Play to Prevent Stress
Whenever I mention playfulness, everyone looks at me like I am crazy. A few usually entertain me and hear me out on how being playful helps with stress management. Bill Lu was one of these few exceptions who had the foresight to see that wellbeing is much more than physical health. He was one of the first adopters of Bearapy (and gave me so much support!) to help his team prevent stress and burnout.
In his previous role in another hotel, he asked me to run a playfulness workshop for his HR executives, because they were stressed to the limit, with a lot of work responsibilities on their plates amidst uncertain business environments and constant changes. They had been through a series of stress management workshops, time management workshops, and every kind of training possible. So how could I give them more skills than they already possess, and not stress them out by having to learn yet something else.
I decided to play with them. We spent 2 half days playing. No PowerPoints, no notes, no lectures. Only play, and then discuss the experience.
After some icebreaking and sharing, I asked them to take out the personal toys or objects they had brought from their office desks – some had a stuffed animal dragon, some had a card case, some had clay figurines. I told them they had to talk to their toys. They looked at me like I was out of my mind.
I asked them to think about an issue they were facing at work and to share it with their toys. The toy’s only response, was to ask “Why” to everything they said.