How often do you find yourself changing direction mid-conversation? Not just changing your mind, but pivoting to a completely different idea? For Dr. Don Waisanen, developing that skill isn’t just helpful, it’s essential to the world as we know it. As a 2025 Collaborative Discussion Project (CDP) Visiting Fellow and CDP Coach with the Interactivity Foundation, Don aims to help people learn to adapt the scope of their conversation, collaborate more creatively—and have fun while doing it.
“My entry point to the Interactivity Foundation was a Collaborative Discussion workshop. They led us through a whole sequence of collaboration activities and how to do them in classrooms or roll out curricula—it was wonderful. When they got to a ‘Yes, and’ exercise, I was like—I just wrote a book on this! That kicked off a whole set of conversations and collaborations with the team.”
Don is a professor, improviser, and communication strategist, with the ability to put on a surprisingly good Scottish accent. His work lives at the intersection of leadership, civic engagement, and strategic communication, and his CDP Fellowship project explores how we can expand our understanding of collaboration to include not just our ideas, but also our bodies, emotions, and behaviors.
“My Fellowship is all about creative collaboration—how we can expand beyond just cognitive approaches like ‘yes and’ and brainstorming,” Don explains. “I want to add what I think are missing elements: the affective realm, the emotional realm, the physiological realm, and the behavioral realm.”
“There was already so much alignment between what I’ve been doing and what the Interactivity Foundation is trying to do—namely, to embed and scale better practices for collaboration across society.”
As part of his Fellowship, Don is revising and adding to the Creative Collaboration module of the Collaborative Discussion Project Toolkit—a free resource developed by IF to help people learn and practice collaborative discussion skills, whether in the classroom, workplace, or community. He’s particularly focused on two new activities, each of which brings in a flair of inspiration from the improv world.
Exploring “New Choice”
One of the new activities Don is adapting from the world of improv is called New Choice, and it helps people pivot, break out of mental ruts, and stay flexible in collaboration.
Here’s a snippet from our conversation where we gave it a go:
Don: This weekend, I think I’m going to take my kids to the mall.
Laura: Nice. This weekend, I’m looking forward to dancing tango.
Don: New choice.
Laura: I’m looking forward to dancing underwater.
Don: New choice.
Laura: I’m looking forward to dancing on a pirate ship in the Mediterranean.
Don: Fantastic! I went on a pirate ship once. They made me walk the plank.
Laura: New choice.
Don: They made me moonwalk.
Laura: New choice.
Don: They made me walk starboard while reciting Shakespeare.
As Don explains it, New Choice is about breaking off existing paths, seeing a new trajectory, creating a new pattern—but still working with the other person. It is about creating new possibilities together, which is key to creative collaboration.
“But it’s not just about changing words as rounds go on,” adds Don. “We’ll also say ‘new emotion’ or ‘new gesture’, and the speaker incorporates those. Participants will tell you what it means for them, often in very profound ways—and it’s fun!”
Deliberately Deliberating
His second activity explores three distinct modes of communication: debate, dialogue, and deliberation. Participants are invited to try each in turn, using a lighthearted disagreement as their starting point—for example, “dogs versus cats”. First, they take a debate stance and try to win the argument. “You might say ‘dogs are so much better’,” explains Don. “‘Dogs have jobs, like sheepdogs or watch dogs. Dogs are great’—and I’m going to debate that. ‘You’ve got it wrong. Cats have lots of jobs. They hunt mice…’ and then we go back and forth.”
Next, participants shift into dialogue mode, building understanding. Finally, they move into deliberation, where the goal is to come to a decision together.
In creating this activity, Don draws on a theory called Coordinated Management of Meaning, which encourages people to name the “episode” they’re in. “We’re going to have trouble being creative together if we don’t name the episode,” he says. “And if we don’t think actively about what type of social world we want to bring into being.”
“This is not a common thing for people to do, but it can really help us to name what episode we’re in—are we debating? Dialoguing? Trying to make a decision? Naming what we’re doing tells people about the type of collaboration we’d like to have and can transform how we collaborate.”
This kind of reflection, he believes, is long overdue—and almost absent in public discourse.
“Imagine going to the dentist and realizing they’re using understandings and practices that are 150 years old—I wouldn’t want to go there. But that’s what we’re doing with communication,” Don says. “We need to bring our understanding and practices of communication into the next century.”
“That’s what drives my work—figuring out what it would take to move communication firmly into the moment to address rapid change and difficult political situations. I see the efforts of IF as a big part of that: its tools and practices can help move us, individually and as a group, in a way that improves our world.”
“If we really paid attention to how we interact,” he concludes, “We could unlock so much more human flourishing and community thriving.”
Are you interested in trying out Don’s new activities for the free CDP Toolkit (or to start debating cats vs dogs with him)? Join him at an online workshop on August 7. Register to attend:
Workshop: Creativity in Collaboration with Dr. Don Waisanen
Time: August 7, 2025 @ 2:00 pm – August 7, 2025 @ 4:00 pm
Cost: $40.00
Your Invitation to Collaborate
The Collaborative Discussion Toolkit is free and accessible to anyone interested in promoting inclusive, thoughtful dialogue. If you’d like to learn more about hosting a workshop or specialty Certificate Program, reach out to us.
👉 Start using the free Collaborative Discussion Toolkit
👉 Join a free webinar for an Introduction to the Toolkit, or a workshop to deepen your skills
👉 Attend this year’s online CDP training in July or September to become a CDP Coach and deliver customized certificate programs
👉 Contact us for support running a workshop for your team or group
👉 Subscribe to the Collaborative Discussion Project newsletter for Toolkit activities, tips and tricks every Monday
👉 Donate to the Interactivity Foundation to keep supporting valuable dialogue work and programs
