“Radical Acceptance”; Simple Activity – Profound Individual & Team Development

Interestingly, I tried your ‘radical acceptance’ with a group of about 15 people midway through a long meeting today.  Much to my surprise they engaged with it, enjoyed it and want to do it again.  They liked being cheered!Dr Esther Waterhouse FRCP
Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Associate Medical Director for Medical Leadership Development and Mentorship.
Clinical Lead for Schwartz Rounds
WALSALL HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST

It might feel risky to facilitate this activity within a healthcare team as this physician shared with me in a subsequent email. And finding the right time and place is a consideration, yet with feedback like this and practically no cost involved, simple experiential activities from medical or applied improv are perfectly suited to impact healthcare staff and teams in big and positive ways!

“Radical Acceptance” is also known as “3 things” is a deceptively simple warm-up activity that can be used in a variety of ways. From building self-awareness, to confidence to participation in teams and groups. At the same time, growth in listening skills such as validation and perspective-taking are taking place at their roots and facilitators are gaining insights into individual strengths and needs. And there are many ways to vary this activity to meet psychological safety and readiness of teams and groups. If you work develop your skills in facilitating simple improv activities like this, you will probably discover additional benefits, variations, and applications as you experiment teaching with it.

“Radical Acceptance” Basic Design

Choose a category with many possible examples such as; fruits, desserts, or towns and cities. Everyone in the group takes turns naming 3 examples. After each example, the group responds with increasing enthusiasm, “Yes”!

In Person it Looks Like This

Virtually it Looks Like This

Experiential Learnings

Boosting morale and reducing stress may be reasons enough to include it in a team meeting or group session. I’ve been using this activity in workshops for years and continue to be amazed at how much fun people seem to have.

Yet, look deeper. Notice how people are affirming others and feeling affirmed. This is fundamental for trusting relationships, optimal collaboration, positive group process, or any team effort! And for personal growth, consider how the roots of confidence and self awareness are engaged in sharing desserts or fruits. Not to mention the roots of validation and perspective-taking. Especially when participants are encouraged to respond affirmatively even if someone repeats an example or names something that others don’t think belongs in the category.

Examples of Deep Learning

With the caveat that the best way to understand the breadth and depth of social and emotional learning potential is via experience, I can share some powerful teaching moments. For instance, one participant who was having trouble responding with “YES”. During the activity I encouraged him to try and mentioned that we’re not measuring people’s intellectual activity about fruit rather providing people with positive experiences of being affirmed and affirming others.

Later, during a private conversation, he shared, “It feels like I’m giving false praise”. His question made me wonder why affirming others might be so hard for him and how critical thinking may shape his interactions and relationships.

I also made a mental note of how vulnerable he might have felt and how I make this activity safer for people who may struggle a bit to be affirming. If I was a manager and he was on my team, I would be able to look for opportunities to help him develop collaborative skills.

No small things!

Another example of deep learning is watching people work with hesitancy in what might be described as moving through fight, flight or freeze response in a relatively safe way.

Moment of Overcoming Hesitancy

Watch Dwyer, in the clip below as she moves through hesitation quickly and experiences some joy in the accomplishment and support.

Making it Safer

I have also seen people who may be literally paralyzed in sharing an idea and helped me to understand how we may be getting at primal learning and voice.

As simple as this activity may be on an intellectual level, it is important to make it as safe as possible. And while participation in a group or team requires some risk-taking, there are ways to minimize the risk with these instructions.

• It is ok to repeat something someone else said.
• It is ok to say the same thing 3 times.
• It is ok to name something outside the category such as “Pinecone”.
• It is ok to ask a neighbor for an idea and only to give ideas when asked. (This qualification nudges those who may have an impulse to speak over others to wait.)
• Even if you don’t like what someone says, your job is to say “YES”!
• Pairs, triads, or smaller groups.

If you work with teams or groups, I bet you have some other ideas for making it safe within your specialty. Maybe you’d want to start out with whispering or even words on cards and using thumbs up for affirmations. Maybe you’d have participants name just one item and build up to three over time. Maybe some members can play a role of active observers providing feedback. In any case, you’ll likely discover profound learning and positive energy going on.

If you are intrigued by the possibilities and want to explore more, please check out Medical Improv Events & Resources. There are many free articles, videos, and interviews.

Integrating activities like “Radical Acceptance” into team meetings or small group process work does not take a lot of time or money yet can yield rich results for everyone!

“Radical Acceptance” is one of the activities presented in my upcoming book (Summer 2024)!

The Medical Improv Toolkit

10 Simple Activities to Promote Safe Care, Healthy workplaces, & Rewarding Careers”.

“This is not a toolkit. It is a gift box overflowing with a generosity of practices, experiences, and wisdom gained through long years of experimentation and learning.  I love everything about this book—its treasure of practices, its supportive videos, its design that highlights stories and case scenarios.  And I deeply appreciate the heart and soul that persevered and is now expressed with such love and confidence. Btw, these practices work anywhere people are working together.”

– Margaret Wheatley, author of 12 books, from Leadership and the New Science to Restoring Sanity