Play (at work) has a problem 😩

16 July

This weeks tasty song: Let the music play It’s a sad song about love, from Dr Love to serenade you while we play with the problems of Play (at work)

We have a problem with play at work.

It’s a problem ‘play people’ haven’t been owning, and manager people are usually too kind to say out loud.

It feels sacrelicious to point out, but here we go:

Play at work often isn’t fun and doesn't help people get shit done There, we said it. Feels kinda freeing. So let’s say more…

Play washing(v): The act of weaponizing play as a means to keep you at work all the time and look like a ‘hip-cool startup’. (eg. “We just got a ping pong table! Now after work we can do that tournament we always wanted to do”)

From our conversations with our friends in the academic, work and business community, we have two categories that sum up people's experience of play at work:

The ick(n): The internal groan one has to ‘Play activities’ (laughing yoga, role play, amazing race events) during work hours that get in the way of you completing the job you will still have to get done once the activity has thankfully finished

The cringe(n): The shudder in your soul when one is asked to do ‘Play activities’ (Trust falls, contact improvisation, karaoke) that you find embarrassing to both witness and/or do yourself

We think these feelings are legitimate and valid responses and we are sorry you had to go through that. We think you are smart, witty, wise and stylish for sensing something was wrong. We think that these feelings show that these ‘Play activities’ were:

Completely off the task from the central mission of your organisation
Not safe enough to let you learn something useful for your work
All of the above

Fact is, work groups exist to do a task. Teams are measured on them, managers are held to account for them, and companies rely on them getting done for their continued existence. In any healthy group, focusing on and delivering these tasks should always be a central unifying feature of organisational life.

So then, why talk about play at all?

Because, when done right, it can actually be fun AND it can help you get shit done. In fact, we would go one step further and say that authentic play is the way that high performing teams not only achieve their task, but surpass their goals through collaborating, innovating and creating cool new stuff.

This is because the mechanism of play is hardwired in your brain to help you learn and master the world and everything in it - Play is a technical term from the fields of child development and psychoanalytic thinking and it is awesome. 👇

Think about a brand new human. Their brain computer 🧠 🖥️ is switching on and it needs to learn…everything. That's a full on task that could freak a person out, amiright?

Play is the space created between a baby and its primary carer that creates the safety that allows the baby to figure out itself and the world. It’s kinda magic.

Now think about what is going on here: not only is the baby ‘playing’ to figure things out, but the caregiver is taking up their authority to facilitate that play happening, sometimes leading, sometimes following, allowing the bumps and bruises that lead to learning, connecting with the learner to check on how they are coping, all with the aim of achieving a mission: to help the baby become the best human they can be.

Sounds a lot like what we need in our organisations, hey?

Sounds a lot like what we need from play is not to take us away from task (the ick) and make us feel unsafe (the cringe), but to facilitate the learning we need to do in our groups so we can solve wicked problems, make cool stuff AND ENJOY THE PROCESS WHILE WE DO IT.

So, we have a problem with play, but in the problem could lay an awesome solution.

You are a leader in your group. Use that amazing sense of ‘what feels wrong’ about play to tell you ‘what feels right’ about play for your group of humans.

Find the games that feel right for you, and in doing that search you will find out what your group needs to create the environment where you feel safe enough to do the task in a way that’s authentic to you.

Phrases that pay 🗯️💰

“When in your day-to-day work are you having the most fun? What are you doing?”
“When did we last laugh while we were working?”
“When you were a kid, did you ever make a game that helped you to do a job you didn’t want to do?”
“I have a hard time ‘sparking joy’ for this particular job - anyone got any ideas on how I could make it less pain/more fun?”

Challenge homework 📚

Put a clock on for 5 minutes.
Have everyone write down a job(s) they once did (could be from any time in their life), where they were totally engaged and it felt like fun.
Have them share (in the group or a pair if you have a big team) one of these experiences focusing on what they were doing and how the task was set up.
Then ask people how this could relate to the ways you are currently working as a team.
You might get some new practices suggested for your team, if it feels right, give them a go

To end our thoughts, here is a poem we wrote cos we like poems and find them fun.

🪄The trick, is to listen for the ick,

🍔and binge, on what you learn from the cringe

🎭Then play, gets to show up your way

💩And shit, gets did, goals get hit.

If you like this TBT…

Donald Winnicott is a legend and wrote a bunch about play. Here is a paper we like: Winnicott, D.W. (1982). Playing and Reality, Routledge: London; New York, NY
Pass it on to someone you think is cool and stylish point them here 👉playgrounded.co
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