power of a playful spirit at work, The

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

* Through changing the rules of the game...

* Through play.

According to Royal Dutch/Shell head of planning, Arie deGeus, "Play is the most rare and potentially the most powerful". Senge especially recommends playing with computer Microworlds, which allow people to experiment with different organizational scenarios and reflect on the outcomes, while they are safe from the risks and pressures of real decision making.

competitive advantage through Play? Play can stimulate the creative ideas needed to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing market place. Playing reduces stress and helps maintain the perspective necessary for successful decision making. Teams provide a safe structure and time needed to play with new ideas and new possibilities for serving customers. It is easy for others to copy our technology and our information, but the ability to form creative and collaborative customer relationships is one of the few remaining competitive advantages that is difficult to replicate.

Safety from the maddening crowd of pressures... Playful teams provide a source of much needed appreciation and support in today's high pressure workplaces. When we're in a distrustful and critical environment we spend a great deal of energy defending ourselves and worrying about what others are going to do. In a safe, supportive team, all that time and energy can be focused on business objectives. Playing and having fun together helps these supportive relationships develop; it's hard to stay in unproductive conflict with people you laugh with.

Teams also provide a structure for people to learn from each other and really capitalize on the diversity of talents (Tom Peters refers to this as "exuberant variety") in their organizations. This is the antithesis of a situation described to me by a high level manager in an aerospace company who was called in by his boss and asked to "stop learning and go back to doing your job; you are getting too far ahead of the rest of the organization". It wasn't too surprising when this same organization later announced extreme cutbacks.

Play and teamwork in a health planning agency... "We work in a very intense environment where people are frequently in conflict with our decisions about policies. Being able to have fun allows us to reduce stress and maintain perspective on what we're trying to accomplish", says Dotty Roach, executive director of the Georgia State Health Planning Agency. In addition to encouraging people to have toys on their desks, Dotty's executive team made a rule that the last person to arrive has to chair the staff meeting. All members enjoy finding creative ways to make someone else late!

Play and a bank's bottom line...CEO Emma Lou Brent of Phelps County Bank in Rolla, Missouri credits playful activities, such as weekly 30 minute charade game, with helping the bank reduce overhead by 3 percent and increase monthly net income by 32 percent.

Mike Regan, President of Tranzact Systems in Homewood, Illinois says he leads his company with the philosophy suggested by a speaker he heard at a meeting of The Executive Committee, who said "Success is never final; failure is never fatal" and has learned the value of not taking himself and his company too seriously.