Brandon Laws interviews Paul Lopushinsky, founder of Playficient, about the benefits of a playful workplace. Even though play at work may have a bad wrap, Paul insists that when implemented correctly, it can have a significant impact on productivity, morale, and the overall employee experience.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Paul Lopushinksky is the founder of Playficient, a consulting company dedicated to helping companies take care of their greatest resource: their employees. Paul is passionate about helping teams invest in their workforce by improving the employee experience, strengthening the onboarding process, and creating a culture of playfulness at work.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
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🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
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TOP TIP FROM THIS EPISODE
Organizations need to look beyond the ping pong table and find more ways to engage people.
When we think of a playful workplace, it might conjure up images of a “kindergarten-style office” complete with exciting do-dads, ping pong tables, and other super-fun activities in the break room. But where did all this come from?
Somewhere along the line, the big tech organizations like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google caught wind of the idea of playfulness at work, hoping it would increase productivity and lead to a more alluring place to work. And, according to Paul, this concept spread until “what was unconventional became conventional.”
Unfortunately, though, despite their attempts, engagement rates never really changed, and these companies didn’t have anything to show for offering a little bit of levity at the office. So, what was the problem?
Paul thinks that these failed attempts have everything to do with a top-down approach to a playful workplace, not to mention the negative consequences for those who didn’t wish to engage. If team members aren’t into the idea of a playful workplace, “it shouldn’t be used against them.” But instead of giving up on the idea of workplace play altogether, companies should start by getting to know employees’ perspectives and what constitutes “play” to them.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
The benefits of play
“You’ll have people who are enjoying their work more. You’ll typically have more employee engagement and lower turnover. You’ll have greater productivity. There’ll be better connections between individuals. It’s about creating better relationships amongst people — and that doesn’t feel forced.”
Mandated fun can lead to resentment
“Those who encourage playful cultures tend to have the right idea. They might be on the right track but the wrong train, where they end up in these situations where fun and play become “forced fun” or “mandated fun” from on high. These events are “optional,” whether that’s team-building or staying at the office after work on Friday to hang out with people. But even though they’re “optional,” they can get used against individuals, which unfortunately is the case.”
“I remember watching some videos of Nerf Gun fights and you can see some people in the background who clearly do not want to be doing that at the moment. They just want to, you know, focus on their work or […] they’re not in tune with that. This could create this little bit of resentment among team members.”
Try a bottom-up approach
“There’s this whole concept of play personalities, which comes from Dr. Stuart Brown who does a lot of research on the benefits of play. And he talks about eight play personalities. And it’s not like Myers-Briggs where you’re one of these eight play personalities. When I do workshops or webinars on the topic, I list out all eight of the play personalities and I get them to sit down for a bit and write down whether things they currently do for play. Then, we sit down and go over them. After a while, people start seeing patterns. Maybe there are two or three play personalities they gravitate towards.”
“It’s about determining what they currently do and then listening to employees and realizing too that not everyone will gravitate towards those activities. Don’t force people to do that if they don’t want to. My big thing is that we should let it pop up organically and provide that environment where it’s okay to do so.”
COVID-19 and play
“One of the benefits with COVID is a lot of more employee-led initiatives have come up. Zoom “lunch and learns,” virtual museum tours, Netflix parties, and the most creative one I think I heard of was at an automobile company where they had a drive-in movie theater set up at their company parking lot. It was a way of bringing people together, but they also stay socially distanced. I’ve been encouraging organizations, whether they go back to the office full-time or if they do a split between the two or stay 100% remote, the last thing I want them to do is to go back to the office and forget all that they’ve learned from this.”
Implementing a “buddy system”
“A buddy system is great for when a new employee comes in. It’s about learning about the unwritten rules, learning about the culture, the rituals. And it’s much more informal, I’d say than mentorship. I always encourage organizations to make use of it and to have multiple buddies. They have a buddy from within their team, they have a culture buddy, and they have more of a leader buddy. So they get a difference of perspectives.”
LEARN MORE
If you want to learn more about Paul Lopushinsky’s ideas about play or learn about your play personality, check out his blog at www.playficient.com.