Beijing – Play

I just completed my most successful team workshop and I think I know why it went so well.

It’s because of play.

I’m not talking about the impromptu ping-pong tournament on the second night (which was epic, by the way). I’m talking about my handing over half the agenda to my team and making it their playground.

They chose the topics. They decided how to present. They agreed on the deliverables. They got to work on problems they wanted to solve. Whatever happened, they would learn something.

It now seems obvious that this is a great format to engage the participants. But until recently, the corporate office still dictated the entire agenda and provided all the presenters, who downloaded information on the participants.

Involvement is key to engagement, they say.

And so is play.