Hey hey!
Last week was 517 Entrepreneurship and Innovation week, which is a full week of events put on by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership for networking, learning, and encouragement (at least for me!)
As a bit of an awkward introvert, networking is hard for me. I’m like a vampire — I prefer slinking into conversations after a proper invite or hello, not coming up to people. That said, I know how important networking is so I promised to push out of my comfort zone and meet some folks.
Naturally, what got me through the week was turning it into a game: how many new people can I meet in an hour? How close can I get to people I already know without being recognized? (I thought this one would be easy ‘cause I usually mask in crowded places but people saw me quickly!)
6 doodle heads float around. One with outstretched hands, one with a small smile, one with a big smile, one with heart eyes, one with a surprised face, and one with gritted teeth
Play, turns out, comes in many forms. When people think about play at work, they think about a quarterly event or a team offsite. But as you’ve read here, I found a way to turn a room full of strangers into a game. I didn’t really plan to do that; it just sorta happened as I tried to make something uncomfortable a little more fun.
That’s it. That’s all a play practice is.
You might hear “play practice” and picture something formal, like a workshop or a calendar invite, but it doesn’t have to be any of that.
Part of a play practice is just the habit of bringing a little more lightheartedness and enjoyment to what your team does.
You’re probably already doing this in some form or another. All you gotta do now is be a bit more intentional about it.
Start with one thing this week, like opening up your next meeting with a question that has nothing to do with work, something like “Who did something fun this weekend?”
Give everyone 30 seconds and see what happens. If you want, take it to the next level with a twist like “Tell us in emojis only and we’ll guess.”
Boom! The beginnings of a play practice, just like that.
Good luck; have fun,
Lissy
