I was really excited at the possibility of teaching presentational skills to every employee at a prestigious Manhattan bank. At the time Dun & Bradstreet had a training division and I had worked with them creating a similar program on how to be a persuasive speaker. Because of this D&B recommended me to a very large bank in New York City and the head of HR was very interested. She requested an overview of how I would teach the class.
The day we met we were in a large conference room, and I demonstrated how interactive, fun and engaging the program would be. At the end of my twenty-minute demonstration, the head of HR leaned across the massive table (I remember she was sneering, but this could have been my imagination) and said: “There’s been a mistake, these people are not here to have fun, they’re here to learn.” I didn’t get the job.
Huge disappointment at the time, and yet I kept thinking how miserable I would have been had I been hired, because there’s no doubt she would have continued correcting the “fun” part of my program.
So it was with delight that I read about “deliberate play.” Research indicates the more play and creativity introduced into any and every work environment, the more productive and successful it will be. Play is not only good for children, it’s great for adults.
The list of positive attributes associated with play is endless. To name a few, people experience less fatigue, boredom, stress, and burnout. Play helps with increased trust, bonding, a sense of solidarity and job satisfaction. And, according to pioneering creativity researcher Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi, creative people balance playfulness with discipline. Deliberate play is described as purposeful and goal-oriented play, but bottom line, it’s about finding ways to make work more interesting and fun.
As we approach year end, how can we choose to add more play into our lives and introduce elements of fun into our work? Rename an activity (a nurse gave herself the nickname “Nurse Quick Shot”), add a silly component to meetings or use the philosophy of renowned physician Patch Adams, who healed his young patients by making them laugh.
“It is a happy talent,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, “to know how to play.”
