IMPROVe Your Conversations for Success!

Success in practice can be measured in many. Whichever way it is measured, outside of a viable business model, “the single most important factor in organizational success” is workplace culture.

Culture can be understood as the “fingerprint” or “personality” of an organization. It shapes behaviour, language, and social interaction, informing us as to what is acceptable and unacceptable, and how we should view, value, treat, talk to, and interact with one another. It is subtly apparent as a similarity in the way people behave, regardless of role or responsibilities, and includes all the day-to-day behaviors that enhance or detract from business performance. A collaborative (vs. controlling) culture is associated with the keys to workplace happiness, and workplace happiness – associated with lower rates of turnover, higher client loyalty, higher productivity, and higher profitability – leads to business success.

Although culture is socialized through relationships, relationships are based on conversations. Conversations, therefore, are what create, reveal, sustain, and change organizational culture. This session explores the art of co-creating mutually beneficial conversations that will build a collaborative workplace culture – and enable anyone to connect with anyone and make great things happen.

Learning Objectives:

1. To understand workplace culture, including how it contributes to workplace happiness and practice success.

2. To learn how the conversations we have create culture and understand from firsthand experience (through improv) the communication principles and practices that enable a collaborative workplace culture.

3. To assume personal leadership to build such a culture, one conversation at a time.

This session engages the audience with fun, educational exercises in "improv," as used in Colleges of Medicine (http://www.medicalimprov.org/about/ ), MBA programs, business schools etc.