The Association Blog

Three ideas for incorporating the power of play into your daily breaks

In his session at The Annual Conference this past November, “Reducing Burnout Through Play,” Gary Ware shared a wealth of ideas for incorporating play throughout the workday. The power of play can be used to maximize workplace success during breaks, meetings, staff trainings and performance reviews.

Here are three ideas for incorporating play into your breaks that you can test-drive and pass along to staff:

Outdoor Walk-and-Talk Meetings
Encourage walking meetings outdoors to rejuvenate creativity and facilitate informal employee interactions.

Mini Fitness Challenges
Organize short group fitness challenges, like quick yoga stretches, jumping jack competitions, or a virtual three-minute dance party. Physical activity rejuvenates the body, clears the mind and boosts endorphins.

Informal Learning Sessions
Organize occasional fun and informal learning sessions (often dubbed “Lunch and Learn”) where employees can gather to learn something new, such as origami, a foreign language, or a quick tech hack, led by a fellow employee.

Learn More

Get more ideas in Ware’s 20-page pdf, “Play to Perform: Unleashing Creativity and Connection in the Workplace.” You can find it, along with all the handouts from the Conference, here though January 15.

Watch Ware’s TEDTalk, “How Play Saved My Life”