Community effort idea: “Yes, and”

Conflict can be caused by separate, competing sets of ideas. The more someone’s ideas are challenged, the more they will often “dig in” on their position, closing the doors on positive, effective communication.

The Improv game, “Yes, And,” forces people to avoid rejecting others’ ideas, and, instead, to find a way to go with the flow. “Yes, And” is the opposite of “No, But.”

Practice

As a group, you can practice using “Yes, And” with a small activity, and then try to carry it into the way your group communicates in the future.

Start with a simple concept (it may even be silly) to break the ice. The point is to add information to the conversation rather than reject information.

For example, Person A states, “Corgis are cute dogs.” If person B says, “No, but poodles are cute dogs,” they are rejecting Person A’s statement. Poodles also being cute doesn’t have to take away from the cuteness of corgis. So, using “Yes, And” principles, Person B would instead say, “Yes, corgis are cute, and poodles are cute, too.” Both can be true.

Now that you have some more tools in your tool belt for working in groups, the following section goes into some of the details to keep in mind when organizing large accessible meetings in rural places.