power of a playful spirit at work, The

Journal for Quality and Participation, The, Jul/Aug 1995 by Berg, Deanna H

Few organizations today are noted for their playfulness; in fact many organizations have become prisons for the human spirit and anchors for depression. Too many of us work in monotone environments of terminal seriousness, where humor, touch, music and unpurposeful movement are considered UNPROFESSIONAL A high percentage of people in organizations are unhappy and fearful and are losing hope that things will ever be better --feeling increasingly like they are trying to rollerblade on ice.

The roots of workplace numbness--A number of forces contribute to these joyless, despiriting environments, including:

* The increasingly competitive global marketplace...

* Fear of sexual harassment litigation (a friend of mine described an experience in which her airline pilot husband, when asked by a flight attendant if he wanted to hear a joke, refused, fearing some sort of sexual harassment entrapment procedure on the part of management)...

* Growing pressure to engage in politically correct behavior...

* A pervasive, artificial separation between work and play.

We see play as the opposite of work, and rake people seriously only when they at least maintain the appearance of working toward some result.

Some companies are discovering, however, that there is no correlation between being busy and getting results, especially those results required by unpredictable, tumultuous times. Futurist Charles Handy describes work and play as the "necessary lubricants" of the virtual workplaces we are moving toward.

What is expected of us? Here are just a few of the results demanded of us today:

* Long-term customer loyalty...

* Employees who are continually expanding their abilities to create desired results...

* Energetic commitment to company goals...

* Creativity and innovation...

* Exceptional teamwork.

Success and anachronistic acronyms... Nearly always the quick fixes (summed up as three-letter acronyms: MBO, CQI, SPC, QFD, TQM, QOS, BPR) have failed to achieve long term lasting improvements. This apparent failure suggests that it might be time to look to a four-letter word: PLAY for improvement. If hat's too radical a change for you, you might try an old three-letter word, FUN. When work isn't fun, people do the minimum they need to survive until they can leave work and have fun outside of work. Many companies now realize that playful creativity and meaningful work can combine to create organizations where people not only love to come to work, but also obtain superior results.

Laughing all the way to the bank

Let's examine and play with some ways in which play and work can be blended to improve performance, productivity and profits.

Play and personal performance--Organizations are only as effective as the people that work for them; even the best people don't perform well when they are bored, discouraged or frightened. Insecure, anxious and self-critical workers find it difficult to provide high quality performance and customer service. When people don't have their hearts in their work, they probably aren't' doing much with their heads and hands either. (1)

You'll be what you see yourself as... Many of us have formed self-limiting fears that can prevent us from reaching our full potential, even in the most supportive environments. We have talents that we are unaware of because we cling rigidly to outdated beliefs about our strengths and weaknesses. These mental models about ourselves become self-fulfilling prophesies that guide our actions. The most common barriers to obtaining full benefits from our knowledge and skills include:

* Overly constrictive views of what we can and can't do, limiting awareness of all the possibilities and options open to us.

We block our effectiveness not because we have questions, but because we think we already have all the answers. In Charles Handy's words, our "wheels of learning" have stopped turning. Some organizations compound these performance limitations by implementing senseless rules, policies and procedures that add no value and demoralize workers. One organization I've heard of doesn't allow employees to walk on the expensive carpeting in the executive suite; only visitors and executives can walk there--not exactly an empowering environment!

* Reluctance to take risks--the search for security and avoidance of change lead many of us to conduct our lives as a series of reruns, thus avoiding the possibility of making a MISTAKE.

We can't succeed at something we never try so many of us never discover our full potential. According to U.S. News & World Report, the average millionaire entrepreneur goes bankrupt 3.75 times.

Pursuit of perfection--People waste a great deal of energy trying to preserve the illusion that they have everything under control.

When we don't accept our fears, doubts and imperfections we don't learn from them and don't develop the elasticity of spirit needed to thrive in times of change. The desire to perfect is in effect a spiritual flat tire that prevents us from trying anything unless we know will succeed.