This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences.
In this podcast recorded in London Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Portia Tung, founder of the School of Play, author and executive coach.
Key Takeaways
- Culture is defined by what people say and think, based on what’s expected of them and the environment they are in
- You don’t change culture – you grow it. Culture is emergent based on the ingredients you put into the mix for growing it
- The high rates of depression and burnout in high-tech organisations
- The opposite of depression is play
- Ways to incorporate play into work lives
- Work should give us a clear purpose, play unleashes creativity – surely the two belong together
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0m:30s Introductions
1m:15s The big challenges with agile transformation are all related to people’s mindset and habits
2m:05s Culture is defined by what people say and think, based on what’s expected of them and the environment they are in
2m:40s You don’t change culture – you grow it. Culture is emergent based on the ingredients you put into the mix for growing it
3m:10s Elements of the mix include the people, their perspectives on leadership, vision and the greater purpose
3m:25s Where organisations don’t have a greater purpose then the culture becomes very focused on personal financial gains
3m:40s People happiness/ employee satisfaction is essential for an organisation to thrive in today’s environment
4m:20s Creating an environment which brings the best out of people is both an individual and organisational responsibility
4m:40s Drucker – Organisations form and deform people
4m:50s Take individual ownership and responsibility for your own happiness
5m:00s Don’t tolerate toxic environments – find somewhere else
5m:35s Characteristics of high-tech companies are similar to start-ups, high achievers placing unreasonable demands on their people
6m:03s The impact of these cultures include high rates of depression and burnout
6m:25s The value of executive coaching to help recognise and overcome these risks
7m:10s Human-Ops to focus on the people aspects of work
7m:20s Technical people want to help and often drive themselves to their own detriment
7m:30s Looking after ourselves and each other is important to prevent unhealthy outcomes
7m:50s The prevalence and danger of low level depression which sucks the joy out of life
8m:35s The opposite of depression is play
8:40 Dr Stuart Brown’s TED talk on the importance of play
8m:52s Founding the School of Play, devoted to creating happier adulthood
9m:505s Play is the antidote to “agile-zombisim”
9m:20s Play can be as simple as having a chat about something not work-related at the watercooler
9m:45s Play taps into and releases the creative parts of the brain
9m:55s The world is being shaped by playful high-tech people
10m:38s Find your purpose and passion and we can change our own lives and the lives of those around us
11m:00s Simple first step – find a game you like and bring it to work, for example Finger Twister, and find someone to play with you
11m:45s Meetups and TED talks as examples of playful activities
12m:30s Become a beacon for others – share what you enjoy with them
12m:40s Introducing the School of Play – leveraging research and making it applicable in day to day life
12m:55s Introducing Multiple Intelligences Theory by Howard Gardner
14m:10s Self-awareness as a type of intelligence
14m:30s Play Intelligence as a distinct type of intelligence
15m:00s The benefits of play are the same for children and adults – creating new neural pathways
15m:35s The story of learning to play the ukulele and jamming at Ukulele Wednesdays
16m:25s Experiencing the power of play to unblock fear and assumptions
17m:15s Making transformations sustainable – play lowers the barriers to entry for change and lowers the levels of fear about change
17m:50s Play engages continuous learning and continuous improvement, essential for organisational change
18m:15s Bring children into the workplace and ask them how to solve some of the problems – they learn much quicker than most adults
19m:20s Not accepting stereotypes and making judgements, rather look at the qualities and interests of people as individuals to get diverse viewpoints
20m:50s Human interaction is one of the hardest things we do as people – if it were easy we would have world peace by now
21m:30s The energy of children at play – they recharge by playing. Can we achieve this as adults.
22m:30s Work should give us a clear purpose, play unleashes creativity – surely the two belong together
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