Why the Playful Leader Wins

Many very well intentioned leaders associate the word play and play at work with being silly, wasteful and out of place in the workplace. They couldn’t be more off base and there is good data to back this up. When you look at the 13 gifts of play that were first published in the book, “The Gift of Play,” you will notice the redeeming qualities that allow companies to get it done, get it done right and get it done with time to spare.

What are these things inside play and how do they make the workplace hum?

The 13 qualities are, energy, clear thinking, curiosity, pride, wonderment, no worry, total abandonment, joy, connection, movement, therapy, imagination, and relaxation.

A powerful leader understands why all 13 of these make the difference between success and failure in their environment and can easily connect the dots to what is not working and where one, some or all of these are missing.

Let’s pick just one today to see how this is true.

Connection

Plato said, “You can learn more about a person in one hour of play than a year of conversation.” A powerful statement that could make or break an employer/employee or company/client relationship. Watch this in action.

Several years ago I was doing a practical application of play workshop with a major company. The CEO choose to watch each workshop and observe the participants. After one session in the afternoon he came up to me and asked about a gentleman who had not participated much, kept his arms crossed and was seemingly very closed to what was going on. As the CEO and I chatted he mentioned that this person was one of his top performers, however he rarely spoke to him. We struck a pack that he would begin to give him more attention and possibly find a way to play a little more with him, through a simple lunch or round of golf.

Over time this CEO found out that the person was living in fear that he would be asked to leave the organization. Because he did not feel connected or included he had no real basis for feedback on his performance on a daily basis. This lack of information and connection caused him to perform BELOW his real capacity even though he was already a top performer. Their simple playtimes together helped to discover this information as well as create the connection that was missing. The increased productivity on his part made him and the company winners.

Ah, the power of play and why a playful leader wins. Stay tuned here for more stories on how the other 12 qualities work as well.