By the way, the meeting went great-and those concerned about the "play thing" were the most receptive to a playful atmosphere. We need to create our objectives together as a team. Play must come from within and so you can only invite play. Preparing to juggle knives or tools, he says, "You can play with an implement, but you can't implement play.") (My colleague Carr Hagerman makes this point well. Suddenly he got it! Play can't be implemented or rolled out to all 57 branches like a new accounting system.
#FISH TALES FULL#
So I sent a whole flip-chart sheet full of bullet points. "Anything to help explain the play thing." How could I help him understand? "What about some bullet points?" I suggested. He wanted nothing less than predetermined outcomes from this "play thing." Can you imagine telling your children to go out to play, and having them say, "Great! What are the objectives?" But that didn't matter to the caller.
#FISH TALES HOW TO#
Three weeks prior to a sales meeting at which we were to introduce the FISH! Philosophy, we received an unusual request: "We have all 57 branches coming to this meeting and we want our people to be more playful at work, but could you send your objectives for play? Or maybe you could send an implementation manual to show us how to play."Īt first I thought he was joking. SEND ME YOUR IMPLEMENTATION MANUAL FOR PLAY A successful budget meeting in which serious work is being done can stimulate the same feeling as a picnic.
#FISH TALES FREE#
It is the lighthearted feeling you release inside people when they are enthused, committed, and free of fear. Play is not restricted to a toy or a game. "It doesn't have to be throwing a fish!"Īctuaries, teachers, or engineers will find different ways to be playful than the fish guys. "There are a million different ways of playing," they say. The same people who are drawn to the playfulness of Pike Place Fish often can't imagine how they could ever replicate such an atmosphere in their own workplace. One reason for the fear may be that we aren't sure what play is. When an executive for a large fast-food chain said, "You want us to tell 300,000 teenagers they can play?" he probably imagined the world's largest food fight. Eureka! Not only did they create a new kind of performance art, but they became more productive by eliminating a lot of walking back and forth.ĭespite the benefits of a lighthearted workplace, it's amazing how much fear the thought of play strikes into the heart of management. One of the fish guys threw a salmon over the counter to another. But one day they did something different. When a customer placed an order, they used to walk from behind the counter to pick up the fish, then had to hike all the way back around to wrap the fish and ring up the purchase. The fishmongers know that play can stimulate creativity. Creativity becomes an adult game of make-believe ("Hey, what if.
The spirit that allows people to wear a goofy tie or to laugh out loud without fearing what others think is the same spirit that encourages them to consider new ideas which expand the boundaries of what they used to think was possible. The freedom to be playful-to take a winding, curious line-expands creative opportunities (as well as the minds and spirits of the humans involved). Habitually following the direct "all business" line from Point A to Point B may seem more efficient, but it constricts one's capacity to generate new solutions when needed.
The alternative is what Ken Blanchard refers to as an "epidemic of tight underwear." Not a pleasant image.Īn innovative environment demands even more play. But to have a livable work environment, one in which human beings thrive, a certain amount of playfulness or lightheartedness is required. Remember this old warning? "Boys and girls, playtime is over, get back to work." Most of us learned early in life that work and play are separate, and that if you are playing you could not possibly be working.
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