How does an unlikely organization go from top-down, traditional and struggling to grow to become an award-winning organization – recognized by Inc, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, among others – that works in a radically collaborative way? In mid-October 2017, we partnered with former CEO Tom Walter from Tasty Catering to tell his company’s story […]

2016. What a year. Before we leap into 2017 armed with hope, lessons learned, and breathless curiosity about what comes next – we want to reflect on what inspired us in 2016. Imagine walking into your favorite bookstore. You step in from the cold, scan the shelves on your way to your favorite section, and […]

Few things excite us more than seeing collaborative leadership infiltrate pop culture. It’s happening more and more. And no collaborative organization is grabbing more headlines or heartstrings than the record-breaking Golden State Warriors.  This year’s NBA season just began, and the Sunday New York Times is already speculating. Our first post is a catch-up on […]

Way back in March (remember March?), we posted “15 Improv games to develop leadership skills and ensemble thinking in your group (part one)” in response to collaborators near and far who asked for some of our favorite improv games to have handy when getting ready for a meeting.  Here it is, the thrilling conclusion of “15 […]

There’s nothing like a last minute push to plan a meeting. You’re dying for that perfect game you played that one time (when? where?) to shake up your staff meeting, but you can’t quite remember how it goes. Unabashedly philosophical rant We – like all facilitators who use improv – are often asked for game […]

You know Ian Prinsloo is a master of creating ensemble in business because he says it with a French accent. Ensemble, he says, making you wonder why you ever pronounced it any other way.  Prinsloo, an accomplished theatre director with a 30-year career (and Deeper Funner collaborator), works these days with social services and nonprofit clients from […]

Contributed by Deeper Funner’s Superhero Jessica Wallenfels – who knows a thing or two about leaping tall buildings because she wants to. That pink Cadillac Mary Kay salespeople were once set up to vie for? It might be a smooth ride, but compensation is actually not the number one employee motivator. A 1968 article in […]

Well, this is fun. Three years ago, Karen Dawson, Ian Prinsloo and I started experimenting with a hunch. It went something like this: A heap of smart people have spent a whole lot of time trying to crack the nut of organizational change: how do we pull it off, so we can be more [INSERT […]

Because you’re here, I know you are one. That goes for us at the Deeper Funner Change Project, too. This site is for all of us. Backstory: for the past few years, I’ve been indulging a dream. I’ve scaled back on consulting work to take a learning sabbatical and do a doctorate in organizational change. […]

As some of you know, I’ve spent the last few months living and working from a quiet bay on Baja’s Sea of Cortez. (If doing your dissertation literature review looks a lot like solitary confinement, why not confine yourself somewhere you can paddleboard?) But it’s not been all quiet.