Rediscover play at work for creativity and culture
Explore how purposeful play boosts workplace creativity, problem-solving, and team culture in purpose-led organisations.
I have a fundamental belief that work should be fun. We spend so much of our waking time at work that for it not to be enjoyable makes no sense to me. I do what I do, because I enjoy it and learn from it, and I know that I can make a difference to people’s own enjoyment of their work. A daily part of finding that fun is through ‘play’.
It’s fascinating to see the range of reactions that the words ‘fun’ and ‘play’ draw from different people in a work environment. For many, it instils a sense of dread, confusion, or dismissive reluctance. People often try to distance themselves from the word, using alternatives, but I think it’s important to recognise what we’re trying to do and call it what it is, because we are trying to bring out the power of the playful child within us.
In interactions with clients, I often get questions like ‘how is play going to work for super practical people?’
The answer is that everyone has the ability to play, regardless of their role, because they were once a child. This means that however serious or practical an individual, or their job, is – and being practical is a highly valuable trait – they were also at one time a playful child who saw the opportunities for creativity all around them. They would look at a room full of boxes and see the possibilities of making a rocket, a robot, or building a den.
Rediscovering that mindset, in a way that’s comfortable for them, can help practical people to see challenges in a new way and perhaps tap into their creativity to find a solution, or even several possible solutions, that they may otherwise not have seen.
The benefits of play at work for creativity and problem-solving
There is the well-known paper clip test, originally designed for testing the innovation skills of potential NASA engineers and scientists in the 1960s. People are challenged to come up with as many uses as possible for paperclips. When tested on children:
* 98% of five-year-olds scored ‘Genius Level’
* compared with only 2% of adults
This is because play, and the creative thinking that comes out of a playful mindset, is weaned out of us and as adults, we are more concerned with being ‘correct’ than creative.
Remembering how it feels to play and trying the unknown and pushing boundaries is what we mean when we talk about the power of play in a business environment. This is particularly valuable in the context of culture change, because people will be faced with new ways of doing things which may make them feel uncomfortable.
Bringing in play is not about being silly or trying to make people laugh. It is a tool and a mechanism that helps us to remember that freedom of being creative and break down barriers so that people feel comfortable to think in this way and share their ideas.
Lessons play can teach the workplace:
When children play, it’s all about exploring, experimenting and pushing themselves. We know from reams of behavioural analysis that for children, play stimulates cognitive development, it enhances problem-solving skills and encourages creativity.
The National Literary Trust explains how:
* ‘play removes barriers, it is inclusive and accessible to all’
* it provides a ‘safe space’
* and it ‘develops imagination’.
Why should the same not be true for adults?
As an adult we need to engage our muscle memory to remember that tingle and slight feeling of stress linked to uncertainty when we try something new and allow ourselves to experiment and do things differently. But often when we play, things go wrong, and we have to learn, pivot, and try something again differently – and that’s okay, because we’ve set the boundaries of the ‘game’ to allow for that play.
By bringing purposeful play into the business environment, it can create a safe space in which everyone is encouraged to adopt this mindset in a way that suits them, and ultimately try new things.
Defining ‘play’ in a workplace culture
Everyone is unique, and every work environment is different. This is not just because of the people managing it, but the nature of the industry will dramatically influence what level of play is appropriate. But I believe there is always a space for it. Even little exercises can break down barriers and make people feel comfortable enough to step out of their comfort zone.
Introducing a more playful approach can be as simple as a quick exercise at the start of the weekly team meeting to get everyone to connect in a different way. We have a long list of questions that we like to ask at the start of workshops that make us think about things in a different way.
These can be as varied as:
“what did you want to be when you grew up?
“how has that passion led you to where you are today”, or
“what’s your favourite day of the week, and why?”
In a workshop environment, we use a playful approach in many ways. At the most accessible level, suitable for any environment, I use play as a conversational tool. For example:
I have a die with six different behavioural characteristics on it, someone rolls the die and we discuss why that behaviour is important for the context they’re in. This is a more playful approach than just writing them on a flip chart and tends to spur more engagement, and a nice dose of jeopardy too.
Other approaches include adding a playful touch to an otherwise ordinary at-work activity. For example, when we recently asked people to get into pairs at a workshop, rather than team up with the person next to them, we had print outs of words that we handed out, like ‘fish’ and ‘chips’, or ‘salt’ and ‘pepper’ and people had to find their pair.
This approach set the tone for the work that followed and meant that everyone felt freer and comfortable, and brought more creativity in how they approached the activity. We heard many participants continue to refer to their other pair by their word rather than their real name – a new way of connecting!
When & how play boosts engagement and performance
For me, play comes into my work on a daily basis, in every conversation, and in every client session. As a leader, I want the people in my team to have a good time on projects with me, I know we’ll get the most out of each other this way.
For so many clients, since Covid, many workplaces have evolved into a culture of relentless meetings, and I like to be the meeting in people’s calendar that they look forward to.
In managing ‘play’ you have to carefully curate it. If you’re running a four-hour meeting or a two-day workshop, you can’t keep everyone at a higher energy level throughout that process, and that would be exhausting to manage. But at the right moment, introducing an element of play can make all the difference to keeping your people engaged and getting the most out of them.
And everyone has to be part of it to work. If I’m leading a meeting and want to use play to break down barriers, I can’t do that sitting there in a suit and expect everyone else to unleash their playfulness, I also have to get involved and role model the energy I expect from everyone else.
Your invitation to rediscover play and creativity in your work life
Why not try to rediscover that sense of play this weekend, this summer, this year, and rather than pigeon-hole that skill to your child, flex the muscle as a grown-up and try to use it to unlock your own creativity and that of your colleagues. How can you unleash your inner child and find opportunities for purposeful play in your own work?
For myself, I’ve been moving house. All I see around me at the moment are big, heavy brown boxes filled with my possessions. But I will work on my vision, to try and see them as the rocket ship that I know my child-self would have been itching to build.
My colleague Symon Wheelhouse shares his perspectives on the notion of play at work in this brilliant article – ‘When is an office also a playground?‘.
