When the brainstorm became a series of solo presentations — Triband

Why Triband asked us in

Triband makes playful, original games, and play is built into how the studio works. Over time, as the team grew, the creative process had drifted in ways the team itself had started to notice. Brainstorms that used to spark off each other had become a series of solo presentations, one person at a time. People were waiting until an idea felt fully formed before they'd share it. A "my idea" mentality had crept in, where ownership of a thought mattered more than building on it together. And knowledge that used to move freely across the studio had started to travel only through personal contacts, team by team.

None of this is unusual as a creative company scales. All of it quietly taxes the thing a game studio runs on: ideas, freely offered and built upon. The brief was to bring that back — to make it safe again to share the half-formed thing, to build rather than block, and to reach across teams.

The themes that shaped the work:

• Brainstorms that had gone solo. Idea sessions had become presentations, not collaborations.
• The wait for the finished idea. Self-judgement was keeping rough, useful thoughts unspoken.
• Knowledge stuck in pockets. Teams shared within themselves more than across.

What we delivered

A half-day built around the 5 Guiding Principles of IMPROV: a keynote on psychological safety and emotional intelligence, then three parallel three-hour experiential sessions, each led by an experienced IMPROV facilitator, before the room came back together to close. A 30-day reinforcement programme followed for those who opted in. The design put one contrast at the centre of the day — letting people feel, in their bodies, the difference between receiving a "Yes, and" and a "Yes, but" — before ever naming the principle behind it.

What the participants told us

The numbers point clearly at the studio's structural challenge. Likelihood of reaching across teams came in at 5.6/7 — the cleaner of the two scores, with nearly half giving a perfect 7 and 17 of 24 scoring 5 or above. Confidence to apply was more spread, clustered through the middle of the scale, which is honest for a half-day: it opens the door, and the 30-day programme is what deepens it. Nineteen of 24 would recommend the experience, and half opted into the programme.

Which principle resonated most. Asked which of the five spoke to them most, the studio pointed at the one underneath their own diagnosis.

Principle named as most resonant	Times named
Do Not Judge Yourself	7
Yes, And	6
Make Each Other Look Good	6
Do Not Judge Others	4
Embrace Failure	4

Do Not Judge Yourself leading is no accident — it's the exact mechanism behind waiting until an idea feels finished. Several people met their own inner critic during the exercises and named it plainly: "I judge myself a lot", "I have imposter sometimes". The principle was seen, felt and named. Make Each Other Look Good drew some of the most thoughtful responses, framed as a team behaviour rather than a personal virtue — "it's a team effort, and empowering the team."

The standout was how physical it became. The day's centrepiece — putting people through the contrast between "Yes, and" and "Yes, but" before naming it — landed exactly as designed. People reached for the language of the body: "Yes, and made me very positive, and 'no, but' was very hard and frustrating"; "physically difficult to come up with a positive after." Those are not abstract concepts. That is felt knowledge, the kind that actually changes behaviour.

The commitments converged on sharing before things are finished. A fifth committed to sharing imperfect work or asking for help out loud — exactly the behaviour the studio said had eroded as it grew. The next-largest group committed to reaching across teams, including one person who pledged to "eat lunch with different teams every Thursday" — the kind of specific, repeatable commitment that becomes a habit.

In their own words

Yes, and made me very positive — and "no, but" was very hard and frustrating. — Anonymous respondent, on what they noticed

Eat lunch with different teams every Thursday. — Anonymous respondent, on what they'll do differently

Ask for help more on public channels. — Anonymous respondent

I feel better about including myself instead of tapping out. — Anonymous respondent

I noticed that I'm fine with making a fool of myself — and others might not be. — Anonymous respondent

What they committed to doing differently

Each respondent named one specific behaviour to change. The themes clustered around openness and connection:

• Share imperfect work, and ask for help out loud rather than waiting until an idea is finished.
• Reach across teams — including a weekly cross-team lunch.
• Build on others' ideas rather than blocking them.
• Give credit, and highlight what a colleague did well.

The real story is the range: people didn't commit to the same thing. They committed to whatever in their own working life the day made unavoidable. That is what good behavioural training looks like.

Bring this to your studio or team

Any creative company that has grown faces a recognisable version of Triband's question: how to keep the ideas flowing freely as the team gets bigger, so brainstorms stay collaborative, people share before things are perfect, and knowledge moves across teams rather than staying in pockets. Our approach transfers directly: an experiential session built on the 5 Guiding Principles, designed to be felt rather than discussed, and a 30-day programme that turns the experience into habit.

Source: anonymous post-session survey, April 2026. 24 of around 58 responded — read as the voices we heard rather than the whole studio.