At January’s Innovation Day, we welcomed Ana Cueva, Professional Learning Advisor at KnowledgeBrief, and MSc in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership. She shared her professional insights on how play promotes a growth mindset, encourages creativity and innovation, fosters resilience and develops a positive organisational environment.
As we grow older, we are told to be serious, composed and that playing is an activity meant only for children. However, research suggest that allowing individuals to play can trigger innovation in organisations. This is because playing allows individuals to feel confident, motivated, creative, self-aware and to feel part of a wider community. It enables the development of leadership skills, and it can allow managers to see how individuals within their team can interact in fictitious situations.
Playing is ultimately learning by experience on a smaller scale.
So, how can we promote a playful organisational environment?
Make your team play. Playing promotes socialisation, however, it does more than that: it can help foster diverse, long-term friendships and
relationships. The Tuckman group development model suggests there are five main stages to group development: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. When utilising Tuckman’s model in playful contexts, bonds between team members are stronger, teams develop faster, and performance is higher.
It’s not a one day a year thing. Almost every organisation provides a one day a year activity where individuals are able to play, interact and relax from work. Although these days are important and beneficial for fostering organisational alignment, they often lack consistency and their effects are forgotten the next day, as individuals get back to work. To promote creativity, embed playful elements within your organisational strategies. This can be promoted through creative methodologies, such as design thinking or even wellbeing strategies.
Explore, build small and act it out. Research suggests that any type of play, structured or unstructured, is useful to develop leadership, creativity and innovation skills. However, for organisations who are looking to be more innovative, there are three types of play which can contribute the most:
- Exploratory play involves consciousness of self and awareness of our senses which can be triggered differently through processes and perceptions. Exploratory play triggers ideas.
- Prototyping allows us to easily test whether ideas work without investing too much or using too many resources.
- Role playing can help us empathise with colleagues, customers and understand their real needs. Although most of us don’t enjoy it, it can be key for marketing and product development.
Lead by example. Remember we are all capable of playing. If you start, the rest will follow.
These are just some key highlights taken from January’s Innovation Day. Each month, clients of the Innovation Programmes receive a full ACT report, capturing the guest expert’s research, the implications and next steps for leaders to apply back in their team and organisation.
Sources: Cueva, A. (2020) ‘The Power of Play’, KnowledgeBrief Innovation Day Presentation, 15 January.