Play! Yes, You Can (and Should) Be Amused at Work!

2023-09-22

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You need play, you are never too old for play, play is fun - and play at work makes work so much better. Bring on the joy! What is play? It is an in the moment activity with the goal of amusement or fun. Our mammalian brains love play. The bigger the brain in an animal, the more play the animal seems to engage in. This is because play is how we learn and explore the world - and mammalian brains have made this activity feel good so that we are motivated to do it. In one study of play in bears, bears who played more ...

You need play, you are never too old for play, play is fun - and play at work makes work so much better. Bring on the joy!

What is play? It is an in the moment activity with the goal of amusement or fun. Our mammalian brains love play. The bigger the brain in an animal, the more play the animal seems to engage in. This is because play is how we learn and explore the world - and mammalian brains have made this activity feel good so that we are motivated to do it. In one study of play in bears, bears who played more were more likely to survive.

But what about play at work? Research has found evidence that play at work is linked with less fatigue, boredom, stress, and burnout in individual workers. Play is also positively associated with job satisfaction, sense of competence, and creativity.

Studies show that when a participant receives a task that is presented playfully, they are more involved and spend more time on the task. It also improves our emotional, attitudinal, cognitive being. Teams of workers can benefit from play via increased trust, bonding and social interaction, sense of solidarity, and a decreased sense of hierarchy.

Furthermore, findings suggest that play at work can benefit whole organizations by creating a friendlier work atmosphere, higher employee commitment to work, more flexible organization-wide decision making, and increased organizational creativity. WOW!

As we mature, we develop a style or mode in which we are most comfortable being playful. Dr. Stuart Brown, author and founder of the National Institute of Play, calls these styles of playfulness, “play personalities.” These are not based on scientific data, rather Dr. Brown discerned them from thousands of interviews and observations:

Connector, Joker, Kinesthete, Explorer, Competitor, Director, Collector, Artist/Creator, Storyteller, and Connector.

Which play personalities speak to you?