Time was the theme nobody asked about — a sales team at a European technology distributor

Quick answer

At a European technology distributor, IMPROV Communication opened a sales team's off-site with a keynote on psychological safety and emotional intelligence, followed by a hands-on training in the 5 Guiding Principles. The group of 25 to 28 was in the middle of change and wanted to think and work as one team again. All 20 survey respondents would recommend the experience, and their commitments kept returning to the same subject without any prompting: time.

At a glance

• Client: a sales team at a European technology distributor
• Engagement: opening keynote and 5 Guiding Principles training at the team's off-site, September 2026
• Scale: 25–28 participants, one day, delivered in Danish
• 100% would recommend the experience to a colleague (20 of 20 respondents)
• 6.35 / 7 likelihood to reach out to a colleague in the team to collaborate
• 5.6 / 7 confidence to apply what they experienced
• 16 of 20 respondents opted in to the 30-day sprint

Source: anonymous feedback survey completed by 20 of 25–28 participants, 19 on the day and one three days later.

Why they asked us in

The team was in the middle of change. A new leadership set-up had arrived, roles between departments were still settling, and a group-wide system rollout was adding pressure to the working week. The team wanted to use its annual off-site to reset how people work together.

The challenges that shaped our design:

• Roles still settling. People were unsure where one department's mandate ended and the next began.
• Friction between departments. Small irritations had started to add up.
• Change on several fronts at once. New structure and new systems in the same year.

What we delivered

One day at the team's off-site, opened with a keynote for the whole group and followed by hands-on work in the 5 Guiding Principles. It followed the three-phase architecture at the heart of our methodology:

• Pre-training activation. A call with the team's leaders two days before, so the design fitted the team's real situation.
• The day itself. A keynote on psychological safety (Amy Edmondson), emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman) and what happens in the brain under social threat, then experiential exercises built on the 5 Guiding Principles, closing with a personal commitment for the Monday after.
• Post-training reinforcement. A 30-day sprint of short Monday prompts and Friday reflections for everyone who opted in, and a debrief with the team's leaders.

What the participants told us

Feedback was collected anonymously at the end of the day on a 1–7 scale.

Question (1 = low, 7 = high)	Score
Likelihood to reach out to a colleague to collaborate	6.35
Believe this training is valuable to continue with	6.3
Confidence to apply what they experienced	5.6
Would recommend to a colleague	20 of 20

Three patterns stood out.

Time was the theme nobody asked about. When we asked each person for one thing they would do differently on Monday, nearly half of the answers came back to time, whether that meant respecting colleagues' time or protecting their own focus. It surfaced again when people described what they had noticed about themselves during the day. Nobody suggested it. The team named its shared theme on its own.

The inner critic was the most named principle. Do Not Judge Yourself was chosen six times, with reasons like "I am my own worst enemy". In a sales team, where results are visible to everyone, that is a pressure people rarely say out loud.

The will to work together is strong. Eighteen of twenty scored 6 or 7 on reaching out to a colleague to collaborate. Confidence to apply was lower at 5.6, which is typical after a first day and is what the 30-day sprint is there for.

In their own words

I really need my team for doing my best every day. — Participant, sales off-site

My concerns are the same as my colleagues'. — Participant, sales off-site

Interruptions in daily work, how long it takes to get back to the task. — Participant, sales off-site

I was more willing to participate than I initially expected. — Participant, sales off-site

What they committed to on Monday

• Hand over the next task in writing instead of verbally. (translated from Danish)
• Ask more questions before giving an answer.
• Ask people for help without expecting they have the time right now.
• Be more selective about when to receive notifications and be interrupted.

Bring this to your team

Teams in change often feel it first in small things, like a request that lands at the wrong moment or a handover that goes astray. What carries across is a keynote that gives everyone the same language, a day where people feel psychological safety for themselves, and a 30-day sprint that keeps it going once the off-site is over.