Improwise blends workshops on leadership, innovation and change management with live jazz performance.
The premise is that if you can understand how jazz musicians communicate, improvise, innovate, generate ideas, create, respond, lead and support, then there are valuable lessons, skills and techniques which you can apply in your organisation.

The improwise sessions have been utilised by many of the world's leading business organisations, government agencies, research institutes and business schools throughout the world. Recent clients include WL Gore, Euroclear, Siemens, Ernst & Young, KBC Bank, BNP Paribas, Draeger, Calor, Catlin, EDF Energy, NHS, European Patent Office, Virgin Media, Exxon Mobil, Ashridge, Hogan Lovells, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland), and many other organisations in a range of different industry sectors. Improwise is active currently in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia & Venezuela.

The sessions work by taking a group of jazz musicians into the conference venue or board room. The sessions are led by business leader and jazz pianist, Alex Steele. Key issues facing your organisation or your delegates are explored through interactive demonstrations, activities and discussions. Live jazz is interspersed throughout the session to demonstrate a range of different skills and techniques which can be applied and used by the audience in relation to their own areas of work. The issues can be applied to personal development, teamwork, looking at new ways of working, innovation, change management and organisational culture, values and change.

The participants gain a unique view into the ways that jazz musicians approach many similar challenges to those faced by individuals, teams and organisations in the audience. During the session, participants get the opportunity to interact with the musicians, to control what they do and to gain a fascinating insight into design, creativity, communication, emotional intelligence, change management, leadership and innovation. The sessions are tailored to enable participants to reflect on how they could utilise similar skills and techniques in relation to their own ways of working, the products and services they make and deliver, and the ways they engage with each other, with clients, customers and other stakeholders.

The combination of interaction, deep thinking and great music make the Improwise sessions entertaining, motivating, transformational, inspirational, unforgettable, and great fun!

We offer:

  • In-company organisational development workshops, focusing on areas including innovation, change, leadership, teamwork, communication, risk, transformational learning and creativity (ranging from one hour sessions through to half and full day sessions);
  • Conference workshops (normally ranging between one and two hour sessions);
  • Keynote presentations at conferences (normally up to one hour);
  • After-dinner motivational sessions (normally up to one hour duration).

Improwise Jazz & Innovation is a division of the Improwise Group, which seeks to assist organisations in bringing about change and innovation. Other divisions of the Improwise group address environmental management, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and we run leadership development programmes in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Colombia & Venezuela.

Welcome to Improwise jazz and innovation. I was delighted to establish Improwise back in 2004, and since then, we've been running programmes for organisations all over the world. I am passionate about the practical skills and techniques we can take from the world of jazz and improvisation, which we can apply to organisations. Global management consultants, Accenture, conduct an ongoing research programme into high performance businesses, and they state that their proprietary research on over 500 of the world's most successful companies finds that high performers not only excel at fundamentals, but they are also brilliant at improvisation. Through our own work, we continue to find that our insights into 'jazz skills' for organisations enables them to take a fresh look at what they do and look at new ways of working. We've seen some radical and inspirational results.