There is a growing animosity between employers and employees that we all have felt these past few years. 85% of staff are disengaged at work, and the phrase “I don’t want to work anymore” is more common than at any time in modern history. It’s manifested in quiet quitting, quiet firing, strikes, and RIFs/Layoffs. We can ignore this problem and hope it miraculously disappears, or we can proactively address it. The organizations brave enough to take this challenge head-on will thrive for the foreseeable future, while others obsessed with the status quo will become as obsolete as Blockbuster Video.
This talk explores the bold steps we need to heal the divisions within workplaces using a play-oriented approach to work. The only way to find unique solutions to these significant issues that organizations have been too afraid to face is through a play mindset. We will identify immediately actionable strategies to mend the divide between C-Suite executives, managers, and staff. Together, we can choose what direction we want the future of work to go. The question we must answer is: What are we willing to do to create a work culture where not only the organization can thrive but where our people finally become the priority?
5. Why Does Work
Suck Now?
What Initial Steps Need To Be
Taken To Build Back Trust?
How Can We Measure
Progress in Healing A
Workplace?
What Are You
Willing To Do First?
Building The Work Playground
@jeffharryplays
6.
7.
8.
9. • Play (No Business Plan)
• Intuition (Picked Fun People)
• Prioritized people over profit
• Followed Our Curiosity
• Focused On Inspiring Staff
Built The Largest
LEGO-Inspired STEM
Organization In The U.S.
@jeffharryplays
10. What Is Play?
Play Is Any Joyful Act That
Has No Specific Purpose or
Result…
Where You Are Fully
Immersed In The Moment
@jeffharryplays
11. What Is Play?
Play Is The Opposite
of Perfection
Play is rooted in curiosity,
experimentation, a sense
of wonder
@jeffharryplays
35. • Doing The Job of 2 - 3 People
• Impossible Deadlines
• Consistently Working Late
• Overly Demanding Supervisors
@jeffharryplays
We Are All Feeling Burnout
36. @jeffharryplays
What Issues Are You
Facing?
• Unfunded Mandates
• Not Enough Staff
• Aging Infrastructure
• Not Enough Money
42. Play Experiment:
Explore Your Why
How many people's lives have you
impacted this year in positive way?
Directly & Indirectly
@jeffharryplays
43. Think of your most memorable &
meaningful moment this year where you
impacted someone in a positive way
(Felt the most connected to your work)
Play Experiment:
Explore Your Why
@jeffharryplays
59. What Is Your Staff’s
Zone of Genius/Flow?
What is the work you do where
you forget about time?
What is the work you’d do even if
you weren’t get paid for it?
@jeffharryplays
60. Making Work Suck Less Through Play:
Questions Worth Asking
• What Do You Do To Ensure Your Staff Feel Seen, Heard, &
Appreciated?
• What Values Are Communicated Through Your Team’s Actions?
• Which Managers Should Not Be Leading People?
• Are You Addressing Systemic Issues With Individual Solutions?
• What Are Your Water Pressure Issues?
• What Is Your Language of Appreciation?
@jeffharryplays