There is a growing animosity between employers and employees that we all have felt these past few years. 85% of staff are disengaged at work, and the phrase “I don’t want to work anymore” is more common than at any time in modern history. It’s manifested in quiet quitting, quiet firing, strikes, and RIFs/Layoffs. We can ignore this problem and hope it miraculously disappears, or we can proactively address it. The organizations brave enough to take this challenge head-on will thrive for the foreseeable future, while others obsessed with the status quo will become as obsolete as Blockbuster Video. This talk explores the bold steps we need to heal the divisions within workplaces using a play-oriented approach to work. The only way to find unique solutions to these significant issues that organizations have been too afraid to face is through a play mindset. We will identify immediately actionable strategies to mend the divide between C-Suite executives, managers, and staff. Together, we can choose what direction we want the future of work to go. The question we must answer is: What are we willing to do to create a work culture where not only the organization can thrive but where our people finally become the priority?

1. Making Work Suck Less:
Healing Workplaces Through Play
Jeff Harry
Positive Psychology Play Speaker
@jeffharryplays

2. @jeffharryplays

3. Attunement
@jeffharryplays

4. Attunement
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5. Why Does Work
Suck Now?
What Initial Steps Need To Be
Taken To Build Back Trust?
How Can We Measure
Progress in Healing A
Workplace?
What Are You
Willing To Do First?
Building The Work Playground
@jeffharryplays

9. • Play (No Business Plan)
• Intuition (Picked Fun People)
• Prioritized people over profit
• Followed Our Curiosity
• Focused On Inspiring Staff
Built The Largest
LEGO-Inspired STEM
Organization In The U.S.
@jeffharryplays

10. What Is Play?
Play Is Any Joyful Act That
Has No Specific Purpose or
Result…
Where You Are Fully
Immersed In The Moment
@jeffharryplays

11. What Is Play?
Play Is The Opposite
of Perfection
Play is rooted in curiosity,
experimentation, a sense
of wonder
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12. @jeffharryplays

13. @jeffharryplays

14. @jeffharryplays

15. Play Is Where Innovation
Thrives
Vs.
Wright Brothers
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16. Work Sucks…
@jeffharryplays

17. Employees Feel Used

18. Employees Feel Disrespected

19. Employees Feel Exploited

21. Work Sucks, But It Doesn’t Have To

22. What Do Employees Want?
Staff Want To Feel
Seen, Appreciated & Heard
@jeffharryplays

23. Question Worth Asking #1
What Do You Need To Feel
Seen, Heard, & Appreciated?
@jeffharryplays

24. Question Worth Asking #1
What Do You Do To Ensure
Your Staff Feel Seen, Heard, &
Appreciated?
@jeffharryplays

25. Making The Work Playground Safe
@jeffharryplays

26. Making The Work Playground Safe
Ready For The Hard Questions?

27. with you.
Question Worth Asking #2
What Values Are Communicated Through
Your Team’s Actions?
OR
@jeffharryplays

28. Work Culture Is Defined
By The Worst Behavior
Tolerated - John Amaechi
@jeffharryplays

29. Nobody wants to work anymore…

30. Nobody wants to work anymore…
with them.

31. Which Managers Should
Not Be Leading People?
Question Worth Asking #3
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32. @jeffharryplays

34. @jeffharryplays
We Are All Feeling Burnout

35. • Doing The Job of 2 - 3 People
• Impossible Deadlines
• Consistently Working Late
• Overly Demanding Supervisors
@jeffharryplays
We Are All Feeling Burnout

36. @jeffharryplays
What Issues Are You
Facing?
• Unfunded Mandates
• Not Enough Staff
• Aging Infrastructure
• Not Enough Money

37. @jeffharryplays

38. Are You Addressing
Systemic Issues With
Individual Solutions?
Question Worth Asking #4
@jeffharryplays

39. The Work Playground Is Safe
@jeffharryplays

40. To Feel Seen
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41. Play Experiment:
Explore Your Impact
Write Down What
You Do Best At Work
Celebrate!
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42. Play Experiment:
Explore Your Why
How many people's lives have you
impacted this year in positive way?
Directly & Indirectly
@jeffharryplays

43. Think of your most memorable &
meaningful moment this year where you
impacted someone in a positive way
(Felt the most connected to your work)
Play Experiment:
Explore Your Why
@jeffharryplays

44. D O S E
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45. To Feel Heard
@jeffharryplays

46. Address The Water Pressure
Issues

47. Question Worth Asking #5:
What Are Your Water Pressure Issues?

48. To Feel Appreciated
@jeffharryplays

49. What Is Your Language of
Appreciation?
@jeffharryplays

50. What Is Your Language of
Appreciation?
How Would You Like To Receive
Recognition?
@jeffharryplays

51. Humans
Wanted To
Be Treated
Like Humans
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52. @jeffharryplays

54. Zone of Genius/Flow State
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57. Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
What Is Flow?
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59. What Is Your Staff’s
Zone of Genius/Flow?
What is the work you do where
you forget about time?
What is the work you’d do even if
you weren’t get paid for it?
@jeffharryplays

60. Making Work Suck Less Through Play:
Questions Worth Asking
• What Do You Do To Ensure Your Staff Feel Seen, Heard, &
Appreciated?
• What Values Are Communicated Through Your Team’s Actions?
• Which Managers Should Not Be Leading People?
• Are You Addressing Systemic Issues With Individual Solutions?
• What Are Your Water Pressure Issues?
• What Is Your Language of Appreciation?
@jeffharryplays

61. Who Will Decide The Future of Work?

62. Old School
Leadership
Individualism
Control
Ego
Competition
Human-Centered
Leadership
Shared Humanity
Inspiration
Intuition
Collaboration
Who Will Decide The Future of Work?

63. Thanks So Much For Playing!
jeff@rediscoveryourplay.com
Access To
Studies & Bonus
Gift
@jeffharryplays