Hi folks,
I recently shared a bit about me on LinkedIn, and I received these questions in the comments: What’s your favorite game to play with your Work Team? How has it improved team dynamics?
It’s such a good question and I spent a lot of time thinking about it, mostly because I’ve played so many games, with so many different teams. I run a games session every month with 6 or so UX people, so I decided to focus on this team, and the game we’ve played the most is that one improv game where we all try to count to 10 together, with our cameras off and without saying a number at the same time as someone else.
I’ve talked about it before, but it’s a great game for several reasons:
- We will undoubtedly fail, at least once, so our team has become comfortable with making mistakes together
- We accomplish something hard after a few misses and it feels GREAT!
- It allows us to get into the moment together and just really be with each other, even if for a few minutes. This means no distractions, no looking into our own souls on camera, no thinking about the next thing.
This game makes a great opener for a meeting because of the way these things combine to create safety for the team, and that allows us to tackle harder, wackier games.
Just last week, after we counted to 10 together, we tried a new game where the team had to guide a person to complete a secret task except we weren’t allowed to use words – only sounds of approval or disapproval, like OH or UH at varying degrees of excitement. Similar to Hot or Cold, but using sound clues instead of temp.
At first, I thought this was going to be pretty challenging remotely for the team, but they took to it like moths to a flame! The only thing challenging about it was playing through all the laughter from watching a teammate try to figure out the secret task.
But what’s the point of having fun for the sake of fun at work? By the end, we were all smiley, now with more positive memories together. It’s these positive, frequent moments of play that create belonging, through inside jokes or shared experiences.
Belonging and psychological safety build on each other; one helps each person feel like they matter, which then makes it easier to share ideas and participate, and the other protects that participation. Play helps us get here so that our teams can be more collaborative, engaged, and innovative, but also more resilient and connected to the team.
And with that, I’m done waxing poetic about the power of play this week!
