Shows
Why Play Works.Playful Methods To Cultivate Playful AttributesHow do you use playfulness and LEGO® to make an impact on something as serious as climate change? Lucy Hawthorne is the founder of Climate Play. She is a facilitator, LEGO® Serious Play® practitioner and campaigner at heart. She was an environmental campaigner and a social issues campaigner for about 15 years, helping ban fracking in the UK before starting Climate Play.Despite this success she was able to reflect that ultimately they weren't deeply changing people's minds and hearts on the issues. Through Climate Play they create conversations, events and actions that people actua...
2023-07-1041 min
Why Play Works.Restoring the world as a strange place of wonderHave you ever entered a meeting and instantly been set up to fail? Do organizations really want to change or just be seen to change? Consultants also get stuck in this game where they want to bring in more play and creativity and the organization thinks they should change but won’t.This is a challenge that Steve Chapman has encountered many times and has to overcome “vanilla compromises” that leads to no change. He does this through compassion and care, improvisation and subtle tactics like changing the space used. Steve is an art...
2023-06-2651 min
Why Play Works.Creating a Playful and Purposeful WorkplaceWhat is the point of play? Is it just acting like a child at work?Nicole has grown children's brands, Ella's Kitchen and worked at informal creative agencies, and also in corporate environments. She has identified over the course of her career 10 key qualities that make up a child's lens on business framework that Nicole shares in detail in this episode. Nicole believes the whole point of play is to have no point. It is not frivolous. It is a vehicle for connection that can have important benefits for employers including staff retention th...
2023-06-1246 min
Why Play Works.Pringles, the gift that keeps on givingAce thinks play is wonderful. He sees it as explorative and unstructured, where we scan the world in which we exist and see all of the opportunities to push, prod, dig and learn.Scott thinks play is annoying and that playfulness is where it’s at. Despite disagreeing on these fundamentals Scott and Ace work together at Envoy providing executive guidance; supporting partnership negotiations; facilitating leadership retreats; guiding strategic planning; and mediating conflict. They teach these disciplines through talks, workshops, and executive programs.In this episode, we delve into the power of bui...
2023-05-291h 08
Why Play Works.Play isn’t an activity, it’s an attitudeStart a conversation with, “do you think a hotdog is a sandwich?” and see the playful reaction. Catherine Price is an advocate of bringing people together in a playful manner whether it’s a conversation with a stranger, a dinner party, at work or even Zoom.Catherine helps people scroll less, live more, and have fun. She is a science journalist, speaker, teacher, consultant, and the author of several. Catherine is also the founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com, a resource hub dedicated to helping people create more intentional relationships with technology and reconnect...
2023-05-151h 02
Why Play Works."When my fingers are moving, I'm golden"Play, creativity and imagination can enable people to look at things differently, to extend their own potential. But formal education suppresses our natural instinct to play and as adults makes us think it’s wrong to play. Alison James is on a mission to reclaim the word play.Alison has written about her commitment to teaching and learning creatively in many publications, from early work on autobiography and personal development planning in the creative arts, to her present day interests in creativity, imagination and play in higher education pedagogy. She co-authored Engaging imagination: help...
2023-05-011h 09
Why Play Works.We’re wired for play - So do it!Gary Ware needs curiosity, exploration and imagination in his life. How can we bring these qualities into our day to day life?Gary grew up as the class clown and got into a lot of mischief. As he got older and became an adult he suppressed his playful side. His goals became the standard that society set; go to university and get a good job. But he felt unfulfilled.He unintentionally rediscovered his playful side from an improv class where he played silly games to be a better storyteller. Through co-running his own d...
2023-04-1748 min
Why Play Works.Enlightened muddling throughColonel Jason “TOGA” Trew is on a mission to help airmen reintegrate intuition, creativity, storytelling, and play into strategic thinking. A Colonel in the US, Airforce, he began his career as a fighter pilot in the where he picked up the nickname ‘TOGA’. He flew in both operational and training squadrons before falling in love with teaching and transitioning to academics. He is Commandant and Dean of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, a Lego Serious Play Facilitator and an Iron Man Triathalon Coach. In this episode, we explore the role between play and power...
2023-03-3157 min
Good People, Cool Things138: How to Make Work More Fun with Dr. Bob Nelson and Mario TamayoIf you've read anything online lately, you've probably heard about the trend of "quiet quitting." People get sick of their current company and role and either outright leave or decide to stay and do just the bare minimum to get by.
One of the common reasons people get discouraged by their jobs is that they're not having any fun. And, spoiler alert: unhappy employees don't usually do good work. So, how can you introduce more fun into the workplace?
That's what Dr. Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo are sharing in their book Work Made Fun Ge...
