How play in the workplace can benefit you at work
Idea
There are a few words that can scare anyone sitting around a meeting table at work. The word “boom” is never good news when talking about budgets, “cyber attack” sends shivers through even the toughest executives, and “uncertainty” rings a bell.
But I’ll throw in another word that would make most people cringe in the workplace: “playing.”
When you think of gaming at work, images of ping-pong tables, scavenger hunts, and trivia nights may come to mind. And as a boss who has been responsible for the above for decades, consider me guilty, Your Honor.
We tend to associate play with being frivolous, childish and uncritical in the workplace, and Ben Crowe wants to change your mind about that.
Crowe is best known as the “mindset coach” of tennis champion Ash Barty, but he has worked with thousands of people, from sports stars to CEOs and senior executives, to help them understand the connection between how they think and how they act.
He believes the game desperately needs a rebranding. So let’s start with the definitions. Crowe has a broad view of gaming that encompasses innovation and creativity.
How can we benefit from play in the workplace? The primary path is through curiosity, where every question is an opportunity to dig a little deeper.
“Because we use play in everyday language, we don’t realize how fundamental play is to human existence,” says Crowe. “Every company in existence started with an idea that someone toyed with.”
Examples of games at work include a lawyer mixing it up with a series of questions in the courtroom, a colleague paying extra attention to what he says to make sure you really understand him, or even having a little fun with clever language.
In his new book, Where the Light Comes InCrowe explains how he helped make even the mundane of post-match interviews more entertaining for Ash Barty. Without realizing it, the media encouraged him to make references to something he admired (in this case, Disney movies) in his answers.
When a journalist asked him about his accomplishments last year, he replied with a straight face: “I’m chatting with my nephew. He tells me over and over that he can go to infinity and beyond.”
The state of play at work is when you are authentic and present. “As humans, we are inherently designed to play,” says Crowe. “What sabotages us is being distracted from our inherent desire to play, be curious, experiment, and see life as an adventure. When we start to care about outcomes or other people’s opinions is when we shift from a state of play to a state of fear.”
So how can we benefit from play in the workplace? The primary path is through curiosity, where every question is an opportunity to dig a little deeper. “Curiosity is also the fastest way to create psychological safety in the workforce,” says Crowe.
Simple ways to do this are to ensure every question is considered and be honest if you don’t know the answer. “The flaws will show up in the vulnerability and the game,” says Crowe. “That’s a good thing because it’s a place where you can learn from mistakes.”
Work can sometimes be serious and we may feel like we need to turn off our playful side in order to be successful. But when you move beyond outdated definitions and see how powerful unlocking innovation and creativity can be, play has the potential to transform the way we think in the workplace. So how fun is this?
Tim Duggan is the author of: Korc Backward: The Revolutionary Way to Work Smarter and Live Better. He writes a regular newsletter timduggan.substack.com
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Tim Duggan is the author of Working Backward, Cult State, and Killer Thought. He is one of the founders of Junkee Media and writes a monthly newsletter called OUTLET.
