's like. But if you were invited onto that ride with them and they held your hand and you put your hands up together when there were ups and downs, Oh, when they get off that ride, they're gonna be like, Man, that was bumpy. That was crazy. But I'm so glad I did it. Let's get back in line and do it again. Let's get back in line and do it again. Let's get a flash pass so we can just cut the lines and get back on this ride. That's what that is. So Woo took you to church. Oh, got you a ticket. All the things. But that is the power of this methodology. It works. So here's your next steps, your to-dos. Number one, I want you to decide on timing for this.
Erin (27:35):
Yes. And brainstorm. We had improve it, call it a CEO day. It's a philosophy we adopted from this program called Being Boss. We love it. But we use this methodology as part of our CEO day. So pick one day where you do this brainstorming with your team or your organization. And then number two, break it down into steps one through four. You know they are, I'll recap 'em here. For you, it's pick a chief, yes, and officer. And as scribe number two, throw out ideas and yes, and the person in front of you. Number three, narrow it down so you have assigned and exciting themes. And then four is assign the timing and get a group or a person to do this. So you make sure that you have it allocated and you have a timeline against it. And then create a monthly meeting to go over these goals and these priorities.
Erin (28:34):
Then here is number three of your to-dos. I want you to put that monthly meeting on your calendar and I want you to actually implement it. We like to start our monthly meetings with an intention for the month. So we say one word that we're gonna focus on that month. We look back at the following month's intention, did we execute against it? And this is a personal intention. It has nothing to do with the team. It's a collect it's, it is a collective intention that we give to each other, but it is Erin's own intention, Jenna's own intention, jealous, all intention that we wanna put into ourselves that month to push the work forward and the projects forward, but also to help us personally and professionally. The number four on your to-dos is to book and improve IT. Vision setting workshop. You know, I'm gonna throw in a shameless plug and I did it.
Erin (29:28):
I'm gonna do it again. Book this workshop for your team. It is so impactful. It's November. We are executing into 2023 starting now. We are thinking ahead, starting now. Book this for your team. If you want guidance, if you want help and some awesome facilitators to guide your team and bring great energy to this process, we are so here for you. And so here for that. And if you can't, for whatever reason, take this yes and methodology, put it in a play for your team, rewind this episode, go back and listen to the steps so you have them. Write them down and implement it. Because I am telling you that this will change the course of your 2023. It just will. Your team will feel like they matter. They will want to show up, they'll want to do the work. And then when the goal is met, you better believe that they are gonna be so excited because you are so excited and ready to jump back in and do it all over again.
Erin (30:42):
Whew. I need to go lay down after this episode. Y'all, I am all, why am I so southern right now? I am <laugh>. So excited for you and for your team and for the year ahead. I'm so proud of you for putting this time and effort and energy into yourself, to the people you lead to, the people you care about. I'm so thrilled to be a part of this journey with you. I'm so here for you always. And you know what I'm gonna say? Keep learning, keep improving, keep failing because the world needs that. Very, very special It that only you can bring. I'll see you next week. Improve it peeps. Go get 'em. Hey friend, did you enjoy today's show? If so, head on over to iTunes to rate and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Now, did I mention that when you leave a five star review of the Improve It podcast, an actual team, a Humans does a happy dance? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. That's right. So leave a review for us on iTunes, screenshot it, and send me an email at info Learn to improve it.com. I'll send you a personalized video back as a thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Improve It Peeps. I'll see you next Wednesday.