2022-11-0245 min
Good People, Cool Things138: How to Make Work More Fun with Dr. Bob Nelson and Mario TamayoIf you've read anything online lately, you've probably heard about the trend of "quiet quitting." People get sick of their current company and role and either outright leave or decide to stay and do just the bare minimum to get by. One of the common reasons people get discouraged by their jobs is that they're not having any fun. And, spoiler alert: unhappy employees don't usually do good work. So, how can you introduce more fun into the workplace? That's what Dr. Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo are sharing in their book Work Made Fun Gets Done: Easy Ways to Bo...
2022-11-0245 min
Why Play Works.Adding play to your DNAPlay is the key to collaboration and co-operation. Work and play are intrinsically interlinked, and without play, people are unable to make connections that drive people forward. This is how innovator and trainer Tim Widdowson approaches play at work.Tim is a partner and facilitator at the Culture Experiment and the So Team. He's also a guest lecturer on design thinking, innovation and collaboration at Oxford University's Said Business School. As a behaviour change specialist, keynote speaker and trainer, Tim's core focus is on developing and exploring the creative behaviours needed for cultures and businesses to flourish.
2022-09-1248 min
Why Play Works.Play as the mother of inventionThere are alternatives to PowerPoint, and to playing Devil’s Advocate. Filling a space with foosball tables and slides doesn’t inherently make a space “playful”. Joining Lucy to discuss how play forms the basis for so much of their creativity, are Brendan Boyle and Michelle Lee-Schmidt from global design form IDEO.Brendan is the founder of the IDEO Play Lab, adjunct professor at Stanford, board member of the National Institute of Play and an award-winning author of the Klutz Book of Inventions. Michelle is Managing Director of IDEO's Play Lab, where she leads an integrated research design an...
2022-08-2945 min
Why Play Works.The value of play can’t be measured in numbers alone, with Dr Heidi EdmundsonMany people feel they work better under pressure, but if you need to think creatively, a relaxed environment will work far better. That’s how Dr Heidi Edmundson approaches play, and importantly makes the distinction that although play can be childlike, it’s not childish.Things to considerWe need connection as human beings, and it can sometimes be achieved by something as simple as briefly removing a mask.By following a step-by-step process of curiosity, Heidi became more able to trust herself.Trust can help overcome skepticism.The outcomes of play are not always directly quan...
2022-08-1554 min
Why Play Works.Serious work calls for serious playTommy Crawford and Brian Fitzgerald of Dancing Fox work with individuals and organisations tackling problems as diverse and weighty as climate change and childhood cancer. But the often isolating nature of the work makes play all the more vital.Tommy is a published poet, shamanic storyteller, and a fountain of wild ideas. Brian spent 35 years at Greenpeace, and wrote the children's book, The Moon Candy Rebellion.Things to considerHow can we find our way back to our childhoods, and hold hands with our childhood selves?Play can be an antidote to burnout, and a...
2022-08-0149 min
Why Play Works.Play is a birthrightOur sense of culture and identity impacts how we approach and conceptualise play. Many of the black women Stacey-Ann Morris has worked with have felt a pressure to fulfil the role of the “strong black woman”.Stacey-Ann is a learning experience designer, facilitator, and educator who creates playful, inclusive, and meaningful connections related to personal and career development in work, school and community settings. She's a graduate of Harvard university, a Lego Serious Play facilitator and has designed curriculums programs and workshops at several universities and colleges.Things to considerPlay is an act of f...
2022-07-1848 min
Why Play Works.Play connects usPlay is a powerful connector, transcending boundaries of culture and background. That’s the philosophy that Kay Scorah brings to her play practise.Kay is a facilitator, coach, comedian, dancer, writer, and general polymath. Kay started work as a research biophysicist, before moving into market research and subsequently into advertising. She now runs HaveMoreFunlimited, working with individuals and groups to improve verbal and non-verbal communication.Things to considerSet micro-challenges throughout your day, to inject a bit more play.If “play” feels to unstructured or lacking parameters, you can approach it as an experiment.The sepa...
2022-07-0440 min
Why Play Works.Wear your most playful hat to workPlay is a form of exploration, and it begins with the environment we have at our fingertips. This is Lee Kim’s approach to play, and it permeates the work she does in what we might consider one of the most serious of environments.Lee is a design strategist and community builder, based in New York She studied mechanical engineering and fashion design. She serves as Global Congress Lead at Pfizer and is the founder of a social impact nonprofit called Design Dream Lab.Things to considerYou can signal to people to find out...
2022-06-2043 min
Why Play Works.Let go, notice more, use everythingImprov is a social technology for approaching uncertainty and complexity. That’s the philosophy Robert Poynton brings to his playful practice.
2022-06-0656 min
Why Play Works.Introducing Why Play WorksLucy Taylor from Make Work Play and Tzuki Stewart from Playfilled interview play practitioners, academics, and leaders who are taking play seriously.Why Play Works explores questions such asHow can working on serious problems be fun and delightful?Is play the opposite of work, or is it actually how we unlock success?How can reconnecting to our playfulness create more fulfilling and enlivening workspaces?Each episode serves up playful practices that you can take away and inject into your work.
2022-05-2303 min