Ask the EXpert: How do you bring play into culture design?
Dear EXperts,
During our interview process one of our questions for the co-founders was “One of your values is fun - so how do you bring play into designing strong cultures?”
– Nic, Operations Lead & Inès, Founders Associate
Our EXpert advice
We love it when teams want to build fun into the work that they do, because we know that when you build play into your day you get employees that stay.
But introducing the concept of play into your values and how you behave as a team can feel challenging for some. Because play has got a bit of a bad rep. It’s often seen as:
❌ A distraction
❌ A waste of time
❌ Not “real work”
❌ Unprofessional
Or at least that's what the old way of work would have us think 😴
The truth is, our companies and our teams can massively benefit from play and here’s why:
✅ It inspires teamwork
✅ It builds trust
✅ It promotes creativity
✅ It sparks healthy competition
✅ It enhances problem solving
And, it has huge benefits for your people too as play is linked with:
📈 Increased job satisfaction
📈 Higher levels of motivation
📈 A boost in creativity
📈 Improved emotional wellbeing
In order to feel the real benefits of play we need to build it into our existing team rituals; in the moments across our week where connection, creativity and collaboration are key. And whilst we’re all for the freedom of play, giving play some purpose can help to alleviate the fear we have of introducing it into the way we interact and collaborate as an organisation.
To help bring more purpose to your play, we like to use the M.A.P framework to help successfully embed play in the workday.
It goes like this:
🛠️ Method – How are you going to introduce, implement and achieve the fun or playfulness? Is it a game, an activity, a warm-up? What tools are you using to support the act of play?
👥 Audience – Who are the people this is aimed at? How are they going to receive this? And what are their preferences when it comes to learning and play?
🧭 Purpose – What is your intention? Why are you introducing the play? To lighten the mood? To increase productivity? To bring the team closer together?
💭 And finally, consider moments in your workday where you can add playfulness organically into it. For example, do you need to increase energy before a meeting? Do you need a creative jumpstart to a collaborative workshop? Start small, gauge people’s reactions, gather feedback and then build up from there.
