There is no dearth of knowledge and research out there that extolls the value of play for individuals and teams. So, I'm not going to repeat it. What I do want to tell you is a story about my morning, which it totally unlike me.
Photo by Gabriel Meinert on Unsplash
I was riding my bike this morning up a long and not too steep incline and I saw a runner coming in my direction with his dog. As runners go, he looked pretty serious about the task at hand. He finished crossing a somewhat busy street and then his dog took a dive into a lush green lawn and started rolling, rubbing his back on the grass, and pawing into the sky. The runner tried to keep going, pulled the dog a bit (not much) who responded by jumping up and running a couple paces with his human companion. The dog then dove into the grass again and seemed quite content squiggling on its back again. This time the runner slowed and looked like he might pull the dog harder, but instead he burst out laughing. As I passed him, we made eye contact and I realized I was laughing too, which, I think, made us both laugh a little harder.
This was a great reminder to me that play is and important part of life. And anyone who knows me will be thinking, yea, but she's not very good at doing that and they would be right. I have not been the best role model in this arena. I am trying though to shift that up.
Play and fun are also important parts of being a research team. Just as individual energy can wane, so can team energy. The work on behalf of the research project is critical. Yet, it cannot be sustained maximally if the team is physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually too exhausted.
So, what is a team leader to do? What about team members?
If you're a team member - ask the team leader to read this post or just the following paragraph.
To foster some play in the team, ask individual members to make sure they are getting individual down time. If necessary, you can show them some data or read an article together. In addition, schedule some time for the team to be together, intentionally. It can be as simple as gathering at the café for a shared break, meeting after work for light refreshments, or getting take out to share at lunch. Or it can be a bit more involved, an off site retreat that mixes work with play, a hike in the woods, or ....
What do you think would be fun to do with your team?
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