Why playfulness matters when we’re learning to change the world
The team at BRAE are half way through delivering a set of full day training sessions with parts of the procurement function at HSBC. The sessions are designed to help people to embed sustainability directly into their work. The goal is to shift sustainability so it becomes a strategic lever, rather than a box ticking exercise. We were on site at HSBC Tower in London for two days last week, and we're heading to Sheffield this week for another two days.
A week or so after leaving Canary Wharf, I still find myself occasionally chuckling at things that happened in the training room. Laughing out loud at some memory or another.
We designed an immersive session that invites people to play with what they know, and stretch into the unknown. We gradually warmed people up, spending a lot of time on introductions and a set of short exercises designed to challenge assumptions and fertilise imagination. Then we plunged people into scenarios (beautifully put together by Lewis), asked them to take on new roles, to respond in real time to unexpected prompts and nudges.
On both days, the 14 or so people we were working with fully committed. They stayed with us in the heightened environment we created. For 7 hours. The energy levels didn't drop. The quality of knowledge acquisition and exchange was exceptional. It was fun. And it was funny.
One of the threads running through all of our work at BRAE is the belief that we need to learn rapidly to work out how to navigate this transition. None of us have complete understanding of what we're doing, this is uncharted territory. I've written about learning loops before. A lot of what we do is focussed on taking people into the second or third loops. First loop: are we doing things right? Second loop: are we doing the right things? Third loop: what is right?
Death by powerpoint doesn't get people into the second or third loop. If we want transformation, then we have to stop lecturing, and start work out how to get people on their feet. Both physically and metaphorically. Walking into a room and boring people with what they *should* be doing is just about the worst thing we can do at this point. Owning a room, loosening people up, getting people to play, and to build relationships, to imagine their way towards solutions - this is how we create traction, get buy-in, build leverage.
Transition is a serious pursuit. It doesn't have to be dull. Make room for curiosity and laughter.