A few years ago, I got to attend the inaugural COCABiz Spark conference. The keynote was Kevin Carroll, “Katalyst” play advocate, author of The Rules of the Red Rubber Ball.
He set the stage well for the importance of play in the workplace. During that 1.5 day conference, I got to learn negotiating skills in a dulcimer jam session and leadership through Argentine tango! Not only was it really fun and playful but I learned real, applicable skills—ones that I’ve used on a regular basis since then.
Why the chairs? Well, last week, thanks to the universe, the university and Chris, I had the pleasure of yet another workshop at COCA. It was reminder of some things that Kevin said in his talk—how play facilitates teamwork, encourages risktaking, innovative problem-solving, and ignites creativity. This time, we worked with Robert Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Scenic Design. We designed chairs.
Our team really does design things together but all digital things and I learned so much about our internal processes specifically because we were working in a physical, non-work-related, low-risk environment. It was that freaky yet cool world’s colliding kinda thing to be coloring with my colleagues. Going along with what I said in my chapter 11 post, I find that opportunities to get out of my head yield so much. It was great validation for “the power of play.”
So hat tip to the Digital Communications Team. My #48dayscreative piece for today… CHAIRS!