Ready for Your Impact to Match Your Smarts?

We Help Tech Teams Communicate & Connect Better So Their Research Has Impact Across the Organization…
all through our F.U.N Method™!

Play is not the opposite of work. Play is how we make work MORE EFFECTIVE!

Just a few of our happy clients:

Training programs, workshops, & offsites (research teams are our specialty!)

•Custom-designed

•Scientifically-grounded

•Play-based

Specialities

Custom Workshops using LEGO® Serious Play®, applied improvisation and graphic faciliation in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley

Dream Team

Turn your team into 
a finely honed unit!

The Influential Leader

Use the power of improv
to level up your leaders & HiPo's

Catalyzing Creativity

Trust, transparency, collaboration,
let's get you to a creative culture!

Case Study: Teaching the King of Engagement How to Engage

When C, a research manager at Facebook, came to Creative Sandbox Solutions™, her team was in need of some diplomacy skills.

They struggled to empathetically understand different audiences.

They “buried the lede,” firehosing their readers and listeners with ALL their research findings.

Their communications were filled with “research-speak”—jargon that was incomprehensible to colleagues and stakeholders.

Their tone tended toward negative and adversarial, which turned people off.

All of this meant they weren’t getting engagement from their communications, and their valuable insights weren’t having the impact they deserved.

Meanwhile, the pandemic had everyone in a funk, so they also needed a morale boost.

We designed a program, Communicating for Influence, which improved cross-functional communication, skyrocketed engagement, and boosted morale, all in a matter of weeks (and all using play-based methods).

In the span of six months, Facebook brought us in to work with five other teams. And it’s no surprise why: participants not only saw behavior change, but also said these were the “most fun meetings I’ve attended all year!”

Some Favorite Methods

Why? Because they work! We’re fans of delivering results and having a a blast at the same time, because everyone has had enough boring meetings. We’re on a mission to bring PLAY to work!

Applied Improv

Art & Music

Graphic Facilitation

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®

“I would highly recommend this to anyone, any manager, any group, anywhere.”

Head of Research, Fortune 100 Company

“This was a great workshop, not only for improving your communication, but also personal attitudes and perceptions.”
 
-User Experience Researcher, Fortune 100 Company
“Communicating for Influence was great at teaching key skills while at the same time being fun! I have already seen my team using these tools in their day to day work. Melissa was easy to work with, and knows how to design and facilitate an impactful program. I have already recommended her to my colleagues and will continue to do so.”
Research Manager, Fortune 100 Company

“Yours was an impactful, refreshing change from ‘typical’ team education sessions. We saw deep engagement and real learning through the highly interactive and very fun activities. It’s a unique offering totally designed for this challenging video meeting age we’re in, and maximizes the possibilities of the medium.”

User Research Consultant, Fortune 100 Company

“Melissa was a very engaging and animated facilitator. She kept the sessions interesting and they moved at a good pace. I liked the variety of communication activities that were always tied back to how they could serve us at work and in life. I also loved the team building aspect of the sessions.”
 
User Experience Researcher, Fortune 100 Company
“Thanks for uplevelling our team Melissa! It was wonderful getting to work with you.”
 
UX Research Manager, Fortune 100 Company
“I would recommend Melissa for anyone looking to expand your influence, broaden the toolkit, or help to step outside of our comfort zones to explore additional perspectives.”
 
User Experience Research Manager, Fortune 100 Company

Ready for your team to break through?

Book a 15-minute Team Performance Assessment call now!