Play for Performance
by Thiagi
If you are a performance consultant, you know that there are several strategies for improving human performance. These strategies are somewhat pretentiously labeled interventions. One of the most effective--and least used--interventions is playfulness.
What Is Playfulness?
Playfulness is a state of mind that finds (or creates) amusement and enjoyment in all situations. This attitude emphasizes that our job is too important to be taken seriously. Playfulness is associated with fun, optimism, a sense of humor, and being in a state of flow. Implemented with individuals and teams, playfulness improves our morale, mental health, and creative problem-solving abilities.
Playfulness comes in different sizes and shapes. Some playful activities (such as solving a puzzle) are enjoyed by individuals while others require a group (such as playing pick-up basketball). While most playful activities have created spontaneously other events can be scheduled and structured. Most playfulness requires our active participation but some may involve letting go and passively enjoying what is happening around us.
When To Use Playfulness
Under what conditions should we design and implement playfulness? Here are some symptoms and root causes that suggest the use of this intervention:
Low morale. Playfulness is the intervention of choice when employees are bored, apathetic, and disinterested in what they are doing. Low levels of morale are usually indicated by high levels of absenteeism, tardiness, accidents, sickness, and substance abuse.
Negative emotions. Playfulness is an effective antidote for stress, frustration, paranoia, and tension in the workplace. It is especially useful when the organization receives a series of bad news.
Perfectionism. Playfulness is useful for counteracting excessive rigidity. When people take their policies and procedures too seriously and obsessively apply them to all situations, playfulness helps them explore flexible alternatives.
Interpersonal conflicts. Playfulness prevents us from taking ideas, opinions, and ourselves too seriously. Since frequent interpersonal confrontations are a result of such arrogance, playfulness reduces the number, frequency, and intensity of workplace conflicts.
Guidelines for Creating a Playful Workplace
Blend, don’t balance. Most of us have been brought to believe that work and play are the opposites of each other, and we must work hard in order to earn the right to play. The truth is that truly productive and creative people play at work. If you don’t have passion and excitement for what you do at work, then it’s time for you to adjust your attitude and rearrange your work process and environment to permit more choices and surprises. As a manager and performance consultant, you must help others have fun at work also.
Let go of your goal. Most trainers and performance consultants have been indoctrinated to systematically identify needs, specify measurable goals, and efficiently pursue the achievement of that goal. True playfulness appears to work in the opposite direction, requiring us to find fun, enjoyment, and value in spontaneity. One way to acquire a spirit of playfulness is to meander on a journey without a destination, just for the fun of smelling the flowers on the way. An electronic version of this process is to surf the Internet without a purpose and to find delight in discovering new territories.
Combine playfulness with other performance-improvement interventions. While playfulness can be used as a performance-improvement intervention just by itself, it can also be effectively combined with other interventions. For example, you can improve teamwork by incorporating playful activities that provide effective team-building exercises. You can improve motivation by developing a playful culture in the workplace. You can enhance training by including games and simulations. You can improve communication by using a humorous headline and a playful tone to attract and maintain the readers’ attention.
Use inclusive strategies. What is considered playful in one culture could be regarded as embarrassing or offensive in another. Make sure that you are laughing with others and not laughing at others. To prevent undesirable loss of face, playfulness should be implemented in a sensitive and inclusive fashion.
Reduce competition. Competition that produces winners and losers also produces unpleasant consequences. In the spirit of cooperative games, playfulness should be structured to ensure that everybody plays hard and wins.
Publicize the benefits. Through posters and presentations, exhort performers to take their job seriously and themselves lightly. Spread these important benefits of humor, fun, and play: Laughter contributes to your physical and emotional health. Humor reduces work-related stress and tension. A playful spirit improves and increases interactions among team members. Humor is a powerful tool for defusing personal conflicts. Playfulness enables performers to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems and innovative approaches for exploiting opportunities.
Create a playful environment. The physical space, furniture, and various can bring out the spirit of playfulness among employees. For example, the meeting room can be designed as an executive sandbox to encourage physical play. We can provide balls and basketball boards at different locations. Bulletin boards can be adorned with humorous posters, cartoons, and jokes. The organization can display a humorous logo and a light-hearted slogan.
Create playful events. Substitute parties for weekly meetings. Celebrate every small victory, personal milestone, and ethnic holiday. Conduct frequent picnics and ball games. Make the new employee orientation into a playful welcome.
Don't over-design. When you think about it, systematic and careful design of an intervention works against the essential spontaneity of having fun. You cannot dictate spontaneity (as in the absurd statement: "At exactly 10 a.m., all employees will do something spontaneous.") Designing for fun requires a lean approach that encourages the performers to give their own finishing touches to the environment and events.
Empower and encourage. Human beings--homo ludens--have a natural inclination toward playfulness. However, adults usually have this inclination extinguished from their repertoire through social pressure and systematic punishment. An important element in implementing playfulness is to authorize zany behaviors and get out of the way of the performers. Given a suitable physical and cultural environment, people will have no difficulty discovering creative ways to keep themselves amused.
Model playful behaviors. Playfulness is contagious and nothing dampens it as rapidly as the grim and grave behavior of the leaders. No job should be so high-status that people cannot poke fun at it. To encourage the spirit of play in every area of the organization, make sure that top managers demonstrate their ability to see humor in even the most painful situation. Focus on bringing out the playful spirit among middle managers because they are the ones who inhibit themselves into behaving with dignity.
Involve everyone. Pay special attention to cultural and personality differences. Avoid forcing people to have fun through "we-have-methods-for-having-you-laugh" approaches. Involve introverts and traditionally serious groups in the early stages of the intervention design to ensure that people have choice in how they will have fun. Encourage people to use humor as a tool and not as a weapon. Go beyond the organization and invite family members and customers to join you in your playful venture.
Encourage teamwork. You can leverage the spirit of fun by encouraging teams to play together. Since most organizational work is currently conducted in teams, you can encourage members of these teams to have fun by coming up with a name for the team, a mascot, a secret handshake, a slogan, and other such frivolous things. You can also encourage teams to compete in ball games and game shows. You can reward teams by giving all members tickets to sports events and movies.