Designing playful employee experience through serious play–reflections from pre-pandemic corporate learning events in Poland

Monika Sońta

doi:10.1108/jwam-01-2021-0011

Abstract

PurposeIn times of organizational thirst for employee engagement and meaning through designing corporate stories, the aim of this article is to explore and identify key sources (engines) of engagement during LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) corporate learning pre-pandemic events of various types and size in Poland.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper. The research was conducted using participant observation from the perspective of a certified facilitator of the method. This position ensures a prime access to the organizational events. Eight training sessions (four LSP and four non-LSP workshops) have been analysed using thematic analysis. The structure of thematic codes has been conceptualized and reflected as the EPIC framework.FindingsThe findings include (1) the importance of the experience of emerging realities as a key generator of engagement, (2) the significance of social collaboration and peer-to-peer interactions (experience of collective intelligence), (3) the observable rise in engagement and willingness to contribute when real business situations, especially labelled as “strategic issues” are discussed and (4) the role of image-capturing (“snapshot experience”) in creation of an engaging learning experience.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations refer to the potential conflict of interests as the researcher is also the facilitator of the workshop. To ensure the neutral point of view of the researcher, the sessions have been recorded to enable transparency of the observation and non-biased logic of key findings. The “learning experience” research is also culture- and context-sensitive, thus it may be problematic to replicate the research procedure in different countries, however, the EPIC model can be treated as a universal framework to explore and identify the engines of engagement.Practical implicationsThe concept of this paper is designed from the practical point of view. The findings are adaptable to the corporate practices aimed at empowering employees and are compatible with management models such as agile, human enablement and human-centred design in organizations.Social implicationsSerious play methods of learning and experiencing are said to be of the highest importance when finding new ways of organizational learning in the pandemic situation and work from home as a standard learning environment.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is visible in the conceptualization of the moments that shape an engaging experience. This is also the first academic paper presenting the perspective of a certified facilitator of LSP from Central and Eastern Europe region.

Highlights

1.IntroductionIn the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) methods, the context is at organizational level, the closest understanding is at group level (with the other participants) and individuals create the artifacts of the culture– they build a brick model
People intrinsically seek joy.And joy connects people more powerfully than almost any other human experience (Liu, 2019, p. 2).© Monika Sonta
In the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) methods, the context is at organizational level, the closest understanding is at group level and individuals create the artifacts of the culture– they build a brick model

Summary

1.Introduction

In the LSP methods, the context is at organizational level, the closest understanding is at group level (with the other participants) and individuals create the artifacts of the culture– they build a brick model Such meaning recreation can be summarized by Czarniawska (1992) who says that the employees reproduce the sense and artefacts of daily work and form the basis and reference points for participants’ identity and ideology (Czarniawska, 1988). The level of self-reflexivity raises and reactions to personal stores are observable This is valid for the facilitator as taking several roles allows to determine the meaning of a given role in a self-reflective and intersubjective way (Jemielniak, 2014) which was visible in the process of neutrality in identifying the moments with the highest number of reactions that suggest the engagement during the session and post-event self-reflection of the author when listening to recording of the workshop conversations. During A1 and A2 workshops, the table facilitators were present to indicate

Method of work

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