The cat is out of the bag! At long last, we’ve announced the theme for this year’s Practice Plan Workshop Tour which is ‘The happiness Effect – how to build a thriving team with the science of happiness’.
This time we’re shaking things up a bit and we’re teaming up with Learning and Development company, Laughology, to provide a day that promises to be full of guffaws, giggles and golden nuggets of information. It’s a day to come and have fun (which will be on offer in abundance) while learning ways of thinking that can have a positive effect upon the practice’s bottom line.
The event will be led by actor and stand up, Dave Keeling, who will introduce attendees to the science and data behind humour, laughter, happiness and how they can be employed to improve performance. “The day is very much about time and space for people to refresh, renew, and rethink what they’re doing as both individuals and as a team, and how they can collectively have a bigger impact,” Dave explains. “I think we could all benefit from that. And there may also be a chocolate bar or two for some lucky people.”
Why is it worth teams attending and what can they expect?
“I’m aware that people are investing time, energy, and resources by coming along,” Dave says. “At Laughology we pride ourselves that not only is everything rooted in psychology and neurology, so it’s helpful from the point of view of better understanding yourself or the people around you. But everything we show on the day is actionable. It’s practical. It’s not just thought based. There’ll be things that they’ll be able to take from that session and roll back out into their professional working lives and also their personal lives.”
The day will be split into three sections. The first part will examine the science of happiness. It aims to help us create the right neurology to make better choices. This will include looking at how the brain is wired, how many brains we have (honestly!) and what sort of things get in our way. Dave will also explore ‘wonky thoughts’ and ‘wonky behaviours.’ These are ones that hinder rather than help and pull us down professionally.”
Dave will also help participants examine their personal impact and how they can bring the best version of themself to wherever they are as often as possible. He’ll also introduce people to the idea of a growth mindset. Then the final section of the day will be about ‘Flip it thinking’. This session aims to equip people with a toolkit to be able to help people think better thoughts and take better actions. It asks attendees to consider where they are making maximum impact and suggests questions they can ask themselves to be more creative in their thinking. It can also show how to recover better when they’re not feeling on top of their game. The ultimate goal is to find ways to spend more time thriving, not just surviving.
Who should attend?
Workshop Tour days have traditionally been aimed at the whole practice and this year is no exception. To get the best out of a Workshop Tour ideally the whole team should come along. Indeed, some practices build into their business plan closing the practice to attend Workshop Tour!
“There’ll be lots of practical things for the individual. But I think the focus of the day is very much on teams”, Dave explains. “The more people from a practice that are there, the better this stuff works because it’s about them having conversations among themselves. It’s about them thinking through how they can find out the stories of the people around them so they can more effectively collaborate.
“Essentially, the true art of collaboration from my understanding, is to upskill one another above and beyond the job. And often we tend to gravitate toward the people that see the world like we do. But actually, we can learn so much from people who think, communicate, or see the world differently to us. People we might not have an affinity within our teams can be the ones who are going to stretch our thinking if we have professional curiosity.”
We’re really looking forward to collaborating with Dave and the Laughology crew as Head of Sales, Zoe Close explains: “We are thrilled to be working with Laughology. We’ve seen Dave in action, and we know our practices are going to have a brilliant day with loads of takeaways to use in practice and in their personal life. I’m really looking forward to the Tour and seeing the difference these sessions make to people. It’s going to be a great event that’s not to be missed!”
The Workshop Tour is an exclusive event for Practice Plan practices. To find out more about dates, venues and to book your place go to the Events page of the Practice Plan website.