Play is frivolous, its childish, and it is clearly not producing anything. It takes our” eyes of the ball”.

This argument is so deeply ingrained the current discourse that you even hear politicians arguing that we should minimize the time for free play, not only in schools but also in kindergartens.

In this argument, clearly play has no place in a serious workplace. Especially, not now where we are faced with an unpredictable pandemic and a much spoken about unknowable new normal.

However, the argument here is that it is time to move beyond seeing play and work as opposites.

Indeed, more than ever, it is essential and urgent that we embrace play as the most important source of new knowledge. Play helps us deal with ambiguity; it helps us handle a risky and unpredictable world. Who does not that need that now? Please raise your hand, or feel free to stop reading. You and your organization would be among a precious few.

Work and play are not opposites, and they are certainly not mutually exclusive.

There is so much more potential just waiting to be realized by intentionally bringing play back into the work place. “Play is our natural way of adapting and developing new skills. It is what prepares us for emergence, and keeps us open to serendipity, to new opportunities. It prepares us for ambiguity” (Brown Stuart: ”Play”, Avery, 2009; Play fighting).

So how can one fully use play as an organizational capacity?

The straightforward solution is simply to allow people to meet in order to play—to let them access and reclaim their imagination. Creativity and imagination are often shut down in the workplace because we need to “get real work done,” but those are exactly the capacities we need now. Without the opportunity to imagine new things, we reproduce the old solutions. This is exactly what got us in the mess we are in.

Unleashing the power of play on tough business challenges has been the focus of Trivium the last fifteen years.

Obviously, there is a balance to strike here, play can never be imposed or for that matter overly structured. But, simple (play)rules, a shared language and intent to come together to apply one’s imagination can take you a long way.

The choice we made was to focus on the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method.

The method combines play with a diverse set of different fields such as strategy, leadership and organizational behavior. Related to the understanding of play are also theories about learning and development; in particular constructionism, flow, and the role of metaphors in creating new knowledge.

The world in 2020 calls out for the power of play. Play can help us shift our thinking and reframe complex challenges. Unfortunately, the current challenges induce a stifling fear and stress that means many senior leaders shy away from play.

We find this sad because play is our key survival and adaptation mechanism. In addition it “gives us the irony to deal with paradox, ambiguity and fatalism” (Brown Stuart:”Play”, Avery, 2009), and who doesn’t need that in times like these?

As much as we would like to, we cannot make the world simpler and more predictable. But through “play,” like the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method we can create better decision.

(this blog is based on a previously published article by Per Kristiansen)