Applied Improvisation at Work

Collaborate Boldly.
Innovate Faster.
Lead Through Change.

The skills that make great improv also make great teams.
Improv isn't a distraction from real work. It's the fastest path to creative thinking, psychological safety, and collaboration that gets results. And when the work is fun, it has staying power.

Let's Go! See the Offerings
✓
Improv builds psychological safety
A Pepperdine University study found that improvisation training directly and positively impacts psychological safety across all four core tenets: ensemble thinking, Yes And, celebrating failure, and active listening.
Pepperdine University
230%
Average ROI on psychological safety
Organizations that invest in psychological safety see more than double their investment returned through higher retention, stronger collaboration, and measurable performance gains.
Psychology Today
2x
Faster to market with human-centered design
Organizations that prioritize human-centered design bring products and solutions to market twice as fast. When teams are built to collaborate and empathize, everything moves faster.
IBM Research
50%
More productive teams
Teams operating in high-psychological-safety environments consistently outperform their peers by 50% on productivity metrics. People do their best work when they feel safe to take risks.
Gartner / HBR
9x
More likely to stay when orgs invest in skill-building
Employees are nine times more likely to remain at organizations that actively invest in their development. Learning cultures are retention cultures — and improv training is skill-building that sticks.
O.C. Tanner, 2024
27%
Reduction in employee turnover
When people feel heard, valued, and safe to speak up, they stay. Organizations with high psychological safety see a 27% reduction in voluntary turnover.
Gallup, 2017
6x
Higher engagement and innovation
Companies with strong cultures of psychological safety report six times higher levels of employee engagement and innovation compared to industry peers.
McKinsey, 2024
Trusted by DeloitteAccenture IntuitUMB Bank SMUMcDonald's HiltonIEHRA NAESIBM SalesforceInfor Just ParkPattern Energy JHP ArchitectureThe Educator Collective Trusted by DeloitteAccenture IntuitUMB Bank SMUMcDonald's HiltonIEHRA NAESIBM SalesforceInfor Just ParkPattern Energy JHP ArchitectureThe Educator Collective
The Methodology

Improv Skills. Real Business Results.

The way your people communicate, problem-solve, and adapt together is either your biggest competitive advantage or your biggest liability. A Culture of Yes, And! combines applied improvisation, organizational psychology, and human-centered design into one methodology to help move the needle forward for your team, regardless of size, scope of work, tenure, or the challenges you are facing.

The exercises are tools. The mindset shift is the outcome.

And we apply our methodology through the lens of these four pillars:

Active Listening
Listen to understand, not to respond. The foundation of every high-functioning team and client relationship.
Celebrate Failure
Mistakes are learning moments. Creates the safety to take risks and innovate without fear.
Ensemble Thinking
Make your partner look good. Shifts the mindset from individual performance to collective success.
Embrace Uncertainty
Get comfortable not knowing the answer. Adaptability and presence beat a perfect plan.
Three Formats. One Methodology.

The right experience for where you are.

Built around your goals, your team, and your moment.

Keynote
Collaborate Boldly
The Flagship Experience
This is a high-energy, interactive experience. During this keynote, participants learn and practice the core tenets of improvisation and human-centered design in real time. They'll walk away with a shared, common language and tools they can use immediately. Great for launching a conference, sales kick-off, or company-wide event.
60–90 min  ·  Conferences and large format events
"This was my favorite speaker. Very comfortable, engaging, and fun. Amazing speaking skills, easy to listen to. Great take-aways. Thank you!"
Conference Attendee, LEAD Innovation Day Paris 2025
↩ hover to flip back
Full-Day Workshop
Innovate Faster
Human-Centered Design Deep Dive
Teams work through a real workplace challenge and leave with a shared process for designing solutions and developing new ideas. It's an interactive workshop that is structured, but not rigorous. This allows the group time to reflect and ideate together and surface topics that would normally be left untouched.
6–8 hours  ·  10–75 participants
"Yes, you were fun, exciting, engaging, and different from our usual sessions and facilitators. More importantly, your session was transformational for our sales organization. It hit the mark with our objective to enhance our sales team's agility in having better conversations. Thank you for bringing such a refreshing and impactful approach to our retreat."
CHRO, Weathermatic
Workshop Series
Lead Through Change
Built for High-Stakes Moments
3–4 sessions for organizations navigating re-orgs, mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, and significant culture shifts. Initial assessments, a kickoff workshop, and virtual coaching sessions between each in-person experience keeps the momentum going well after our time together. This series takes place over 6–9 months.
3–4 sessions  ·  10–50 per cohort
"Amanda has a deep, intuitive understanding of what strong leadership looks like — and more importantly, she lives it. She navigates complex interpersonal dynamics with grace, clarity, and confidence. She's not afraid of hard conversations; in fact, she embraces them — transforming difficult moments into opportunities for growth and connection."
Associate Partner, IBM Consulting
What People Say

The room never forgets it.

"We cannot thank you enough for your session last week. Our entire team is still buzzing about it and there has been so much 'Yes, And' around our office this past week. We are looking forward to bringing you back for another workshop this year."
CEO, Just Park
"Amanda led our leadership offsite and it was nothing short of masterful. She created an environment where leaders were laughing, engaged, and deeply reflective, unlocking honest reactions and trust across the team. That's a strategic advantage to building high-performing teams."
Associate Partner, IBM
"Amanda is a talented facilitator. Engaging, encouraging, and exceptionally well-prepared. She created a welcome space where everyone felt comfortable participating. Our group left more bonded and confident. She'll be a go-to resource for me in the future for high-impact events."
VP / Chief of Staff, Franklin Covey
"Amanda engages the groups she works with through a unique approach of humor, expertise, and great empathy. You feel like a friend instantly and that she deeply wants you to grow and improve through your time together. It's a very special approach."
CHRO, UT Southwestern Medical Center
"Amanda kept the room filled with high energy, which kept everyone's attention resulting in 100% participation. We knew we hit a home run when our staff raved about their experience and they are still using the skills 7 months later. It was cost effective, professional, and highly energizing."
Managing Partner, PwC
"Amanda's ability to connect with people, challenge conventional HR approaches, and bring fresh perspectives to workplace culture makes her a natural speaker and thought leader. Her passion for improvisation and organizational psychology to build thriving workplaces is inspiring and necessary in today's ever-evolving work environments."
Senior Manager HRBP, Orthofix
Amanda Austin
About our Founder

Amanda Austin

Amanda is an Organizational Psychologist who brings a unique blend of improvisation and human-centered design to her work as a keynote speaker, trainer, and coach. Her active listening approach to coaching focuses on teaching individuals and teams the difference between listening to respond and listening to understand in order to create a willingness to change.

She founded and ran Dallas Comedy House for over a decade, then earned her Master's in Industrial Organizational Psychology from Harvard University while serving as the Human Resources Director at Dialexa and then IBM Consulting.

Amanda is an adjunct professor at the SMU Cox School of Business where she teaches a graduate level business management course: Innovation and Change by Design.

She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University, a Certificate in Building a Diverse and Inclusive Workplace from Cornell, and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Texas A&M University.

amandaaustin.co →

Ready to build
something different?

Every experience is built around your team, your goals, and your moment.

Let's Go!