How can you incorporate play and experimentation into your workday to boost creativity?

Personalized Play: Play is a deeply personal experience. What constitutes play for one person might not be the same for another. Tailoring playful activities to individual preferences can maximize engagement and, in turn, foster creativity and productivity and create a ripple effect that can enhance overall work performance. Play's Impact on Creativity: Play isn’t just about fun; it catalyzes creativity and innovation. By integrating play into the work environment, individuals can unlock fresh perspectives, fuel imagination, and spur unconventional thinking. Ultimately, this leads to more innovative solutions and enhanced productivity.

Playing at work can be a powerful tool for progress. I remember in my military days, a friend suggested a tactical game. We divided our team into three groups to create different Courses of action (COA), discuss them, pick the best COA, and apply it to real situations. Since then, I've made play a regular practice. When team members value each other and contribute, it brings out the best in everyone. Sharing your vision, listening to your team, and using their input in your plan is crucial. It's a proven fact that this collaborative approach leads to better results. Playing together and respecting each other's ideas make work more effective.

Holistic Impact: Understanding that play affects and is affected by the ABC (Affect, Behavior, Cognition) framework is crucial. Playfulness influences emotions, actions, and thinking processes. Mindset, Skillset, and Toolset in Action: Implementing play involves a mindset where one sees play as beneficial for personal growth and fostering collaboration and innovation among colleagues. As one practices and engages in play regularly, they become more adept, comfortable, and skilled at leveraging playful approaches to problem-solving and ideation. Moreover, designing the workspace or work culture to encourage play removes obstacles and magnifies its positive impacts.

In my team, we've nurtured a lively and playful work culture with open communication at all levels. We celebrate achievements and recognise outstanding contributions through our internal recognition program. Thursday Fun Calls, led by our Chief Fun Officer, is a standout, where the team enjoys engaging activities, from online games to quizzes. We value flexibility in work location and embrace humour as a vital ingredient for success while always respecting inclusivity. We encourage breaks for a balanced work-life. Our #15minsforme breaks let the team unwind and choose their activity. This culture starts at the top and spreads through the team, creating an infectious atmosphere for achieving results while enjoying every step of the journey.

Measurements you can use can be: 1. Everyone's observations. 2. Team members' feedback. 3. Productivity and quality metrics. The key to playfulness basically is to create an environment where employees feel motivated, engaged, and free to express their creativity. Therefore, leaders should be able to attract and encourage people to practice that approach. At the same time, leaders should train people, guide them, and empower them to create their own COA independently. A very powerful tool for making the team more effective is using mechanisms of appreciation and recognition consistently. And always encourage collaboration in a multicultural work environment. Trust me, all of those described above points work very well.

In my experience using tactical games to foster teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving is a well-documented strategy in various fields. That approach helped my team develop critical thinking skills and facilitated effective communication among team members. It's interesting to see how elements of play and collaboration in a controlled setting, such as tactical games, can translate into real-world applications and positively impact decision-making in various professional settings. This aligns with the broader understanding that a balanced and positive work culture can significantly contribute to overall organizational success.

I have once attended this very interesting workshop. It's a good idea to Introduce a "Lego Serious Play Workshop" for hands-on, creative problem-solving. Encourage team members to build models representing ideas and strategies. Foster collaboration through shared model-building sessions. Facilitate reflective discussions and iterative refinement. Document key insights and implement follow-up activities to integrate creative outcomes into the work environment.