Paul Gentle dismisses skeptics by arguing that purposeful play at work may foster more inventiveness and collaboration. He then offers three suggestions for how to implement this with your own team. What greater endeavor is there for any of us than to attempt collaborating with others to produce something that surpasses our individual abilities in strength, creativity, and impact? And why not take the most playful approach to this? Because doing this doesn’t exactly appear professional. It could imply that we are not as serious as we should be. It may not be possible because of that critical voice that perches on our shoulders and whispers doubt in one ear. Well, I’ll own up to it. I didn’t understand playfulness at all. I had no idea how strong it might be when done on purpose, even though I did a lot of it. I’ve always found creativity and the application of original thinking to idea generation to be fascinating. This will be remembered by former colleagues from a variety of contexts throughout the past thirty years. They will remember us gathering around flipcharts and singing, sculpting, and drawing our way to ever-more original viewpoints on the current problem. I believe that we cannot afford to lose our sense of humor in the face of the issues we currently face. That was your rebellious side. It was always fun to provoke others to see what would happen. just because you didn’t like how people typically conducted things.
