Put More Play in your Labor Days
By April Armstrong
I am recently back from a weekend “workcation” in Vermont, with my amazing colleagues at the Justice Coaching Center. Our mission? To devise a tactical approach to help hundreds of judicial officers in large court transition smoothly to new information systems with no disruption to the Court’s productivity. By Monday we had the plan.
Rather than returning exhausted to begin another work week, I returned to my home base in Washington, DC refreshed and ready to give my best to my clients in that region. How did we do it? We made time to play. We had (gasp) fun. Yeah, the “F” word.
It turns out - it pays to play. Einstein famously said, “play is the highest form of research.” Discovery and brilliance can emerge in the space of play. We suddenly make connections between seemingly disparate unrelated ideas (what Einstein called “combinatory play”). Some of the most successful companies are founded on the “F” word: Fun companies such as Google, which intentionally fosters a culture of playfulness, do not have employee engagement problems[1]. This is in part because of the high value of social connections that fun fosters.
Google’s overarching philosophy is “to create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world,” according to a Google spokesman, Jordan Newman. From razor scooters, to Legos, to whimsical work areas, the company consciously creates an environment top engineers the world over find fun. “Their value is enormous. It doesn’t cost that much to make them happy.”
There are three additional benefits of play:
- Stepping away entirely for something fun helps you stay focused on the right thing when you return refreshed and renewed.
- Shifting between focused and diffused modes of thinking – daydreaming – produces more creative insights.
- And laughing with your colleagues keeps stress levels low, even when the pressure’s on and expectations are high. It can keep adrenaline from becoming cortisol.
Research consistently demonstrates what kids have known all along – you really will be a lot more productive if you stop every now and then to play (see the Harvard Business Review research and Fast Company’s story on three scientific benefits of taking breaks). Dr. Edy Greenblat’s dissertation and follow-up book, “Restore Yourself: The Antidote for Professional Exhaustion,” debunks the myth that renewal shouldn’t be part of our work. MIT actually advises students on how to take breaks.
So take that break to shoot hoops with your kid, water your garden, or as we did – kayak on a beautiful river. (That’s Jan, founder of the Justice Coaching Center, ahead on the Connecticut River). This Labor Day, consider how you can design more play into your and your team’s days and watch your productivity soar. (Need some inspiration? Check out my fun play day over Labor Day!)
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