If you want employees to work together as a team in a corporate setting, get them to share some laughs. Enter Jacqueline Kabat, comedy improv and teambuilding facilitator for corporate groups. Kabat, who is based in New York, conducts improv workshops for corporate groups of four to 300. Her clients have included Southwest Airlines, AIG, and the McGraw-Hill Cos. Workshops focus on creative problem solving, group trust, and effective personal communication skills.

“Underlying tension in the workplace due to fear of conflict, lack of commitment, or lack of trust can be really destructive,” says Kabat. “Improv taps into those issues and helps people work through them in a much more fun and organized way.”

Kabat's workshops create an environment in which no one passes judgment on anyone else. “We had someone in our group get up there and say, ‘I can't do this,’” says Jonathan Pratt, senior vice president for New York-based Pall Corp. “But everyone encouraged her so much that by the end she had basically taken over.”

Pratt, who organized the activity as part of a quarterly sales meeting, says the workshop helped to build confidence among the team and improve presentation skills. “I think it really helped people come out of their shells.” For more information, visit www.jacquelinekabat.com.