Why is play important for all ages?
Free play is a central building block in our personal development. In free play, we discover ourselves and play alone or in interaction with others without fear and full of curiosity. We are creative, utilising our imagination and creative inventiveness.
What opportunities does this present and how can companies capitalise on them?
What can the game look like in day-to-day business?
As a company, you have various opportunities to establish free play and creative co-operation in your everyday life. Here are a few ideas:
Table football, billiards, table tennis tables and sports facilities
- Create rooms and areas for table football, pool tables, table tennis tables and sports facilities.
- Ensure that showers are available in the company.
Lego
- Use Lego bricks to solve business problems in a creative and playful way. Why not start a concept or design by playing Lego?
Board games
- Do they place board or card games in break and recreation rooms so that playful interaction is also possible during this time?
Creative competitions
- Organise creative competitions for business issues. Let teams decide for themselves how they want to approach the visualisation of the solution. Do you paint? Do you create a collage or will it be a video, rap or sketch?
What else is important for a play culture to enrich the company?
Ensure acceptance.
Make sure that playing is accepted as part of everyday work. Otherwise, the rooms stand empty because no staff member dares to use them. The play area and play must be free of fear and pressure - only then can creativity unfold.
Be a role model.
For managers, this also means that they should also be part of the game. Start or end a meeting or workshop in one of these rooms from time to time. Hold a team after-work session in one of the playrooms from time to time.
Play must be seen as an enrichment and encouraged accordingly. Playtime is working time.
Create appropriate spaces.
A play & creative space should be cosy and inviting and should also be clearly differentiated visually from office spaces. Design the room in a restrained way so that the attention is where it should be: when talking to colleagues, playing games or trying out creative things.
Integrate large free (wall) areas for notes, brainstorming or sketches. Place post-it notes and moderation material in the rooms. Use flexible furniture that can be easily moved around the room. Make sure that the rooms have daylight and that windows can be opened.
If there is a tea or coffee island next to or opposite the playroom, this supports the use of the room.
Now I can vividly imagine you, dear managers, reading this article. You will probably have the question in your head: "What is this all about? Why should we play? What's in it for me as a company?" I am happy to answer these questions about the business benefits.
What are the benefits for companies that embed a culture of play?
Free play promotes creativity.
New things can emerge through play. Companies that encourage creativity through play have a much greater chance of bringing ground-breaking innovations to the market and empower their employees and managers to think in a more solution-focussed way.
Playing promotes the formation of new synapses in the brain and helps people to think outside the box in everyday life.
Free play creates encounters and communication.
When we interact with each other in the game, we meet as equals. We talk to each other - even beyond team boundaries. Networks are created and strengthened, and trust in relationships grows.
There is room for solving problems through official channels.
Free play promotes team spirit.
The best way to play is together. Hüther/Quarch write: "Playfully creative solutions can only be developed by those who, instead of becoming lone warriors, have stayed together with others. Who, instead of becoming specialists, have remained generalists and who - instead of becoming differentiated and age-rigid - have remained young and differentiated."
Playing takes away fear and trains flexibility.
Play offers a safe space to try things out. There is no right or wrong in free play. There is nothing to achieve, but the joy lies in the game itself. The journey is the goal.
Play is - for young and old - a central component of personal development and realising potential. Only when we humans succeed in approaching the challenges in our lives in a playful way do we retain the openness we need to develop creative solutions and master change.
Playing increases joie de vivre.
As the game is fun, the team atmosphere and joie de vivre improve. Employees are sick less often and perform better overall.
A gaming culture has entrepreneurial benefits
Companies that develop and embed a culture of play promote creativity, innovative strength, process thinking and teamwork and, incidentally, have happier and more committed employees.
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