Playfulness At Work Is The Solution To Burnout We Want And Need

We’ve been talking about burnout for a while now. For all the talk though, who’s got a solution that actually works? Its impacts continue to accrue at work and at home declining mental health, and an unpredictable broader cultural landscape. The numbers reveal alarming rates of stress-related issues among employees, the need for a fundamental shift in workplace culture becomes undeniable. The business of play is not a frivolous waste but a powerful strategy for cultivating a resilient, innovative, and inclusive culture. In this exploration, we explore workplace well-being and leadership success, making a case for incorporating play into the fabric of our workplace cultures strategically and tactically.

The Alarming State of Workplace Burnout:

The numbers are in, and unfortunately, 84% of millennials have experienced burnout at their current job and our youth are experiencing a 40% increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors over the last decade. Our capacity to navigate the increasing emotional demans on our nervous systems is seeping out and not just affecting us but affecting young people in huge ways. The impact of these issues on our workplaces is significant. A 2017 meta-analysis of 36 studies on burnout revealed the consequences of burnout extend from our physical and mental wellbeing (worsening depression, heart disease and chronic pain), into a slew of organizational outcomes such as absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, and presenteeism.

Why Playful Cultures Improve Communication & Learning:

I first became aware of the incredible effects playfulness can have on a team’s communication and functioning in 2011 during a playful leadership development workshop (which literally changed my life), and have since experienced the benefits of cultivating playfulness with teams I work with and also with my wellbeing. I chatted with Gary Ware, author of the book Playful Rebellion, and expert facilitator. He explained why play is so effective in enhancing team learning. “It’s due to the low-stakes nature of play. Engaging in playful activities together creates a sense of psychological safety which results in enhanced collaboration, and a more open, communicative culture.”

Play Boosts Cognitive Functioning:

In a high-stakes work environment, the fear of failure or judgement prevents even the best and brightest minds from speaking up, especially when what needs to be said requires emotional vulnerability or defies the status quo. These (unspoken) truths often reflect the underlying causes (both cultural and process oriented) that contribute to chronic stress and burnout in the first place, because deeper unaddressed issues persist chronically over time, and affect our longer term emotional states. A nervous system stuck in flight, flight, freeze or fawn won’t be able to calm enough to access the higher order executive functioning needed to effectively navigate conflict, complexity or change, so we avoid important conversations, because they are too much work on our stressed out nervous systems. This allows the pervasive issues to persist, and doesn’t address the root cause of the stress, resulting in life-altering long term impacts.

Ware shared a story of his recent work with the sales team of a major league professional sports team. He designed and facilitated a game to highlight the ineffectiveness of multi-tasking. As is customary with playful facilitation, he framed the activity with an invitation to be embrace failure and be real.

This is the important work of establishing what I call “alternate rules of play”, giving people permission and structure to experiment within that differ from traditional norms which reward “faking it”.

Ware recounted his experience describing how during the debrief “one of the VP’s stood up and shared a very vulnerable story about how the activity resonated with their day-to-day reality and how stressful it had been.” Gary recognized the moment to validate him, and immediately support the team with solution creation. “The team took some time to brainstorm possible solutions for relief.” The learning experience allowed the team with full participation from leadership, to acknowledge their shared stressors and set intentions for relieving them. Gary shared that 3 months after the session, the VP reported that his stress levels were lower.

This was a huge win, as the mood of an executive leader absolutely sets the tone for others who work within their chain of command. Playful methods like this work to help people practice authentic behaviors in a low stakes way. This leads to more equitable and transparent communication, and a more psychologically safe environment for everyone, proving even the staunchest of cynics that play just works.

The Positive Impact of Playful Cultures:

Integrating play into the professional sphere proves to be a potent antidote to stress and burnout, acting as a catalyst for improved mental and physical health. Employees thriving in such environments not only experience enhanced well-being but also showcase increased resilience, ultimately fortifying organizations against the challenges of the ever-evolving professional landscape.

Jeff Harry, speaker and founder of Rediscover Your Play describes how play helps people from feeling like they have to pretend, and instead makes it safe to keep it real. “Unlike kids, as adults, we are constantly being told to be perfect. Perfection leads to burnout and a lack of innovation, especially in the workplace. Play connects us to our whole self, including all the imperfections and flaws. Only then can we be fully present and able to do our most vibrant work.”

Play as a Leadership Strategy:

Leaders play an essential role in shaping a more playful organizational culture, and normalizing new behaviors. Hierarchical power dynamics, along with other dimensions of power such as gender, race, class and education, influence behavior in huge ways. Because of this, actions that diverge from the norm are more likely to be adopted when they are modeled by high influence people.

Play deserves a spot on your strategic plan as well, as a value or guiding principle, where you can revisit it with your team. Flow is the optimal physical and mental state for performance and creativity. Jeff Harry explains “When we are at play, we are in flow. We are tapping into our Zone of Genius”. This has been shown to make people up to 500% more productive. “Our greatest inventions came from a sense of play. Look at the Wright Brothers, who were competing against Andrew Langley to create the first flying machine. The Wright Brothers got there first because they were following their curiosity and playing.”

Nurturing a Playful Culture for Leadership Success:

A playful work culture will help your organization to be happier, healthier, and have improved mental and physical health. Its also good for business. A playful culture will deliver a more adaptable, innovative, and high performing team over time.

Here are three tips to practice playing with your team:

1. Schedule Breaks and Celebrations Into Your Day

Decades of research reinforce the positive effects of rest and regular breaks on your cognitive functioning and overall health. A schedule packed with meetings makes breaks impossible, so model meeting hygiene through reducing, documenting and eliminating meetings and loosening required attendance. Effective facilitation should also make the most of opportunities to engage with each person in the room in a playful way. Model and promote taking cognitive breaks through walks outside, playing games, and gratefully celebrating accomplishments as a team.

2. Get Into Your Bodies, Together

Emotions are a nervous system response, and 100 million of these neurons are in your gut, while another 40,000 reside in your heart. Regulating your emotions means regulating your nerves, and the best way to do this is through your body. At work this means creating new norms around bodies and movement. So take a leap and breathe, dance, walk, stretch, do some yoga, or any other movement practice with your team.

3.Train Your Attention With Clear Incentive Structures

We live in an attention economy, and there’s more fighting for our attention than ever. Try slowing down to get aligned on the fundamentals like goals, outcomes and incentives. Easy ways to gamify include prolonging rewards for important milestones, or completing an activity that requires focus, like a puzzle, game, or creative project, together in a way that connects to your work. This also means explicit boundaries with distractions (phones!), and clear rewards and priorities for projects, meetings, and teams.

In today’s challenging workplace landscape, marked by burnout and societal pressures, the business of play emerges as more than a luxury—it’s a strategic imperative. From countering burnout statistics to enhancing team dynamics, play proves its transformative power.

Gary Ware’s insights reveal its low-stakes nature, fostering collaboration and communication. The health impact of play extends beyond the workplace, offering a mechanism for honesty and resilience. As Jeff Harry emphasizes, play liberates individuals from perfection, fostering authenticity. Leaders play a pivotal role in shaping a playful culture, tapping into the neuroscience of flow for optimal performance.

The case is clear: play isn’t just beneficial; it’s a guiding principle for a thriving work environment. It’s time to drop the uptight commitment to the status quo, and infuse play into our workplaces strategically, recognizing its evolutionary power for resilience, connection and success.