The Serious Business of Play in the Workplace

I’ve been associated with a group called the Applied Improvisation Network since its inception in 2001. One of the main areas of focus of the AIN is helping organizations realize the benefits of play – that is, using games and other similar activities in training, teambuilding, and problem-solving, and just generally adopting a more playful, lighthearted approach to the challenges of organizational life.

Play in the workplace can take many forms – from quick teambuilding games at the start of a staff meeting (such as Word at a Time Story) to the type of near-chaotic playground atmosphere pioneered by Google in its offices. The benefits of play in the workplace include:

·         Reduced stress

·         Increased employee engagement

·         More creative ideas (by stimulating the right brain)

·         A more positive work environment

·         Ultimately, better service and solutions for customers, resulting in bottom-line impact for the organization

Still, though, the benefits of play can be a hard sell in business organizations. Many people seem to think that “work” and “play” are two distinct activities, with “work” being the domain of serious, no-nonsense, analytical thinkers, and “play” being regarded as a frivolous, time-wasting activity that gets in the way of efficient operations. Even where play is allowed into an organization, it’s often grudgingly seen as a necessary (but temporary) diversion from the serious business of … business.  

In a classic article titled “What Is Team Building, Really?”, Peter Grazier suggests another way to view the role of “playing” in organizations – a view that highlights the integral link between playing and getting the job done.

Grazier points out that business organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of teamwork among its members in generating innovative ideas, making good decisions, and carrying out tactical and strategic plans. As Grazier says:

“Teaming isn’t something we do because it creates harmonious work groups, or is neat to do. It is a way to formalize the power of collaboration among individuals. It is a way to blend the talents, skills, and inherent creativity of diverse people. It is a way to use this collaboration so that the work group leverages its skills, time, and resources for their own benefit and that of the organization.”

To reinforce team-based attitudes and actions, many people in organizations use teambuilding activities. In essence, a teambuilding activity is a form of play - a form that uses such structures as games, challenges, skits, and (yes!) improvisational-theater activities to generate fun, energy, and (most important) learning about one’s team members and about oneself.

I think it’s fair to say that teamwork in organizations is a concept that most people support. However, even people who agree with the importance of teamwork often deride teambuilding as a “feel good” activity that has little to do with what happens back on the job. According to this view (which I’ve frequently heard expressed), the only way people can really learn to work together is to jump in and do actual work on actual projects.

The problem with that view, says Grazier, is that teamwork often has a hard time naturally emerging from our actual on-the-job interactions due to the continuing emphasis that organizations tend to place on individual accomplishment. Grazier points to the “psychic dissonance” that often arises when organizations say they want teamwork but continue to evaluate and reward people in terms of their individual results.  As a result, people find it difficult to truly embrace and pursue a collaborative approach to their work.

This is why taking people out of their normal work environment and having them collaborate on non-work-related activities in a spirit of play is a central aspect of teambuilding. Grazier notes that this is an echo of our experience from schooldays, in which we learn about collaboration and the satisfaction of joint accomplishment, not so much in the classroom, but on the playground. As he says:

“We moved through our school system learning that the way to succeed in the classroom (or ‘the real world’) was to do it ourselves in an ongoing competition against others. On the playground, the system favored teaming.”

A logical conclusion to draw from Grazier’s observations is that engaging each other in a spirit of play through teambuilding activities isn’t just a good way to create teamwork. Play is essential in order for a group of people to develop the trust, respect, understanding, and joint celebration of common achievement necessary to sustain the motivation to put aside individual agendas in favor of realizing team goals. Truly, teamwork and play go hand-in-hand.